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Revision as of 06:38, 16 June 2004 by Sstrong (talk | contribs) (The Definitive (?) article on The Definite Article)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)I (Camembert) removed:
- "Perhaps his great legacy has been in the creative inspiration he has offered to writers, musicians and those in the visual arts."
(yes, and maybe it's in his books, or in his dress sense, or, or...)
- "Nothing is true. Everything is permitted."
(this is Bill quoting the final words of Hassan i Sabbah)
Moved this Greg Godwin
"If you like Burroughs, or if you almost like Burroughs but he's a little strong for you, you may also want to take a look at Philip K. Dick."
And now I've removed this:
- Most famous for his 'Thanksgiving Prayer' and the verse "Kill a Queer for Christ".
Because, well, he isn't - if he's "most famous" for anything, it's probably Naked Lunch. Besides which, "Thanks for 'Kill a Queer for Christ' stickers" is a line in "Thanksgiving Prayer", not a separate piece (and yes, he was being ironic, just in case anybody thinks all those drugs made him go a bit funny in his old age...). I suppose the Prayer could be mentioned somewhere in the article, but I could't see a simple way to fit it in, so I've just taken it out - I don't think it's a great loss, because it's really quite obscure as far as I'm aware (I'm not sure it's even been published in print, it was just a track on his Dead City Radio record, I think). --Camembert
Removed - where he lived for the next twenty-four years as it is completely false. Burroughs lived in Paris, the UK and New York AS WELL as in Tangiers during the aforementioned period (1952-1976). vudu 20:02, 1 Dec 2003 (UTC)
--Markhadman 14:16, 25 Apr 2004 (UTC) Added 'Word Virus' to the bibliography since it contains previously unpublished material. Added some notes about Junky/Junkie that could be tidier - not clear which edition the ISBN refers to.
also...
It's 'Naked Lunch', not 'The Naked Lunch'. The latter (correct me if I'm wrong) is the title of the film by David Cronenberg. If someone with more time and experience could move the page and all references?
- Actually, I think they both lack a "The". I'll see about moving stuff around now. --Camembert
- Done (more or less). --Camembert
--Markhadman 17:17, 27 Apr 2004 (UTC) I'm considering revising and expanding this page. There are a few inconsistencies and errors that I've spotted, and I for one would like Misplaced Pages to contain more info on "The only American novelist who may conceivably be possessed by genius" (quote by Norman Mailer). Were he alive today, there's a fair chance that the old bugger'd be an enthusiastic Misplaced Pages user.
Who's up for helping? I'd rather have an edit war than go it alone.
The Definitive (?) article on The Definite Article
Well (deep breath) off the top of my head (without checking the massive WSB archive) this is how I understand it -
It depends where you are - It was 'The Naked Lunch' on first publication in Paris (by Maurice Girodias) - When Barney Rossett bought it for Grove Press, they suppressed the definite article and did some minor typo revisions and then appended 'Deposition' and 'postscript' to make the work more overtly anti-drugs. The dropping of the definite article may have been to obfuscate legal proceedings (Girodias claimed foreign language rights) or it may have been to frustrate customs authroities (who were wont to sort stop-lists with leading articles - a practice any librarian could've told them was dumb - could've but didn't!
Later, when John Calder put out NL in the UK he used the article (I believe he always got on better with Girodias than Rossett, and that his edition was (originally at least) 'by arrangement').
When Cronenberg made his travesty of film (no worse than any of his others) he used the US title of the book in all territories inna kinda culture-imperialist stylee.
So what do we have : Film in all countries: NO article | Book in France: YES (but only in english language - french language editions drop it!) | Book in US : NO | Book in UK : YES |
quite simple really... more info in: Naked Lunch : The Restored Text (NY:Grove Weidenfeld, 2001)
Of course, the contents of the book have remained constant (front and end matter only being varied) - the next two of the 'paris' trilogy (The Soft Machine and Ticket significantly vary contents across editions, but keep constant titles).
So, a case can be made that: aside from his massive acknowledged influence on music, William Burroughs also invented remixology.
PS no endorsement of WSB should be assumed - I don't like the dude so much.