Tuesday, July 14, 2009

10 Books A Day: #82

Naked Lunch...William S. Burroughs...Grove Weiderfeld



Junky...William S. Burroughs...Penguin



Queer...William S. Burroughs...Penguin



The Last Words Of Dutch Schultz...William S. Burroughs...Seaver Books



The Burroughs File...William S. Burroughs...City Lights Books



The Adding Machine...William S. Burroughs...Arcade



The Yage Letters...William S. Burroughs & Allen Ginsberg...City Lights



Cities Of The Red Night...William S. Burroughs...Holt Rhinehart Winston



The Place Of Dead Roads...William S. Burroughs...Holt Rhinehart Winston



The Western Lands...William S. Burroughs...Penguin



My Education: A Book Of Dreams...William S. Burroughs...Viking



The Letters Of William S. Burroughs 1945-1959...ed. Oliver Harris...Viking



The Job: Interviews With William S. Burroughs...Daniel Oder...Penguin



With William Burroughs: A Report From The Bunker...Victor Bockris...St. Martin's Griffin



Literary Outlaw: The Life And Times Of William S. Burroughs...Ted Morgan...Henry Holt


More than most books in my library I consider all the William S. Burroughs materials not "mine" as such, and this is only partly because they were mostly collected by my brothers Mike and John. They should more properly be kept in a lead-lined container, or, perhaps, an orgone box. To read them is a haunted and haunting experience. Although they seem to quietly have their own existence while sitting on the shelf, once they are interfaced with a living mind coincidences and synchronicities begin to crowd intrusively into real life. Just typing up this list and listening to my music library at the same time seemed to summon "William's Welcome" from Dead City Radio, and the flat, weary, pissed voice of Burroughs asking, "What are you here for?" Just a thing, most people would say, but of all my sound files, that, just then? I'd been listening to random select two hours before, then two hours after, and though I have at least 15 WSB clips, no others came up.


Book Count:1049.

2 comments:

AlanDP said...

Truly strange. I have "The Last Words of Dutch Schultz," other than that the only thing I've read was that big biography that Mike loaned me once. It certainly was haunting.

Every time I see "Naked Lunch" I'm reminded of Nelson Muntz saying, "I can think of at least two things wrong with that title."

John said...

"Everything is under-" (Sound effect of a nuclear explosion)...