Part Two: Introductions, Forewords, Etc...
“Above all things else, we must recall, the imagination is an assimilating energy.”
-John Livingston Lowes, The Road To Xanadu
Anderson, Wayne. Takis. Evidence of the Unseen. Cambridge MA: MIT Press, 1968. Commentary.
Panayiotis Vassilakis (1925-?) Greek sculptor and artist. Takis is most famous for his
involvement in kinetic art and his use of magnetism and electromagnetism in the visual arts.
His work at this time (50’s and 60’s) consisted of metal objects appearing to float in mid
air held a short distance from conveniently placed magnets. Harold Norse, Brion Gysin,
and William Burroughs were very interested in his work during this time.
Angerame, Dominic and Andrew Moore and Michael Wallin (ed.'s) Canyon Cinema. CA: Canyon Cinema, 1982. Introduction.
Ballard, J.G. The Atrocity Exhibition. RE/Search, 1990. Revised, expanded, annotated, illustrated edition. Preface. See section one for more information on Ballard.
Ballard, J.G. Love & Napalm: Export U.S.A. NY: Grove Press, 1972. Preface.
Beach, Mary. A Two-Fisted Banana: Electric and Gothic. Cherry Valley Editions, 1980. Introduction.
Mary Beach, author, editor, and artist. Beach was married to Claude Pelieu, a Burroughs
collaborator.
Black, Jack. You Can't Win. Amok Press, 1988. Foreword. See section one for more information.
Burroughs Jr., William S. Kentucky Ham. The Overlook Press, 1984. Afterword.
Choukri, Mohamed. Jean Genet In Tangier. Translated by Paul Bowles. The Ecco Press, 1974. Introduction.
Condo, George. Recent Paintings. Pace Wildenstein, 1994. Introduction.
George Condo (1957- ) American artist. Burroughs collaborator.
Cook, Ralph. William S. Burroughs The Hombre Invisible. Atticus Books. Catalogue Eight, 1981. Foreword. This catalogue was a very useful piece of Burroughsiana.
Appearing eight years after the Maynard and Miles bibliography this catalogue was important
because it listed so many items that had slipped between the cracks, and so many books
that had appeared after the Miles bibliography.
Corso, Gregory. Mindfield. New & Selected Poems. NY: Thunder's Mouth Press, 1989. Introductory Notes. Gregory Corso and Burroughs met in 1953 through mutual friend, Allen
Ginsberg. Corso was a leading poet in the beat generation. He was the author of many books including Bomb, Gasoline, a collaboration with Burroughs, Gysin, and Sinclair Beiles entitled Minutes To Go (a cut-up text) and later a collected works entitled Mindfield, among others. Corso referred to himself as a poet. They remained friends until Burroughs’ death in 1997. Corso died in 2001.
De Rienzo, Paul and Dana Beal and Members of the Project. The Ibogaine Story. Report On The Staten Island Project. Autonomedia, 1997. Introduction. Reprints “Deposition: Testimony Concerning a Sickness,” in the form of an introduction. The book concerns the controversial drug, ibogaine.
DeSana, Jimmy. Submission. Scat, 1979. Introduction. Jimmy DeSana (1947-1990) American
photographer. Known for his early work in color art photography. Much of his work was
black and white nudes and celebrity photographs of such luminaries as Andy Warhol and
Burroughs.
Giorno, John. Suicide Sutra. No Information.
John Giorno was a close friend of Burroughs for many years. Gysin and Giorno were lovers
in 1965 at which time Burroughs met Giorno. He was the founder of the “Dial-a-Poem” (1969), the star of Andy Warhol’s Sleep, and was a major mover in the New York art scene
in the sixties, seventies, and eighties. He has done a great deal of work for AIDS charity and
remained friends with Burroughs until his death. He still keeps up 222 Bowery (the Bunker) and
in 1998 released the Best of William Burroughs audio collection. An essential compilation.
Giorno, John. You Got To Burn To Shine. New & Selected Writings. High Risk, 1994. Introduction.
Gysin, Brion. Here To Go: Planet R-101. Brion Gysin Interviewed by Terry Wilson. Quartet Books, 1982. Preface and texts. See section one for more information on Gysin.
Gysin, Brion. The Last Museum. NY: Grove Press, 1986. Introduction.
Haring, Keith. Future Primeval. Abbeville, 1990. Foreword. See section one for more on Haring.
Helnwein, Gottfried. Faces. Edition Stemmle, 1992. Text in German and English in the form of an Introduction. German photographer. Helnwein is responsible for the classic series of Burroughs
photographs showing him close up with eyes open and a gun, and with eyes closed.
Burroughs called Helnwein a master of “surprise recognition.”
Huncke, Herbert. Guilty Of Everything. The Autobiography of Herbert Huncke. Paragon House, 1990. Foreword. Huncke (1915-1996) American writer. Burroughs and Huncke became friends
in the mid forties. Huncke introduced Burroughs to heroin and they were life long friends.
Huncke, Herbert. The Herbert Huncke Reader. Edited by Benjamin G. Schafer. William Morrow, 1997. Foreword.
Latimer, Dean and Jeff Goldberg. Flowers In The Blood. The Story Of Opium. Franklin Watts, 1981.
Leary, Timothy. Flashbacks. An Autobiography. Tarcher/Putnam, 1990. Foreword.
Timothy Leary (1920-1996) American psychologist, philosopher, and writer. Burroughs
and Leary were introduced in 1961. Leary wanted to turn Burroughs on to mushrooms. They became friends, with minor disagreements in the beginning, and remained friends until Leary’s death. They also collaborated on a book entitled Concrete and Buckshot.
Marshall, Richard. Strange Amazing and Mysterious Places. Collins Publishers, 1993. Introduction.
Maynard, Joe and Barry Miles. William S. Burroughs A Bibliography. University Press of Virginia, 1978. Foreword. The essential guide to the works of William Burroughs.
Miles, Barry. Catalogue of the William S. Burroughs Archive. Covent Garden Press, 1973. Introduction and texts. Books Burroughs owned and described in the archive by Miles are listed in section
five of this book.
Norse, Harold. Beat Hotel. Atticus Press, 1983. Foreword.
Norse and Burroughs met in Paris at the “beat hotel.” When Norse was first introduced to Burroughs he claimed to have met a very cold and distant person. However, upon reading Norse’s cut-up experiment called “Sniffing Key Holes” Burroughs laughed and became very friendly. They remained friends until Burroughs passed away. Norse was close friends with Charles Bukowski and worked with Tennessee Williams and W. H. Auden. He is a well known poet still living in San Francisco.
Nuttall, Jeff. Pig. Fulcrum Press, 1969. Preface. See section one for more information about Nuttall.
Ohle, David and Roger Martin and Susan Brosseau. Cows Are Freaky When They Look At You. An Oral History of the Kaw Valley Hemp Pickers. Watermark, 1991. Foreword. See section one for
information about David Ohle and his relationship with Burroughs.
Pelieu, Claude. With Revolvers Aimed...Finger Bowls. SF, CA: Beach Books, 1967. WSB presents this cut-up text by Pelieu. Claude Pelieu and his wife Mary Beach were writers, poets, artists, and translators of great and experimental work. Their collaborators included Patti Smith, Ed Sanders, Brion Gysin, and William Burroughs. Pelieu passed away in 2002.
Sloman, Larry "Ratso". Reefer Madness. A History Of Marijuana. NY: St. Martin's Griffin, 1998. Introduction
Smith, Patti. Two Times Intro: On The Road With Patti Smith. Little, Brown, 1998. Text in the form of an Introduction. Patricia Lee Smith (1946- ) American poet, musician, and rock star.
Patti Smith was heavily influenced by Burroughs and Ginsberg. Her other influences include Baudelaire and Rimbaud. Her first album, Horses is easily one of the most important rock albums of all time. Smith and Burroughs became friends during the seventies while he was living in NY. Burroughs claimed many times that her power lied not in her lyrics but in her performances, which are still widely praised. Smith remained friends with Burroughs until his death and attended his funeral where she was spotted dropping something into his grave.
Southern, Terry. Flash & Filigree. NY: Arbor House, 1984. Introduction. Terry Southern (1924-1995)
American writer & screenwriter. Author of Candy (with Mason Hoffenberg), Blue Movie,
The Magic Christian, Flash & Filigree, Texas Summer, he was also the author of many
screenplays including Dr. Strangelove, Barbarella, Candy, and Easy Rider (with Dennis
Hopper and Peter Fonda.) Southern was one of the first to recognize Burroughs as a great
writer, defending Naked Lunch in 1964 his now famous blurb reads “an absolutely devastating
ridicule of all that is false, primitive, and vicious in current American life.” The statement
came from his essay on Naked Lunch entitled, “Rolling Over Our Nerve Endings.” Burroughs
and Southern were great friends until Southern’s death in 1995. Their relationship has
been documented in Morgan’s Literary Outlaw and on film in Howard Brookner’s masterpiece
documentary Burroughs, where we get to see Burroughs convince Terry to sit in an orgone
accumulator.
Strausbaugh, John and Donald Blaise. The Drug User. Documents 1840-1960. Blast Books. 1991. Foreword.
Trocchi, Alexander. Man At Leisure. Calder/Boyars. Introduction. See section one for more on Trocchi.
Walker, Robert. New York Inside Out. Skyline Press, 1984. Introduction.
Weber, Bruce. An Exhibition By Bruce Weber at Fahey/Klein Gallery, 1991. Text in the form of an Introduction. Bruce Weber (1946- ) American photographer.
Weissner, Carl. The Braille Film. Nova Broadcast Press, 1970. Counterscript. Carl Weissner was
a German poet who collaborated with Burroughs on some of the cut up texts including So Who
Owns Death TV?
Welch, Denton. In Youth Is Pleasure. E.P. Dutton, 1985. Foreword. See section one for more information on Denton Welch.
Wilson, S. Clay. Bastard. Futuropolis, 1984. Introduction. S. Clay Wilson (1941- ) American artist.
Famous for underground comix. His most well known include The Checkered Demon and Ruby
The Dyke. He was also a regular contributor to Zap, and worked with R. Crumb. His
collaborations with Burroughs included the illustrations on the German editions of The Wild Boys, and Cities of the Red Night. He also illustrated Tornado Alley.
Wilson, S. Clay. The Collected Checkered Demon Volume 1. SF, CA: Last Gasp of San Francisco, 1998. Introduction.