Product Description
With captions by Allen Ginsberg and a preface by William S. Burroughs, this is the only book to celebrate and chronicle the gay parade in NYC during its heyday.

An all-new collection-none of the photos, captions, or preface has ever been published before! Taken during the early days of the gay pride parade, these photos were captioned by Allen Ginsberg and laid aside until now. This book provides a unique and personal look into the roots of one the city's most vibrant traditions, as well as being an important addition to gay/lesbian literature and photo documentation.

Hank O'Neal chronicled the New York City gay pride parade from the informal, spontaneous ritual held soon after the Stonewall Riots up to the more orchestrated, glamorous parades of the 80s, before AIDS turned the parade into a political necessity.All of O'Neal's photographs date from 1974 to 1984, when the parade was held on Christopher Street in Greenwich Village (it has since moved to 5th Avenue).The photos capture the personality, the community, and the spirit of the gay pride parade in its earliest stages. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

For Gay Nostalgia or Gay History Buffs
Having been a young gay man in New York during the era covered in these photos, I found myself a bit bemused by this book.A large number of the photos are of skinny lads with their shirts off or grimacing drag queens, whereas my own memories are of more varied crowds.The photos themselves are very much alike, and soon begin to blur one into the other.The photographer was not blessed with an artistic or selective eye.Nevertheless, the photos are a historical record, if a partial one.

The picture captions, however, are nothing short of awful.Written by the gay poet and Beatnik icon, Allan Ginsberg, they read like the giddy outpourings of a junior high school glue sniffer.The publisher has seen fit to print each caption twice, once in type and once in Ginsberg's handwriting - a dubious bonus.They have no real relation to the pictures, which might have been made more interesting with some focused comment.

The cover has been tarted up with art work that suggests Day-Glo flower stickers.

its ok
not much to say- a bunch of pics from back in the day- the hot pants and hair and moustaches are interesting to view- ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Good introduction to Burroughs
This volume contains substantial extracts from the following books: Naked Lunch (1959), Soft Machine (1962), The Ticket That Exploded (1962), Nova Express (1965), Wild Boys (1969), Exterminator (1973), Third Mind (1979) and Cities Of The Red Night (1981). There is a lengthy introduction by John Calder and an introduction to each of the aforementioned chapters.

The excerpts are as follows; From Naked Lunch: Article from The British Journal of Addiction, Deposition, Testimony Concerning A Sickness, The Drug Scene, Doctors And Scientists, Meeting of International Conference of Technological Psychiatry, Technology and Control, Eros and Thanatos, The County Clerk, The Flash.

From Soft Machine comes Dead On Arrival, Early Answer, Case of The Celluloid Kali, Pretend An Interest, Dead Fingers Talk. Selections from The Ticket That Exploded include In A Strange Bed, Do You Love Me?, Operation Rewrite and Combat Troops In The Area.

Nova Express includes Last Word, Prisoners Come Out, Pry Yourself Loose And Listen, Chinese Laundry, Inflexible Authority, Melted Into Air and Clom Friday. Featured in Exterminator are Davy Jones, The Teacher, Old Movie, Cold Lost Marbles, whilst The Third Mind includes Minutes To Go, an Interview from 1966, The Cut-Up Method of Bryan Gysin, Cut-Ups by Brion Gysin and Fold-Ins.

Chapters from Cities Of The Red Night include The Health Officer, The Rescue, The Private Assh0le, Fever Spoor, Are You In Salt, Horse Hattock, Quien Es, Even The Cockroaches, Necesita Automovil and We Are Here Because Of You.

The book concludes with a selected bibliography of books by and about Burroughs. The William Burroughs Reader is an excellent introduction to the works of this innovative author, but not quite complete as it omits, in my opinion, his very best works, i.e. Queer and Junky. Besides this omission, it would be a good place to start for those who wish to explore the genius of William Burroughs.
... Read more

Product Description
interviews, essays, graphics & tributes (from UK) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Unless you are a WSB fanatic, you can safely skip this one.
First, the contents; This is an "in memorium" book. It contains 5 (but rather short) interviews with WSB, and an unpublished intro that WSB wrote for a Grove Press catalog. That takes about 40 pages of a 163 page book. The rest is tributes to WSB by various minor writers and artist.

The interviews are not anything spectacular. WSB is not a person that gives new insight like potato chips. He repeats the same thing over and over again, so most of what he says in the interviews, you've probably already read somewhere. All the interviewers are rather ... 2nd rate, most have no idea how to develop a theme, and they just slide along from one topic to the next, only scratching the surface everywhere.

The tributes are, there are about 40 of them altogether, and all of them are unimpressive.

So, as I said in the text, you can skip this unless you are a fanatic like myself (and even this fanatic was not very enthusiastic when this came through the mail). But since it does contain WSB material that you can't find anywhere else, If you GOT to have it all, go for it. ... Read more

Product Description

Although a rather shy, private man, William Burroughs gave a good many interviews during his lifetime, some in prominent publications, others in obscure forums. The interviews collected here provide an aperture into the philosophies, methods, and quirks of a man who wrote Queer, Junky, Naked Lunch, Nova Express, Cities of the Red Night, My Education, and many other works.

When he died in 1997, Burroughs was likely one of the most widely recognizable figures in contemporary American literature. His image circulated on album jackets, in Nike commercials, and in films, as though proving his notion that pictures and words are viruses, invading any receptive host, taking hold, and replicating themselves.

Not surprisingly, the topics Burroughs touches upon are wide-ranging: his relationships to the Beats, legends surrounding his personal life, drugs, gay liberation, collaboration, the cut-up technique, science fiction, politics, conspiracy theory, censorship, cats, guns, David Cronenberg's movie adaptation of Naked Lunch, shotgun art, dreams, and life in Lawrence, Kansas, where he spent his last years. From these interviews emerges a full, undiluted portait of a writer who is difficult to capture in biography.

Speaking of the Paris Review interview Alfred Kazin calls Burroughs "an engineer of the pen, a calmly interested specialist of the new processes. When Burroughs makes philosophic and scientific claims for his disorderly collections of data, we happily recognize under the externally calm surface of the interview, the kind of inner frenzy that is his genius--and which, in all of us, his books make an appeal." Kazin's view applies as well for the other interviews in this collection.

Allen Hibbard is an associate professor of English and the director of graduate studies at Middle Tennessee State University. He is the author of Paul Bowles: A Study of the Short Fiction and of many articles. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Succinct Overview of Burroughs' Meeting with the Press
Readers who already own "Burroughs Live," a nearly 800+ page colllection of Burroughs interviews, may be hesitant to buy "Conversations With..." But this book is a bit more than a Readers Digest condensed version of "Live."

People just starting to approach Burroughs will certainly be less intimidated by this 226-page collection, and might find it a more appropriate "port of entry." Completists will note that of the 21 interviews collected here, 10 of them do not appear in "Live." While most of these "outtakes" have material that is well-trodden in "Live" and are not essential reading, there are three very strong exceptions.

Both J.E. Rivers and noted Burroughs scholar Jennie Skerl have interviews here that I would consider essential reading for anyone who studies Burroughs' work. These interviews are unique in that they are less 'personality' focused than the others, and conducted by people who are thoroughly well-read in -- and conversant with -- their subject. Why these interviews were not included in the otherwise thorough "Burroughs Live" is genuinely odd.

A third piece, written by Lynn Snowden for Esquire, is more personality-driven and features David Cronenberg as well as Burroughs... Perhaps even more of Cronenberg than Burroughs. It is a less reverential piece, however, and a quite refreshing perspective after reading a great many interviewers fawning all over Burroughs.

You'll Know Burroughs
"Conversations With William S. Burroughs" might be more than most readers interested in the Beats might care to read. However, if you find the life of a writer as intriguing as his writings, you'll love this.

As a student of the Beat style (particularly how Kerouac merged poets into music), I was curious to learn more about the people of the movement.

"Conversations With William S. Burroughs" feeds into the pretensions of Burroughs' personality. There's the obvious cross-pollinating in here, showing how Corso, Ginsberg, Ferlingetti, Kerouac all fed each other compliments. Owning a lot of the pop-philosphy which eventually ruined the Beats... discussing issues he didn't care about in 'real life'. It is hard to tell what Burroughs finds interesting, and what he really believed in.

This isn't the best you'll read on Burroughs, but it is essential to get into the full look of the writer's pensive life. He seems more introspective than his counterparts, but just as politically-minded.

I recommend "Conversations With William S. Burroughs."

Anthony Trendl

What Could Be Better?
Who can't love a book in which WB tells all? ... Read more

Product Description
An indispensable selection of Burroughs' work.'Word Virus' brings together selections of Burroughs' most important and challenging work, beginning with his very early work (including a chapter from a novel in collaboration with Jack Kerouac) and following his trajectory through 'The Cat Inside'.This book has been edited to serve as a tool for the scholar and with commentary for the general reader. Important biographical information is included which provides key links to understanding Burroughs' work within the context of his life.Burroughs managed to be a visionary amongst writers: he imagined the Internet decades before its appearance and peered into the future of other technologies; he kept pace with world affairs and cultural trends; and, with each of his books, he introduced new possibilities to the form. When he died in 1997, the world of letters lost its most elegant insider. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

First Edition of the Atrocity Exhibition
FYI, this is the original Vietnam-era name of "The Atrocity Exhibition," which remains widely available. The first edition hardback was published in a wonderfully lurid cover consisting, I believe,of a skull, painted in a flower-power motif, set against a background of flames. Suitably enough, I found my first edition in a used book shack in a nameless stripmall somewhere in Orange County. I think I paid $4.95, and was appalled at the asking price ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Interesting Insight into Life of a Junky
Very interesting book by the son of the guy that wrote Naked Lunch.The son is also a junky and he ends up in a rehap institute.A nice discussion of the life of a junky and a new perspective on the after-effects of the beat generation without being judgmental or the least bit preachy.While it's not high literature, it is very well written and worth a chance. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Amazing!
Three revolutionaries in one book: William S. Burroughs, Brion Gysin, and Throbbing Gristle(Genesis P. Orridge).This book will change the way you look at society and language.Burroughs' piece, "The Revised BoyScout Manual" is groundbreaking.Gysin is interviewed about hispainting, writing, and time in Morocco.P. Orridge talks about music andmagick.YOU NEED THIS BOOK! ... Read more

Product Description
letters during travels to South America ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

The Real Bill
I've been a long time fan of WSB and this is another great insight into the man. Yage Letters is a must for the Beat reader! Pure, raw and brief glimpses of a person in pursuit of knowledge.

Autonomous Thinkers in a Bourgeois World
A great piece of history by the avant garde writers, in this case some letters, of autonomous thinkers (and doers) that depart from the mediocre bourgeois and robotic, patriotic, mind-melted citizen. Reading this book and I'm not sure if I should frown on Burrough's way of life or envy it. I don't favor much of his drug use and his tastes and sexual preferences, but at the same time, neither do I endorse our societal neurotic phobias and radical attacks under their Augustinian mentality. This is a culture under repression. Despite Burrough's rough edges (depravity or art?), there is that amazing element of spontaneity, of dangerous living, of freedom from the protective rational securities that so many of us weak Westerners so much rely on. Reading his accounts from town to town, from boy, pervert, hoar, food, social spots and Yage encounters, kind of puts you both there and in the mind of Burroughs to an extent. Everyone sees reality interpreted through their perceptional lenses and this is definitely colored glasses looking at the time, place and people. Since these are mostly personal letters to Ginsberg, they aren't the cut up collage style you'd find in Naked Lunch, however he does mention this in one of his letters and does a little of it in a poem and maybe his last statement aimed at all humanity.

Written 7 years later, there are a few letters from Ginsberg, questioning his experience with Yage and asking for Burrough's advise. He had a deeper and scarier experience than LSD and was afraid of entering deeper and deeper into the realm he was heading. And wrote some good poetic thoughts in his confusion. Apparently all went well with a later 1963 letter showing strength again and experiential confidence.

We Have a Latah to Learn
The Yage Letters is an interesting collection of correspondance from William S Burroughs to Allen Ginsberg spanning from Jan. 15 to July 10, 1953. In addition to capturing the essence of Burroughs style and subject matter, albeit in a rather raw form, the letters tell of his search for the mythic mind-altering natural drug Yage.

Incidentally, this search took place directly after Burroughs had fled from Mexico after the accidental death of his wife at his own hand. Although there are many jewels to be found in this small book for the dedicated fan of Burroughs' work, they are spread throughout with many tedious, repetitious and confusing entries. Ginsburg's contribution, which I hoped would lend a voice of explanation to the letters, is instead a spasmolytic account of his own experience on the same drug, seemingly penned when still under the influence of it.

All in all, an interesting account of one of America's most important author's experiences traveling through Latin and South America in the early 50's--a time of great upheaval and fervor in that region. Highly recommended for Burroughs fanatics and seems to prefigure his work Cities of the Red Night. However, for those not yet familar with his revolutionary writing style I recommend Cities of the Red Night, and Junky.

Fruit of the (Yage) Vine
This is the best collection of letters I have ever read, next to The Letters of William S. Burroughs. Bill's letters to Allen really TAKE YOU THERE, as he once said about Colette.Bill rants against the U.S. PointFour agrarian bureaucracy, missionaries living "the life ofRiley", Peruvian boys who roll him for his money, eyeglasses, etc.;however, Bill said to Allen that he "shared with the late FatherFlanigan - he of Boys Town - the deep conviction that there is no suchthing as a bad boy."Overall, good reading and a good record of SouthAmerica in the early 1950's.

Ancient Hallucinogens and Cut-ups
The Yage Letters was a correspondence between William Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg. Burroughs describes his ongoing search for the ancient drug, starting in Mexico, and finishing in South America. Likewise, Ginsbergfinishes where Burroughs left off and the rest is history. I enjoyedreading this book, and was pleased to learn about new cultures and info onhallucinogens. The book can become overwelming in some section, especiallythe last bit about the cut-up process; nevertheless, it's still aninteresting idea, which Burroughs had utilized in every artistic medium.Also included are a few sketches by Ginsberg himself ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Burroughs eats sacred cows for lunch.Again.
Burroughs got used to being a black sheep early in his life, one gets the feeling.So he's willing to throw rocks at anyone.Certainly, an author whose main readership must have been well on the left had a lot of balls to go and rip the skin off that most untouchable of liberal sacred cows, Franklin Roosevelt.

In this book of short essays, Burroughs demonstrates not only his scathing gift for wild satire, but also his striking intelligence and insight.His essay SECTS AND DEATH begins with the incisive proposal that the purpose of art is to show us "what we know and do not know that we know."He sells this idea fairly convincingly in about two paragraphs, and those goes on to the main target of the piece, the Church and other cults, whose mission (he claims) is to prevent us from becoming aware of "what we know and do not know that we know."

The title piece is an hilarious and deeply offensive recounting of how FDR filled the government with typical Burroughs fantasy-characters, the most frightening kind of human dregs.(If you ever wondered where Hunter S. Thompson came from, this piece ought to convince you that he is Burroughs literary off-spring.)

In between, he zips off a little reminisence about when he decided he did NOT want to be president (before birth)...

It is Burroughs at his best: sober, coherent, and still utterly untamable.Needless to say, this stuff is not for the faint of heart.

... Read more