RealityStudio.org

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ah, of course; i hadn't thought of that before, that his letters post-1959 would be less of a lifeline for him.

the material will still be interesting though, espeically his correspondance with Gysin. Will we begin to see the gradual formation of the third mind (not to mention 'The Third Mind' ho ho) the same way we get to see the beginnings of Interzone/Naked Lunch in volume 1 i wonder?

perhaps his letters include writing about his little magazines contributions from this period, which will keep a certain Reality Studio columnist happy

Professor Harris hasn't been working on this second volume of letters. It is being edited by Bill Morgan, who was Allen Ginsberg's archivist and is the author of a number of books about the Beats.

I don't know how it affects OSU's plans. I haven't heard a peep about their projected publications since Everything Lost. Personally I was looking forward to an edition of the Revised Boy Scout Manual.

Here is a publicity document for the second volume of WSB's letters. I don't know if that's the real cover or just a placeholder.

http://realitystudio.org/media/rub-out-the-words.pdf

I forgot to add that there is going to be some sort of lp or audio book as well. I don't know details but presume it's a straightforward audio book (i.e. somebody reading the letters, not original audio of Burroughs).

Probably so, Burroughs and Kerouac apparently had some kind of falling out, supposedly on account of Kerouac's political views (support for the Vietnam War, etc). I also remember reading somewhere that WSB didn't have much to do with Corso from the 60's on, though I'm not sure what that conflict was all about. Maybe the letters will shed some light?

Bill Morgan, eh? Sounds promising, I found his Ginsberg scholarship to be very revealing. Sort of relieved it wasnt Barry Miles or Douglas Brinkley (who's been skulking around Kerouac's and HST's papers for years).

Ed, from reading the first volume of letters, I got the impression that the break was more from the Kerouac camp. Something to do with Jack's Mom destroying unopened letters WSB sent to him and then writing Bill to tell him not to leave her son alone. Though from what I understand of post-50's Kerouac, he wasnt the best person to be around; an abusive drunk given to fits of paranoia, he'd be more likely to cut off Bill for condemning the Viet Nam war than the other way round.

We should be expecting a lot of Corso and Orlovsky bashing, I'm wondering if any Jacques Stern letters made the cut.

I don't know what's been selected for this volume but I've had the pleasure of reading a lot of correspondence that's at the Berg (where I researched the Jacques Stern piece and have been working on another). In the letters I've seen, it's relatively rare for Burroughs to bash anybody. He didn't like Capote, as Thom Robinson wrote here on RS. He made a snarky comment when hearing that Frank O'Hara had been killed. But I can't recall a single negative word about Kerouac, Corso, Orlovsky, et al.

As for Stern, there is one really substantial letter circa 1959 from JS to WSB. In the 1960s there were just a few postcards. In the 1970s there may have been some long documents about the Junky film project, but those weren't personal letters so much as memoranda circulated within the group of folks working on the project. (I'm presuming that Bill Morgan hasn't gotten any letters from the person who inherited Stern's estate. It's quite possible that Stern would have saved correspondence from Burroughs and any number of other acquaintances. But for various reasons that person isn't accessible. Long story.)

Burroughs: a class act.

Interesting to hear about the Stern estate. I got the hint you cant go into detail, though it makes you wonder if this sort of thing's what's held the project back for so many decades. I guess we'll never know the true story, if it's even worth telling. I mean, NO's are pretty boring.

Besides, the Sommerville correspondence is the sort of stuff I'm excited to read. Another one of those hombre invisibles in Burroughs life. From the little bit I've been able to read about him, the kid comes off as a genius. Given his role in the Cut Ups, as well as the dream machine, I was shocked he wasnt even mentioned in the recent WSB doc.

^ kind of appropriate that 'mr. Ian sommerville' stays an enigmatic background figure in the wsb canon. "the subliminal kid"..

I agree with you that Ian Sommerville must have been an incredibly bright young man. There are some letters to/from WSB in the Berg. However, when he died unexpectedly in a car crash, his mother ended up destroying a bunch of letters Burroughs had sent to him.

I can understand why, given Bill's age and gender, I cant imagine too many parents who wouldnt lose sleep over their situation. Where did you hear about his Mother destroying the letters? Any other details?

I heard that from Mr Grauerholz. I hope he doesn't mind me repeating it. Gist of it is that Ian's mum did offer to return Burroughs' letters, but his reply evidently wasn't timely enough for her. She discarded the letters before hearing back from him.

If anyone on the forum here is trolling for a thesis to write, you could do a great one on Ian Sommerville's life, career, and intersections with Burroughs. Do it now while there are still folks around who remember him.

very true, good to hear about volume 2 though.....