William Burroughs, Naked Lunch, and Little Magazines Kerouac Fest 2006

Junkie (Ace 1953)

Junkie (Digit 1957)

Men’s Wildcat Adventures (1959) Excerpts from Junkie appear in June 1959 Presents Burroughs’s work in an exploitation/pornographic vein exploitation/pornographic vein Throughout the 1960’s and early 1970’s Burroughs pieces would appear in men’s magazines like Mayfair, Playboy, Penthouse and SwankBurroughs pieces

1957: The Beats Break OutThe Beats Break Out February/March: Kerouac, Ginsberg, Orlovsky and Alan Ansen assist Burroughs in typing the Naked Lunch manuscript Spring/Summer: San Francisco Scene issue of Evergreen Review; Norman Mailer writes The White Negro for DissentSan Francisco Scene Evergreen ReviewThe White Negro Dissent September 5 th : On the Road published and reviewed in New York TimesNew York Times October: Howl cleared of obscenity chargesHowl

Return of the Little Magazine Long tradition of the little magazine supporting avant garde writing in America (Little Review, Poetry, transition)little magazine By 1950’s the publishing establishment was not supporting alternative writing (New Criterion, Poetry, New Yorker) Publishing technology cheap and available such as letterpress, offset, mimeo, and overseasletterpressoffsetmimeo

British Journal of Addiction 53, No 2 (January 1957) First publication using William Burroughs’s name First journal/magazine publication Academic journal not pulp fiction like Junkie; shift in presentation of drug experience Highlights Burroughs as expert on drugs like later underground publications in 1960’s

Black Mountain Review 7 (Autumn 1957, Issued Spring 1958) Literary Review of experimental Black Mountain CollegeBlack Mountain College Edited by Robert Creeley and Allen GinsbergRobert Creeley Along with San Francisco Scene issue of Evergreen Review the most important Beat Magazine; both present Beats as part of larger literary communitySan Francisco SceneEvergreen Review larger literary community First Publication First Publication of piece of Naked Lunch

Yugen (1958) “A new consciousness in arts and letters” Edited by Hettie Cohen and Leroi Jones (Amiri Baraka) for 8 issues from Hettie Cohen Amiri Baraka Precursor to landmark Donald Allen New American Poetry AnthologyDonald Allen New American Poetry Anthology Published piece of Naked Lunch; Burroughs’s work presented as avant garde, experimental

InterpolInterpol (1958) September 28, 1958 letter from Burroughs and Gregory Corso to Allen Ginsberg proposing starting a magazineletter from Burroughs Gregory Corso Allen Ginsberg Written from Beat HotelBeat Hotel Highlights the importance of the little magazine as Burroughs struggled to get published Never published but this idea reappeared in the underground newspapers of the 1960’s and in magazines like The Marijuana Newsletter and High Timesunderground newspapers The Marijuana Newsletter High Times

Chicago Review Literary Magazine of the University of Chicago Edited by Irving Rosenthal and Paul Carroll among othersIrving Rosenthal Paul Carroll In 1958 published several pieces of Beat writing including first large scale publication of Naked Lunch Spring 1958 Autumn 1958

Trouble on the Midway Chicago Daily News Columnist Jack Mabley reads the Autumn issue and writes “Filthy Writing on the Midway”Jack Mabley Chicago University halts publication of the Winter Issue of Chicago Review containing Naked Lunch, Kerouac’s Old Angel Midnight and Edward Dahlberg’s The Garment of Ra The editorial board of Chicago Review resigns taking the material for the suppressed issue with them

Big Table 1 (Spring 1959) Rosenthal and Carroll start Big Table Named by Jack Kerouac January 29, 1959: Ginsberg and Corso read in Chicago to raise funds for Big Table 10,000 copies of Big Table published and eventually sell out

The Post Office and CensorshipPost Office and Censorship Post Office seizes copies of Big Table and denies it second class mailing privileges Contents of Big Table undergo obscenity trial July 9, 1959 Big Table ruled obscene

Olympia Press Naked Lunch (1959) In 1958 Maurice Girodias rejects Naked Lunch manuscriptMaurice Girodias After Big Table ruled obscene, Girodias reconsiders Naked Lunch Late July 1959, 5000 copies of Naked Lunch published in Paris Illegal to sell Naked Lunch in United Kingdom and US

Burroughs on Little Magazines "So it was publication in a little magazine that led to the publication of Naked Lunch at a time when I had almost given up. For many years I sent out pieces to all little magazines that asked me for a contribution.” --William Burroughs

Grove Press and Naked Lunch Barney Rosset Barney Rosset of Grove Press prints 3,500 copies of Naked Lunch in 1959Grove Press Rosset battles against censorship to publish D.H. Lawrence, Henry Miller and other classic authors Naked Lunch sits in warehouse until 1962

Evergreen Review (1960) Literary magazine of Grove Press Publishes introduction to Naked Lunch: Deposition Testimony Concerning a SicknessDeposition Testimony Concerning a Sickness For legal reasons Naked Lunch packaged as satire and social commentary Critical reception of Naked Lunch dictated by legal battles

Floating Bear 9 (1961) Edited by Leroi Jones and Diane Di PrimaDiane Di Prima Publishes Roosevelt After Inauguration from Yage LettersYage Letters Seized for obscenity Delays release of Naked Lunch in United States

Grove Press Naked Lunch (1962) Rosset wins obscenity trials concerning Lady Chatterley’s Lover and Tropic of Cancer Naked Lunch released to bookstores in late 1962 The book is promptly banned in Boston and goes to obscenity trial

Naked Lunch Trial Like Howl, Tropic of Cancer, Ulysses, and Lady Chatterley’s Lover, Naked Lunch goes to trialHowlTropic of CancerUlyssesLady Chatterley’s Lover After several setbacks, the Massachusetts Supreme Court rules Naked Lunch not obscene in 1966 based on the US Supreme Court’s recent obscenity rulings concerning Fanny Hill and other worksUS Supreme Court’s recent obscenity rulings The literary censorship on the basis of obscenity ended in the United Statesliterary censorship

Today’s Scene The economics of publishing industry essentially censors publication of experimental writing The political climate encourages the curtailing of basic freedoms Availability of old and new technologies makes possible self publishing as never before