Burroughs is a writer I've wrestled with for many years. You either accept him--on his own terms--or you don't. It's always as if the words are being hammered out just as you read them, like electrical impulses being fed into your brain, and you're always left hanging for some kind of point of reference, a framing device, something. And then you just go with it, and you find yourself surfing through these amazing images, scenes, and one-liners that jump off the page. But you have to open yourself up to it. Thanks, Outlaw. Much appreciated, as always.
I first tried Burroughs in my early teens and it was impenetrable, I honestly believed anyone praising him was just trying to be hip. I tried again in my 20s after having squeezed a lot of life experience in and loved his work. I turn to his books every few years and get something new each time.
I think a lot of his readership keep going back to his works as they do, indeed, get something new every time as you say. I made the point about 'Junky' as I feel so many people fall at the first hurdle with WSB because they tackle NL first. I've always given this advice to customers and it's a natural. Thanks for your insight!
His books & short stories written in straight narrative are very good (junky,queer,inter zone and naked lunch to an extent). However the majority of his writings is extremely bad and completely incomprehensible. They are fantastically rambling, unfocused & over imagined. You will find individual lines within a 600 word text that are incredibly striking, perceptive and utterly strange so we have to forgive him for the rest of the rubbish 😂. Still an important writer. Have you read Will Selfs trilogy?
@@outlawbookselleroriginal Whenever people ask me about NL I say how basically it's the writing of an opiate withdrawal experience and they're always surprised. I do think that helps prepare the reader before they get into it.
@@paulcready7093 I agree that there is often much rambling and it shoots off randomly all over the place. With revisits though, I regularly find a lot of what was impenetrable does actually click. I read the first of the Will Self trilogy, I think it was Umbrella, but I haven't read the others. Thanks for the reminder! I think it's a bit too easy to liken Will Self to Burroughs but then I do also understand the comparison.
@@antonhaq3503 I think you make a good point. Oh no I’m not making any comparisons their writing is nothing really alike but their are similarities just in the experience of reading those books. They are difficult modernist books to read and experimental. I was just curious 😊. I like you’re videos man keep it up.
His 'novel' Nova Express is one of my favorite pieces of modern literature, he's the best thing since Joyce. Naked Lunch will always be a classic and his other great masterpiece. Western Lands is also pretty amazing.
Brilliant video on probably my favorite writer. You've described him perfectly. Some great editions there as well. I always recommend people read 'Interzone' as well before Naked Lunch, as the surreal. yet straight narrative short stories set you up nicely for the more 'abstract' stuff. Another great vid! 👍
Great advice! I made the “mistake” of reading Naked Lunch first, followed by The Ticket that Exploded. Rough going for sure! 😄 And I agree about something “clicking”. Once it clicks how to read Burroughs, his books really open up. One thing that helped me was listening to recordings of Burroughs readings and then imagining his voice and cadence while reading myself.
Agreed, he was a great reader of his own work - I have around six CDs of him reading- and when you get his voice in your head, all is good. I think the 'read the famous book first' is a mistake with so many authors, I must say.
I'm a huge Burroughs fan, especially the trilogy. I've also recently discovered "The Age of Wire and String" by Ben Marcus which seems very similar to the cut-up writings of Burrough's, another great episode of this amazing channel Stephen, thanks.
Ty for emphasizing the Nova Trilogy. In my mind it is the most definitive statement on Burroughs' worldview as well as the intent and purpose of his writing. Great vid, ty
I read the cutup novels for the first time in high school because I had found out the writings of Burroughs were a big influence in industrial music, besides which I had been experimenting with surrealist writing techniques. (Could never paint, had to experiment with *something* lol). Decades later, they make more sense, not less, as I get older.
@@outlawbookselleroriginal did you ever notice that fans of Burroughs run the full political spectrum? I know left-anarchists who find that the narrative of the nova mob reminds them of capitalists and the false consciousness they inculcate to the rest of us, but also right wing conspiracy theorists who find that the nova mob remind them of the globalists or international bankers or whatever.
Ah! I thought you were going to discuss the other Burroughs trilogy - the three novels that I think are his greatest achievement - Cities of the Red Night, The Place of Dead Roads, and The Western Lands. I'm a fan of Junky and Naked Lunch, also, but I've never been able to get on with the cut-ups. There are plenty of biographical and literary works about Burroughs that I rate, the latest being Matthew Levi Stevens' Magical Universe of William S Burroughs, which explores his occult interests. David S Wills's Scientologist! is also an entertaining look at WSB's relationship with that cult. The best biographical work is still Ted Morgan's Literary Outlaw, although Barry Miles's biography is good, too. Thanks for the video. I might have to try and read *this* earlier trilogy again.
This channel is called 'Outlaw Bookseller' because of the Ted Morgan book, which I bought on its first publication- I have a signed first hardcover, great book. The Miles book is sketchy by comparison, I thought, but fine in its own right. I'm a great admirer of the later trilogy too, especially 'The Place of Dead Roads'.
@@outlawbookselleroriginal In the same vein, I can heartily recommend 'Dirty books: Erotic fiction and the avant-garde in mid-century Paris and New York' by Reay and Attwood. Smutty, naturally, in places, but very informative. You'll know that a lot of the avant-garde set also wrote pornography.
I haven’t read Burroughs in about 15 years or so, I read Junky first, it was lent to me and as a former drug addict myself I related very much to it and the strife I connected with. Naked Lunch I read shortly after that. I’m currently reading The Soft Machine and I’m slowly warming up to it. There is a plot somewhere in there hahaha. I just came off reading A Clockwork Orange and Hemingway before that so I love to jump around a lot. I’ve had The Soft Machine sitting on my shelf for years and I’m finally now getting to it. At first I was frustrated thinking it was just more of the same weirdness and drug addled writing about heroin from his other books. But there is definitely more here.
For me his best recording is the 'Dead City Radio' album and his EP with Gus Van Sant ('The Elvis of Letters' is pretty special too). Not sure where I've put my Buroughs CDs actually...
My first time watching your videos and I am glad to of found your channel. I actually started with Junky, Queer and the Yage Letters as a kind of a trilogy bit right there. I've since read Naked Lunch and was looking at the Nova trilogy next. I've also read and the hippos were boiled in their tanks.
@@outlawbookselleroriginal Well that’s good to know. I know imagine there is a few to enjoy. Will watch some more later. Where would you suggest going from the Nova trilogy? Are there any similar authors you would recommend?
@@chrisreadingcorner3816 Well, there are later Burroughs things you should read. Then watch out for my upcoming videos on New Wave SF - there will be several, including one on WSB's influence -that will point you in several interesting directions.
I remember my mother thumbing through Naked Lunch which she'd taken off my bookshelf- she said 'it's all about people doing things to other people's bottoms" I replied that I couldn't have described it better myself" 😄
Well, there is an element of that in the book as she said LOL...thanks for yr comment, do subscribe, check out my newer videos and watch out for the Nova Mob!
Junky first seems logical and is the best introduction to Burroughs as addict but it doesn't prepare the reader for the cut up universe of the trilogy. Likewise, listening to early Arkestra albums is a good introduction but his Out There material will probably still be a massive shock. Nice video though. Perhaps you should do a one-off on Space Music? The perfect soundtracks to SF?
Burroughs was a fearless mystic visionary who stood for truth of soul. Naked Lunch is and was the only book for me. After that, everyone else was milquetoast. Not even Hemingway, not even Miller, not even Thompson were as bold and outside as William. He literally changes your consciousness.
He definitely does. A lot of it is stream of thought abstract writing. When I was on drugs I used to write and write and write in much the same way so I understand this. Today I’m much more into “down to earth” novels but I’m reading the Soft Machine now and am getting into it
@@outlawbookselleroriginal I've been having a Burroughs reread thing which I do every few years. I just spent 2 months immersed in Nova Express and now I'm onto Naked Lunch. His universe is incredibly immersive, hilarious on one layer but darker than any horror writer. The Red Nights trilogy is also gonna be fun to reread soon.
After watching some of your other videos I've decided on reading 'the soft machine', first. I'm not sure if that's a good start, but if not someone do, let me know.
I read about four of his books when I was 16 or 17. Of the trilogy I found the (1961 - 66) Soft Machine the most enjoyable. Nova Express struck me as too didactic and I never read it again. when I read The Wild Boys it was revelatory! Simply exploded my conciousness, past present future all vividly alive. I continued to read the later books as they came out, but hes alwas been a huge influence. Btw Im not a big SF fan.
You're so right about his spoken word, "Spare Ass Annie and other Tails I can recite the entire CD by memory...it's good therapy to hear Uncle Bill's voice come out of your mouthl He's so damnably funny! One of my favorite lines is from JUNKY. The Brooklyn doctor had written them one more script, while delivering a mewling pleas to "And for God's sake cover up for me...I've always been right with you boys and wanted to stop months ago, I just couldn't leave you stranded...now here's the script and don't come back." Roy went back the next day." Well I was in a Borders and braying laughter escaped my mouth and as I couldn't stop, I stumbled helplessly to the exit, dropping the book on the floor. Lord!
Yeah, I think people miss the humour! My fave album by Bill is 'Dead City Radio' and I'm a bit partial to 'The Elvis of Letters', but it's all deathless stuff, right?
@@outlawbookselleroriginal Yes. When I listen to "Falling In Love Again", I get a vision of Burroughs back in The Bunker singing this song to the badly charred and dying after the greatest flashbulb in human history popped off from Hell's Paparazzi. He figures to wait a week before rummaging through medicine cabinets and bedside tables of the dead. Wouldn't you?
I first read Naked Lunch after seeing the movie in the early 2000s. Then read Junkie. I've read Naked Lunch several times over the years and finally decided to start the Trilogy. I've read them in the wrong order apparently (published order felt logical). So I started with Ticket that Exploded, then Soft Machine, and I'm finally on Nova Express. I've enjoyed Soft Machine a lot and Nova Express follows the same vein for me. Ticket felt almost impenetrable at times to me, so it was a rough start. Perhaps it all hadn't "clicked" yet and I'll need to reread it again after finishing Nova.
I read the Trilogy in publication order originally too- naturally, most people would have. It's only comparatively recently that it's become more common knowledge what the correct order is. I see them as a mosaic sequence anyway- and I'm sure Burroughs would have agreed with this - meaning you could read them in any order and experience the overlapping approach.
It seems that most Burroughs readers read them so often that they desperately try and tape them together, this happened with JUNKY, QUEER, NAKED LUNCH and THE LETTER OF WSB '45-'59. Even after I have to give up and replace them, I keep them on the shelf. Junky, especially, as I had so many numbers of connections and cryptic names in margins...the book(s) are like dear friends who I just cannot give up on, I merely put them on a comfy shelf, all together.
'Junky' is one of my top ten books of all time. I've read it at least twenty times. An absolute masterpiece, so many of the lines from it are engraved on my soul. That's how you write an autobiographical novel in my book.
I read Junk/Junky first, and it's probably still my favorite of his books(though to be as transparent as possible, I read it as a young kid(well, maybe 17-19) at the peak of my painkiller/heroin addiction(and by "peak" i mean the point where it was still "fun", and didnt have to worry about a career, a wife, kids, a house, etc., and also right around the time i just sort of decided that i was just going to keep using(despite knowing i was hopelessly addicted), and if it got too bad, i could always ƙ!ll myself(which I came extremely close to doing.) I can't remember what books I read after that. Queer I read relatively soon after that, as well as other books, poems, even movies from or about the Beat Poets and their accomplices, and Naked Lunch was probably the 3rd or 4th book of his that I read(and I agree, that's not ideal.) However, just by reading Junk and a couple other books, you quickly catch on to his idiosyncrasies, his expressions, who he's referring to, whether by nickname, pen name, a letter, or even when he's referring to himself in the third person, all the various characters and their roles, from NYC to Mexico City, Tangier, etc. As for the other books, I don't actually remember much about them for the most part. Though I do still have them in one of my book shelves upstairs. Sounds like it's time for me to bust them out. I did always like how short the books were. It is kind of a pain in the butt though regarding when to read what, which books go together, whether they were finished or not, or even just in their "final form", etc.(it's almost like reading Kafka.)
'Junky' remains my favourite and my first too. I can't count the number of times I read it- and you're right, the anecdotal/character aspects of it are deathless.
I recommend watching the movie Naked Lunch before reading the book.I had a hard time understanding the book u til I saw the movie then it all made sense.
Wasn't there supposed to be a trilogy before the Nova Trilogy? I heard it was going to be, Junky, Queer, and a unfinished third book. The third book was supposed to focus on their experience with yage while on their visit in South America. The closest that came to a third book was The Yage Letters. I cannot remember where I read this.
@@outlawbookselleroriginal I was talking about how Queer was written before the Nova trilogy. I just remembered the The Red Night Trilogy. It was Cities of the Red Night, The Place of Dead Roads, and The Western Lands.
@@outlawbookselleroriginal "I know when the books were published: Junky in 1953, Queer in 1985, and The Yage Letters in 1963. Burroughs originally intended these works to be part of a trilogy titled Naked Lunch. However, Naked Lunch ultimately became the standalone book we know today. Oliver Harris discusses this in his article 'Confusion’s Masterpiece: Re-Editing William S. Burroughs’ First Trilogy'. Harris edited the Junky 50th Anniversary Definitive Edition, contributed to the 25th edition of Queer, and was the editor for The Yage Letters Redux. Here’s a quote from his article: “To be sure, confusion is the most common state in which the work has left its readers - especially in comparison to Burroughs’ “first Naked Lunch.” That’s to say the trilogy to which, in late 1953, Burroughs originally applied the title “Naked Lunch” - texts published separately as: Junky, Queer, and The Yage Letters. These three early autobiographical works have not usually been read collectively - but we need to take them together if we’re to begin to understand how Burroughs went from these simple, seemingly realist texts written in the early 1950s to Naked Lunch by decade’s end.”
*Junky* is absolutely a great book--still my favorite by Burroughs. The direct sequel is *Queer* and it's good, too, though it has a very different psychological and emotional energy than the first book. I'd also recommend the Burroughs-Kerouac collaborative novel *And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks* and the little collection of early stories and fragments that was published under the title *Interzone* in 1989. The Burroughs-Kerouac collab is a fictionalized account of the murder of David Kammerer by Lucien Carr (both of them friends of Burroughs, Kerouac and Ginsberg) in mid-1940s New York City, and is written in the same deadpan, Dashiell Hammett-esque style that has endeared *Junky* to so many readers. And then there's *Speed* by Burroughs Jr., detailing the doomed son's own drug-related escapades in NYC.
If you are struggling with naked lunch, its probably because you are used to books with a story arc. If you read naked lunch just keep in mind that naked lunch is not actually a novel in the traditional sense, rather it is a collection of small routines, which are basically little vignettes. It wasn't written with a novel in mind. Once you get your head around that its a lot easier to read
you said that burroughs set agenda for the new wave in the UK for ballard, but who was the second author u mentioned, i didn’t recognize the name and would love to check out another writer like burroughs and ballard
Have you tried watching/listening again? I filmed this a long while ago and can't recall without rewatching it myself. What did it sound like? Post here with a phonetic approximation of what I said and I'm sure it will come to me immediately.
I have circa 100 or so Burroughs books and had the great privilege of working on a documentary film about his latter years ... shotgun art etc. My favourite book is The Ticket that Exploded (or versions thereof as it was a moving feast) which was the best of his cut up works for me. He is a writer posessed of occasional genius though his work is inconsistent and patchy. Nonetheless, he remains my favourite writer.
Yes, his significance is massive. I like 'Ticket' best as well, actually. I certainly have quite a few WSB titles (and associational material) in my collection.
@@outlawbookselleroriginal right? His opening about the 2 people playing chess blew my mind apart, he really does have some of the best chapter openers for any book that I’ve read honestly challenging Henry miller and heritage bataille
Love it, especially 'The Place of Dead Roads', one of my favourite SF novels and I re-read 'Cities of the Red Night' a couple of years ago and really, really enjoyed it again. Am less keen on 'Western Lands', but I'm due for a re-read on that.
@@outlawbookselleroriginal I'm presently reading the cut-up trilogy. I guess Burroughs was rather dismissive of the idea that these books form a trilogy, but he was a contrarian to the bone, so...
@@spencergrady5501 -Something coming up on saturday on the channel that mentions her and at some point, I'll do something more in depth as I'm quite a fan.
@@outlawbookselleroriginalwell yage letters and queer are connected and basically the same book but junkie is more stand alone and can be read on its own.. imo
@@provetamin Obviously they form an autobiographical trilogy, but the three books were published many years apart, so the first was read correctly as a singleton for decades.
I completely agree about reading junkie first. Thank you for your analysis in this video 🖤
Thanks. As a tried and tested method, you can't go wrong, right?
Burroughs is a writer I've wrestled with for many years. You either accept him--on his own terms--or you don't. It's always as if the words are being hammered out just as you read them, like electrical impulses being fed into your brain, and you're always left hanging for some kind of point of reference, a framing device, something. And then you just go with it, and you find yourself surfing through these amazing images, scenes, and one-liners that jump off the page. But you have to open yourself up to it. Thanks, Outlaw. Much appreciated, as always.
Agreed. 'Junky' is a better primer since I also made the mistake of reading 'Naked Lunch' first.
Favorite and coolest writer indeed! The crown jewel in my collection is a signed omnibus of Junky, Queer, and Naked Lunch.
Nice! I only have one signed WSB, a limited edition chapbook- 25 copies- of a book about Keruoac.
I first tried Burroughs in my early teens and it was impenetrable, I honestly believed anyone praising him was just trying to be hip. I tried again in my 20s after having squeezed a lot of life experience in and loved his work. I turn to his books every few years and get something new each time.
I think a lot of his readership keep going back to his works as they do, indeed, get something new every time as you say. I made the point about 'Junky' as I feel so many people fall at the first hurdle with WSB because they tackle NL first. I've always given this advice to customers and it's a natural. Thanks for your insight!
His books & short stories written in straight narrative are very good (junky,queer,inter zone and naked lunch to an extent). However the majority of his writings is extremely bad and completely incomprehensible. They are fantastically rambling, unfocused & over imagined. You will find individual lines within a 600 word text that are incredibly striking, perceptive and utterly strange so we have to forgive him for the rest of the rubbish 😂. Still an important writer. Have you read Will Selfs trilogy?
@@outlawbookselleroriginal Whenever people ask me about NL I say how basically it's the writing of an opiate withdrawal experience and they're always surprised. I do think that helps prepare the reader before they get into it.
@@paulcready7093 I agree that there is often much rambling and it shoots off randomly all over the place. With revisits though, I regularly find a lot of what was impenetrable does actually click.
I read the first of the Will Self trilogy, I think it was Umbrella, but I haven't read the others. Thanks for the reminder! I think it's a bit too easy to liken Will Self to Burroughs but then I do also understand the comparison.
@@antonhaq3503 I think you make a good point. Oh no I’m not making any comparisons their writing is nothing really alike but their are similarities just in the experience of reading those books. They are difficult modernist books to read and experimental. I was just curious 😊. I like you’re videos man keep it up.
His 'novel' Nova Express is one of my favorite pieces of modern literature, he's the best thing since Joyce.
Naked Lunch will always be a classic and his other great masterpiece.
Western Lands is also pretty amazing.
Yep, WSB was the man!
Brilliant video on probably my favorite writer. You've described him perfectly. Some great editions there as well. I always recommend people read 'Interzone' as well before Naked Lunch, as the surreal. yet straight narrative short stories set you up nicely for the more 'abstract' stuff. Another great vid! 👍
Great advice! I made the “mistake” of reading Naked Lunch first, followed by The Ticket that Exploded. Rough going for sure! 😄 And I agree about something “clicking”. Once it clicks how to read Burroughs, his books really open up. One thing that helped me was listening to recordings of Burroughs readings and then imagining his voice and cadence while reading myself.
Agreed, he was a great reader of his own work - I have around six CDs of him reading- and when you get his voice in your head, all is good. I think the 'read the famous book first' is a mistake with so many authors, I must say.
I'm a huge Burroughs fan, especially the trilogy. I've also recently discovered "The Age of Wire and String" by Ben Marcus which seems very similar to the cut-up writings of Burrough's, another great episode of this amazing channel Stephen, thanks.
Cheers!
Ty for emphasizing the Nova Trilogy. In my mind it is the most definitive statement on Burroughs' worldview as well as the intent and purpose of his writing. Great vid, ty
I read the cutup novels for the first time in high school because I had found out the writings of Burroughs were a big influence in industrial music, besides which I had been experimenting with surrealist writing techniques. (Could never paint, had to experiment with *something* lol).
Decades later, they make more sense, not less, as I get older.
Agreed. As Brion Bysin said to WSB 'Writing is 50 years behind painting,'.
@@outlawbookselleroriginal did you ever notice that fans of Burroughs run the full political spectrum? I know left-anarchists who find that the narrative of the nova mob reminds them of capitalists and the false consciousness they inculcate to the rest of us, but also right wing conspiracy theorists who find that the nova mob remind them of the globalists or international bankers or whatever.
Ah! I thought you were going to discuss the other Burroughs trilogy - the three novels that I think are his greatest achievement - Cities of the Red Night, The Place of Dead Roads, and The Western Lands. I'm a fan of Junky and Naked Lunch, also, but I've never been able to get on with the cut-ups. There are plenty of biographical and literary works about Burroughs that I rate, the latest being Matthew Levi Stevens' Magical Universe of William S Burroughs, which explores his occult interests. David S Wills's Scientologist! is also an entertaining look at WSB's relationship with that cult. The best biographical work is still Ted Morgan's Literary Outlaw, although Barry Miles's biography is good, too. Thanks for the video. I might have to try and read *this* earlier trilogy again.
Oh, and thanks for The Gardens of Eros recommendation. I've ordered a copy. 🙂
This channel is called 'Outlaw Bookseller' because of the Ted Morgan book, which I bought on its first publication- I have a signed first hardcover, great book. The Miles book is sketchy by comparison, I thought, but fine in its own right.
I'm a great admirer of the later trilogy too, especially 'The Place of Dead Roads'.
It's a great book, you'll learn a lot about avant-garde literary publishing from it.
@@outlawbookselleroriginal In the same vein, I can heartily recommend 'Dirty books: Erotic fiction and the avant-garde in mid-century Paris and New York' by Reay and Attwood. Smutty, naturally, in places, but very informative. You'll know that a lot of the avant-garde set also wrote pornography.
I haven’t read Burroughs in about 15 years or so, I read Junky first, it was lent to me and as a former drug addict myself I related very much to it and the strife I connected with. Naked Lunch I read shortly after that. I’m currently reading The Soft Machine and I’m slowly warming up to it. There is a plot somewhere in there hahaha. I just came off reading A Clockwork Orange and Hemingway before that so I love to jump around a lot. I’ve had The Soft Machine sitting on my shelf for years and I’m finally now getting to it. At first I was frustrated thinking it was just more of the same weirdness and drug addled writing about heroin from his other books. But there is definitely more here.
You have to work at Burroughs: then something just clicks....
Hearing extracts from his 'live' readings again, I forgot how funny he was. I'm not even sure how intentional this was, but 'The Do-Rights' is a riot.
For me his best recording is the 'Dead City Radio' album and his EP with Gus Van Sant ('The Elvis of Letters' is pretty special too). Not sure where I've put my Buroughs CDs actually...
I just read his exterminator. Excellent collection of short story’s. If anyone is interested in Burroughs I would recommend it ❤
Agreed!
My first time watching your videos and I am glad to of found your channel. I actually started with Junky, Queer and the Yage Letters as a kind of a trilogy bit right there. I've since read Naked Lunch and was looking at the Nova trilogy next. I've also read and the hippos were boiled in their tanks.
Welcome aboard Chris, hope you like the rest of it- some 300 videos here! You've definitely gone into Burroughs from the best direction- early work.
@@outlawbookselleroriginal Well that’s good to know. I know imagine there is a few to enjoy. Will watch some more later. Where would you suggest going from the Nova trilogy? Are there any similar authors you would recommend?
@@chrisreadingcorner3816 Well, there are later Burroughs things you should read. Then watch out for my upcoming videos on New Wave SF - there will be several, including one on WSB's influence -that will point you in several interesting directions.
@@outlawbookselleroriginal I was thinking of reading the red night trilogy next. I will be keeping an eye out for upcoming videos
hes the best for me honestly . at first i didnt think id like him.but man, i spent two summers with his books,andthey were amazing for me.
Yes, it's simply astonishing work.
Once you get Burroughs and understand him you are left in sublime awe, rest in peace we still feel your presence
Thank you Stephen! I'm worried I may soon become a Stephen E. Andrews completist and run out of your back catalogue. Then what will I do?
Very kind, thanks for the superthanks- well, there are around 400 vids here, three new ones a week on average, dig deep!
You got to love Burroughs. This guy is right, about reading junky first
I remember my mother thumbing through Naked Lunch which she'd taken off my bookshelf- she said 'it's all about people doing things to other people's bottoms" I replied that I couldn't have described it better myself" 😄
Well, there is an element of that in the book as she said LOL...thanks for yr comment, do subscribe, check out my newer videos and watch out for the Nova Mob!
That’s very funny
Junky first seems logical and is the best introduction to Burroughs as addict but it doesn't prepare the reader for the cut up universe of the trilogy. Likewise, listening to early Arkestra albums is a good introduction but his Out There material will probably still be a massive shock. Nice video though. Perhaps you should do a one-off on Space Music? The perfect soundtracks to SF?
There are already about 6 Hawkwind analysis videos here, check the Hawkwind playlist.
Burroughs was a fearless mystic visionary who stood for truth of soul. Naked Lunch is and was the only book for me. After that, everyone else was milquetoast. Not even Hemingway, not even Miller, not even Thompson were as bold and outside as William. He literally changes your consciousness.
He definitely does. A lot of it is stream of thought abstract writing. When I was on drugs I used to write and write and write in much the same way so I understand this. Today I’m much more into “down to earth” novels but I’m reading the Soft Machine now and am getting into it
Yes it is an explosion of consciousness, dazzling!
Nova Express is my favorite novel of all time, it is incredible (and funny too).
Superb book, I regularly pick it up and re-read parts.
@@outlawbookselleroriginal I've been having a Burroughs reread thing which I do every few years.
I just spent 2 months immersed in Nova Express and now I'm onto Naked Lunch.
His universe is incredibly immersive, hilarious on one layer but darker than any horror writer.
The Red Nights trilogy is also gonna be fun to reread soon.
After watching some of your other videos I've decided on reading 'the soft machine', first.
I'm not sure if that's a good start, but if not someone do, let me know.
If you mean for your first Burroughs per se, you should read 'Junky' first, then the trilogy.
@outlawbookselleroriginal ha! I get it, ease into the magnificent prose of W. S. Burroughs via Junky. Cool, thank you.
I read about four of his books when I was 16 or 17. Of the trilogy I found the (1961 - 66) Soft Machine the most enjoyable. Nova Express struck me as too didactic and I never read it again. when I read The Wild Boys it was revelatory! Simply exploded my conciousness, past present future all vividly alive. I continued to read the later books as they came out, but hes alwas been a huge influence. Btw Im not a big SF fan.
You're so right about his spoken word, "Spare Ass Annie and other Tails I can recite the entire CD by memory...it's good therapy to hear Uncle Bill's voice come out of your mouthl
He's so damnably funny! One of my favorite lines is from JUNKY. The Brooklyn doctor had written them one more script, while delivering a mewling pleas to "And for God's sake cover up for me...I've always been right with you boys and wanted to stop months ago, I just couldn't leave you stranded...now here's the script and don't come back."
Roy went back the next day."
Well I was in a Borders and braying laughter escaped my mouth and as I couldn't stop, I stumbled helplessly to the exit, dropping the book on the floor. Lord!
Yeah, I think people miss the humour! My fave album by Bill is 'Dead City Radio' and I'm a bit partial to 'The Elvis of Letters', but it's all deathless stuff, right?
@@outlawbookselleroriginal Indeed.
@@outlawbookselleroriginal Yes. When I listen to "Falling In Love Again", I get a vision of Burroughs back in The Bunker singing this song to the badly charred and dying after the greatest flashbulb in human history popped off from Hell's Paparazzi.
He figures to wait a week before rummaging through medicine cabinets and bedside tables of the dead. Wouldn't you?
I first read Naked Lunch after seeing the movie in the early 2000s. Then read Junkie. I've read Naked Lunch several times over the years and finally decided to start the Trilogy. I've read them in the wrong order apparently (published order felt logical). So I started with Ticket that Exploded, then Soft Machine, and I'm finally on Nova Express. I've enjoyed Soft Machine a lot and Nova Express follows the same vein for me. Ticket felt almost impenetrable at times to me, so it was a rough start. Perhaps it all hadn't "clicked" yet and I'll need to reread it again after finishing Nova.
I read the Trilogy in publication order originally too- naturally, most people would have. It's only comparatively recently that it's become more common knowledge what the correct order is. I see them as a mosaic sequence anyway- and I'm sure Burroughs would have agreed with this - meaning you could read them in any order and experience the overlapping approach.
It seems that most Burroughs readers read them so often that they desperately try and tape them together, this happened with JUNKY, QUEER, NAKED LUNCH and THE LETTER OF WSB '45-'59. Even after I have to give up and replace them, I keep them on the shelf. Junky, especially, as I had so many numbers of connections and cryptic names in margins...the book(s) are like dear friends who I just cannot give up on, I merely put them on a comfy shelf, all together.
'Junky' is one of my top ten books of all time. I've read it at least twenty times. An absolute masterpiece, so many of the lines from it are engraved on my soul. That's how you write an autobiographical novel in my book.
I read Junk/Junky first, and it's probably still my favorite of his books(though to be as transparent as possible, I read it as a young kid(well, maybe 17-19) at the peak of my painkiller/heroin addiction(and by "peak" i mean the point where it was still "fun", and didnt have to worry about a career, a wife, kids, a house, etc., and also right around the time i just sort of decided that i was just going to keep using(despite knowing i was hopelessly addicted), and if it got too bad, i could always ƙ!ll myself(which I came extremely close to doing.)
I can't remember what books I read after that. Queer I read relatively soon after that, as well as other books, poems, even movies from or about the Beat Poets and their accomplices, and Naked Lunch was probably the 3rd or 4th book of his that I read(and I agree, that's not ideal.)
However, just by reading Junk and a couple other books, you quickly catch on to his idiosyncrasies, his expressions, who he's referring to, whether by nickname, pen name, a letter, or even when he's referring to himself in the third person, all the various characters and their roles, from NYC to Mexico City, Tangier, etc.
As for the other books, I don't actually remember much about them for the most part. Though I do still have them in one of my book shelves upstairs. Sounds like it's time for me to bust them out. I did always like how short the books were. It is kind of a pain in the butt though regarding when to read what, which books go together, whether they were finished or not, or even just in their "final form", etc.(it's almost like reading Kafka.)
'Junky' remains my favourite and my first too. I can't count the number of times I read it- and you're right, the anecdotal/character aspects of it are deathless.
I recommend watching the movie Naked Lunch before reading the book.I had a hard time understanding the book u til I saw the movie then it all made sense.
Not a bad idea, though the film is of course more about how the book was written, but it is nonetheless excellent, being a Cronenberg film.
Wasn't there supposed to be a trilogy before the Nova Trilogy? I heard it was going to be, Junky, Queer, and a unfinished third book. The third book was supposed to focus on their experience with yage while on their visit in South America. The closest that came to a third book was The Yage Letters. I cannot remember where I read this.
Yes, you could read these as a trilogy, but of course the latter two volumes were published decades after the Cut-Up Trilogy.
@@outlawbookselleroriginal I was talking about how Queer was written before the Nova trilogy. I just remembered the The Red Night Trilogy. It was Cities of the Red Night, The Place of Dead Roads, and The Western Lands.
@@notvcinema8741 Yes, written before, but not published until a long time after the trilogy I cover. And yes, there's the other trilogy.
@@outlawbookselleroriginal "I know when the books were published: Junky in 1953, Queer in 1985, and The Yage Letters in 1963. Burroughs originally intended these works to be part of a trilogy titled Naked Lunch. However, Naked Lunch ultimately became the standalone book we know today. Oliver Harris discusses this in his article 'Confusion’s Masterpiece: Re-Editing William S. Burroughs’ First Trilogy'. Harris edited the Junky 50th Anniversary Definitive Edition, contributed to the 25th edition of Queer, and was the editor for The Yage Letters Redux. Here’s a quote from his article:
“To be sure, confusion is the most common state in which the work has left its readers - especially in comparison to Burroughs’ “first Naked Lunch.” That’s to say the trilogy to which, in late 1953, Burroughs originally applied the title “Naked Lunch” - texts published separately as: Junky, Queer, and The Yage Letters.
These three early autobiographical works have not usually been read collectively - but we need to take them together if we’re to begin to understand how Burroughs went from these simple, seemingly realist texts written in the early 1950s to Naked Lunch by decade’s end.”
@@notvcinema8741 Yeah, I have that edition, read this piece.
*Junky* is absolutely a great book--still my favorite by Burroughs. The direct sequel is *Queer* and it's good, too, though it has a very different psychological and emotional energy than the first book. I'd also recommend the Burroughs-Kerouac collaborative novel *And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks* and the little collection of early stories and fragments that was published under the title *Interzone* in 1989. The Burroughs-Kerouac collab is a fictionalized account of the murder of David Kammerer by Lucien Carr (both of them friends of Burroughs, Kerouac and Ginsberg) in mid-1940s New York City, and is written in the same deadpan, Dashiell Hammett-esque style that has endeared *Junky* to so many readers.
And then there's *Speed* by Burroughs Jr., detailing the doomed son's own drug-related escapades in NYC.
Read them all decades ago of course. 'Junky' is one of my fave books of all time and I've read it at least twenty times.
If you are struggling with naked lunch, its probably because you are used to books with a story arc. If you read naked lunch just keep in mind that naked lunch is not actually a novel in the traditional sense, rather it is a collection of small routines, which are basically little vignettes. It wasn't written with a novel in mind. Once you get your head around that its a lot easier to read
Presumably you're aiming this at the audience- you're right, of course, as I say in the video. Burroughs is about expecting the unexpected, right?
you said that burroughs set agenda for the new wave in the UK for ballard, but who was the second author u mentioned, i didn’t recognize the name and would love to check out another writer like burroughs and ballard
Have you tried watching/listening again? I filmed this a long while ago and can't recall without rewatching it myself. What did it sound like? Post here with a phonetic approximation of what I said and I'm sure it will come to me immediately.
I have circa 100 or so Burroughs books and had the great privilege of working on a documentary film about his latter years ... shotgun art etc. My favourite book is The Ticket that Exploded (or versions thereof as it was a moving feast) which was the best of his cut up works for me. He is a writer posessed of occasional genius though his work is inconsistent and patchy. Nonetheless, he remains my favourite writer.
Yes, his significance is massive. I like 'Ticket' best as well, actually. I certainly have quite a few WSB titles (and associational material) in my collection.
@@outlawbookselleroriginal right? His opening about the 2 people playing chess blew my mind apart, he really does have some of the best chapter openers for any book that I’ve read honestly challenging Henry miller and heritage bataille
@@clownpaint20 Miller ans Bataille-good stuff!
Soft Machine exists in 3 versions, I have 2.
I have all three I seem to recall....
What do you think of Burroughs' other "trilogy": Cities of the Red Night, A Place of Dead Roads and The Western Lands?
Love it, especially 'The Place of Dead Roads', one of my favourite SF novels and I re-read 'Cities of the Red Night' a couple of years ago and really, really enjoyed it again. Am less keen on 'Western Lands', but I'm due for a re-read on that.
@@outlawbookselleroriginal I'm presently reading the cut-up trilogy. I guess Burroughs was rather dismissive of the idea that these books form a trilogy, but he was a contrarian to the bone, so...
@@thekeywitness -Let me know how you get on! I love them, personally, especially 'ticket'.
Cool me daft, but I really like Ghost of Chance.
Yes, it's pretty good, but then I'm a Burroughs nut. You'd love 'Mercury' by Anna Kavan, I'd say.
@@outlawbookselleroriginal ha, big Anna Kavan fan - so, quite right - love Ice by her, too
@@spencergrady5501 -Something coming up on saturday on the channel that mentions her and at some point, I'll do something more in depth as I'm quite a fan.
@@outlawbookselleroriginal great stuff
Don't JUNKY, QUEER, and YAGE LETTERS also form a trilogy?
Yes, since they can be read in a chronological sequence that covers a period in WSBs life and there are three of them.
@@outlawbookselleroriginalwell yage letters and queer are connected and basically the same book but junkie is more stand alone and can be read on its own.. imo
@@provetamin Obviously they form an autobiographical trilogy, but the three books were published many years apart, so the first was read correctly as a singleton for decades.