by Matthias Penzel

Burroughs in German (flyer from Kosmik Blues)

1969

Translation work started proper after Carl’s return to Germany. More or less in the function of Editor for Joseph Melzer Verlag in Darmstadt (between Frankfurt and Heidelberg / Mannheim further south), Carl edited and translated:

Cut up. Der sezierte Bildschirm der Worte (Joseph Melzer Verlag, Darmstadt 1969) with several entries by William S. Burroughs, Mary Beach, Harold Norse, Jeff Nuttall, Claude Pélieu, Brion Gysin, one by himself and one by Jürgen Ploog.

ACID. Neue amerikanische Szene, more groundbreaking and with many more texts, also by Zappa etc, edited by the late Rolf Dieter Brinkmann with Ralf-Rainer Rygulla, published, after some kind of mini-revolution downstairs in the same building, also featured Weissner’s translation of Mary Beach, an extract from The Electric Banana; and Harry Mathews: Das Drehbuch.

1970

James Graham Ballard: Liebe + Napalm (Joseph Melzer Verlag, Darmstadt 1970). Re-released a couple of times, most recently as Liebe und Napalm: The Atrocity Exhibition (Milena Verlag, Vienna 2008), an association that led to Weissner’s German writing being published there ever since.

Charles Bukowski: Aufzeichnungen eines Außenseiters (Joseph Melzer Verlag, Darmstadt 1970)

1971

Andy Warhol: A (Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Köln 1971)

1972

William S. Burroughs: Die elektronische Revolution (expanded media editions, Göttingen 1972) The publisher in charge here was Udo Breger, friend of Weissner and together with Ploog editor of the avant-garde magazine UFO, which was for some time also co-edited by Jörg Fauser. Weissner, Ploog, and Fauser would continue, with Walter Hartmann, the less cutting-edge but more legendary lit-mag Gasolin 23.

Allen Ginsberg: Indische Tagebücher (Hanser Verlag, München)

Allen Ginsberg: Iron Horse (expanded media editions, Göttingen 1973)

1973

William S. Burroughs: Ali’s Smile (bilingual, expanded media editions, Göttingen 1973)

1974

Charles Bukowski: Gedichte, die einer schrieb, bevor er im 8. Stockwerk aus dem Fenster sprang, poems (Maro Verlag Gersthofen 1974) This is where Fauser’s first book came out, followed by his very first one published by Breger’s expanded media editions.

George Herriman: Krazy Kat, with others (Joseph Melzer Verlag, Darmstadt 1974)

1975

Bob Dylan: Texte und Zeichnungen (Zweitausendeins, Frankfurt/M. 1975)

Allen Ginsberg: Der Untergang Amerikas (Hanser Verlag, München 1975)

1976

Charles Bukowski: Kaputt in Hollywood, stories (Maro Verlag, Gersthofen 1976)

Leonard Cohen: Parasiten des Himmels — Gedichte aus 10 Jahren (Zweitausendeins, Frankfurt am Main 1976)

Anthony Scaduto: Bob Dylan, Die Biographie (Zweitausendeins, Frankfurt/M. 1976)

Bob Dylan: Tarantula (Zweitausendeins, Frankfurt/M. 1976)

1977

Charles Bukowski: Schlechte Verlierer, stories (Maro Verlag, Augsburg 1977. S. Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt/M. 1981)

Charles Bukowski: Faktotum, novel (1977. S. Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt/M. 1997, 20th print-run in 2009)

Charles Bukowski: Das ausbruchsichere Paradies. Stories vom verschütteten Leben, stories (1977). The first seven stories also published as Pittsburgh Phil & Co., the second lot as Ein Profi.

Charles Bukowski: Flinke Killer, poems, translated with Rolf Eckart John (Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Köln 1977)

Rolling Stones: The Rolling Stones Songbook. 155 Songs mit Noten, translated with Teja Schwaner, Jörg Fauser, Helmut Salzinger (Zweitausendeins, Frankfurt/M. 1977)

Frank Zappa: Plastic People Songbuch, republished after approval by Zappa as Plastic People Songbuch — Corrected Copy (Zweitausendeins, Frankfurt/M. 1977)

1978

Harold Norse: Beat Hotel (Maro Verlag, Augsburg 1978

William S. Burroughs: Ali’s smile. Naked scientology (expanded media editions, Bonn 1978)

Allen Ginsberg: Gärten der Erinnerung, possibly translated with Heiner Bastian (HeyneVerlag, München 1978)

William S. Burroughs: Junkie (Zweitausendeins, Frankfurt/M. 1978)

William S. Burroughs: Auf der Suche nach Yage (Zweitausendeins, Frankfurt/M. 1978)

William S. Burroughs: Naked Lunch (Zweitausendeins, Frankfurt/M. 1978)

William S. Burroughs: Nova Express (Zweitausendeins, Frankfurt/M. 1978)

Charles Bukowski: Das Leben und Sterben im Uncle-Sam-Hotel, stories (Maro Verlag, Augsburg 1978

Edited with Charles Bukowski: Terpentin on the rocks. Die besten Gedichte aus der amerikanischen Alternativpresse 1966-1977, story collection (Maro Verlag, Augsburg 1978 & 1980. S. Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt/M. 1981 & 1984 $ 1985 & 1996)

1979

Charles Bukowski: Western Avenue. Gedichte aus über 20 Jahren, poems (Zweitausendeins, Frankfurt/M. 1979), extracts have been re-published as Der größte Verlierer der Welt — Gedichte 1968-1972 (1979), Charles Bukowski: Diesseits und jenseits vom Mittelstreifen — Gedichte 1972-1977 (Hanser Verlag, München 1984), and Eintritt frei — Gedichte 1955-1968 (Hanser Verlag, München 1984).

Charles Bukowski: Die Stripperinnen von Burbank & 16 andere Stories, stories (Zweitausendeins, Frankfurt/M. 1979)

William S. Burroughs: Die alten Filme (Maro Verlag, Augsburg 1979 & 1995)

Allen Ginsberg: Das Geheul und andere Gedichte (Limes Verlag, Wiesbaden 1979)

Jack Micheline: Skinny Dynamite (Maro Verlag, Augsburg 1979)

1980

William S. Burroughs: Die wilden Boys (Zweitausendeins, Frankfurt/M. 1980)

William S. Burroughs: Port of Saints (Arbeitsjournal zu Die wilden Boys) (Zweitausendeins, Frankfurt/M. 1980)

Charles Bukowski: Das Liebesleben der Hyäne, novel (Zweitausendeins, Frankfurt/M. 1980) Republished several times (Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Köln 1980)

Will Eisner: Ein Vertrag mit Gott und andere Mietshaus — Stories aus New York (Zweitausendeins, Frankfurt/M. 1980)

1981

Nelson Algren: Calhoun. Roman eines Verbrechens (Zweitausendeins, Frankfurt/M. 1981 & 1982)

Charles Plymell: Panik in Dodge City (expanded media editions, Bonn 1981)

1982

Denton Welch: Freuden der Jugend (Zweitausendeins, Frankfurt/M. 1982), also republished many times, with a foreword by William S. Burroughs

William S. Burroughs: Die Städte der roten Nacht (Zweitausendeins, Frankfurt/M. 1982)

Hans Hillmann: Fliegenpapier nach Dashiell Hammett’s Kriminalgeschichte Flypaper (Zweitausendeins, Frankfurt/M. 1982 & 1983)

Charles Bukowski: Eine Kinoreklame in der Wüste. 102 neue Gedichte, poems (Zweitausendeins, Frankfurt/M. 1982)

Charles Bukowski: Pacific Telephone – 51 Gedichte, poems (1982)

Charles Bukowski: Die Girls im grünen Hotel, poems (1982)

1983

Nelson Algren: Der Mann mit dem goldenen Arm (Zweitausendeins, Frankfurt/M. 1983; Verlag Volk & Welt Berlin, GDR 1984 & 1987)

Howard Kohn: Wer tötete Karen Silkwood? (Zweitausendeins, Frankfurt/M. 1983)

Charles Bukowski: Das Schlimmste kommt noch oder Fast eine Jugend, novel (Hanser Verlag, München 1983)

1984

Charles Bukowski: Der lange Job, stories and poems with comics by Mathias Schultheiss (Heyne, 1984), a condensed version of this and Ein Reader have been published as Die schönste Frau in der ganzen Stadt (1991)

Charles Bukowski: Kaputt in der City, stories and poems with comics by Mathias Schultheiss (Heyne, München 1984)

Charles Bukowski: Gedichte vom südlichen Ende der Couch, poems (1984)

Marvin Israel and Diane Arbus: .diane arbus. (Zweitausendeins, Frankfurt/M. 1984)

1985

Denton Welch: Jungfernfahrt (Zweitausendeins, Frankfurt/M. 1985; Steidl, Göttingen 1996)

Charles Bukowski: Hot Water Music, stories (Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Köln 1985)

Ken Kesey: Einer flog über das Kuckucksnest (Zweitausendeins, Frankfurt/M. 1985)

1986

Charles Bukowski: Nicht mit sechzig, Honey, poems (Hanser Verlag, München 1986)

Gerald Locklin: Die Jagd nach dem verschwundenen blauen Volkswagen (Maro Verlag, Augsburg 1986)

1987

William S. Burroughs: Exterminator (Zweitausendeins, Frankfurt/M. 1987)

William S. Burroughs: Die letzten Worte des Dutch Schultz (Zweitausendeins, Frankfurt/M. 1987)

Denton Welch: Schicksal (Zweitausendeins, Frankfurt/M. 1987)

Mohammed Mrabet with Paul Bowles: M’Hashish. Kiffgeschichten aus Marokko (Goldmann, München 1987)

Bob Dylan: Liedtexte; translated with Walter Hartmann (Zweitausendeins, Frankfurt/M. 1987)

Nan Goldin: Die Ballade von der sexuellen Abhängigkeit (Zweitausendeins, Frankfurt/M. 1987)

1988

William S. Burroughs: Western Lands (Limes im Ullstein Verlag, Frankfurt/Berlin 1988)

Robert Del Tredici: Unsere Bombe (Zweitausendeins, Frankfurt/M. 1988)

Charles Bukowski: Die letzte Generation, poems (Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Köln 1988)

1989

William S. Burroughs: Homo (Zweitausendeins, Frankfurt/M. 1989)

William S. Burroughs: Briefe an Allen Ginsberg 1953-1957 (Zweitausendeins, Frankfurt/M. 1989)

Charles Bukowski: Roter Mercedes (Gedichte 1984-1986), poems (Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Köln 1989)

1990

Nelson Algren: Nacht ohne Morgen (Zweitausendeins, Frankfurt/M. 1990)

Diane Arbus: Zeitschriftenarbeit (Zweitausendeins, Frankfurt/M. 1990)

Charles Bukowski: Einmal New Orleans und zurück, story (Maro Verlag, Augsburg 1990)

Charles Bukowski: Hollywood, novel (Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Köln 1990

1991

Nelson Algren: Das letzte Karussell (Zweitausendeins, Frankfurt/M. 1991)

LaLoca: Rote Sonne über Echo Park. Gedichte von Liebe & Hass, translated with Pociao de Hollanda (Maro, Augsburg 1991)

Nicholas Shakespeare: Die Vision der Elena Silves (Kellner, Hamburg 1991)

1992

Harold Norse: Bastard. Die Memoiren eines gefallenen Engels, translated with Walter Harmann (Rogner & Bernhard, Juni 1992)

1993

William Bedford: Fish & Chips & Elvis (dtv, München 1993)

Armistead Maupin: Tollivers Reisen (Rogner & Bernhard, Frankfurt/M. 1993)

Charles Bukowski: Jeder zahlt drauf, stories (Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Köln 1993)

1994

Charles Bukowski: Kamikaze-Träume, poems (Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Köln 1994)

Armistead Maupin: Die Kleine (Rogner & Bernhard, Frankfurt/M. 1994)

1995

Richard Bausch: Eine unmögliche Liebe (Steidl, Göttingen 1995)

Charles Bukowski: Der Andere, story (Maro Verlag, Augsburg 1995)

Charles Bukowski: Ausgeträumt, novel (Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Köln 1995), re-released as Pulp. Ausgeträumt

1996

Charles Bukowski: Auf dem Stahlroß ins Nirwana, poems (Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Köln 1996)

Frank Zappa: Zonx (Texte 1977 – 1994) (Zweitausendeins, Frankfurt/M. 1996)

Robert Lowry: Die falsche Sanftmut des Schnees (Rogner & Bernhard, Frankfurt/M. 1996)

Robert Lowry: Tag, Fremder (Rogner & Bernhard, Frankfurt/M. 1996)

1997

Robert Lowry: Lebendig begraben (Rogner & Bernhard, Frankfurt/M. 1997)

Robert Lowry: Aufenthalt in El Paso translated with Antje Landshoff (Rogner & Bernhard, Frankfurt/M. 1997)

1999

Charles Bukowski: Umsonst ist der Tod, poems (Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Köln 1999)

2000

Richard Bausch: Eine aussterbende Art (Steidl, Göttingen 2000)

Charles Bukowski: Irgendwo in Texas — Gedichte aus dem Nachlaß, poems (Maro Verlag, Augsburg 2000)

2003

Charles Bukowski: 439 Gedichte, poems (Zweitausendeins, Frankfurt/M. 2003)

2005

Charles Bukowski: Schreie vom Balkon — Briefe 1958-1994, letters (Ginko Press, Hamburg 2005)

Charles Bukowski: Nackt bei 33 Grad, poems (dtv, München 2005)

2006

Charles Bukowski: Den Göttern kommt das große Kotzen, diary (Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Köln 2006)

William Cody Maher: Geisterstadt translated with Walter Hartmann (Verlag Peter Engstler, Ostheim/Rhön 2006)

2007

Charles Bukowski: Letzte Meldungen, poems (Zweitausendeins, Frankfurt/M. 2007)

Charles Bukowski: Ein Ablehnungsbescheid und seine Folgen, story (Büchergilde Gutenberg/Tolles Heft, Frankfurt/M./Wien/Zürich 2007)

2008

Leonard Cohen: Buch der Sehnsüchte translated with others (Blumenbar, München 2008)

2009

Charles Bukowski : Opfer der Telefonitis, stories (dtv, München 2009)

William Cody Maher: Spielsachen translated with Walter Hartmann and others (Verlag Peter Engstler, Ostheim/Rhön 2009)

2010

Charles Bukowski: Ein schlampiger Essay über das Schreiben und das verfluchte Leben; und ausgewählte Gedichte, leftovers (Maro Verlag, Augsburg 2010)

2011

Bill Callahan: Briefe an Emma Bowlcut translated with Evelyn Steinthaler and Vanessa Wieser (Milena Verlag, Wien 2011)

2012

Charles Bukowski: Ende der Durchsage (Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Köln 2012)

Carl Weissner began corresponding with William Burroughs in 1965. Seeing that Carl was quick to pick up on his experiments with the cut-up, Burroughs decided to visit Carl in Heidelberg. “I am off to Germany next week,” Burroughs wrote to Brion Gysin on May 27, 1966. “Looks like I have a new assistant there name of Carl who is working with recorders.” The visit formed the basis for a lifelong friendship and Carl, who was able to write equally pungent German and English, went on to translate many of el hombre invisible‘s books.

Though his renown came from his translations of Burroughs, Charles Bukowski, Bob Dylan, J.G. Ballard, and many others, Carl was the epitome of a dying breed — the vanguardist. He experimented with language, published little mags, collaborated with other writers, and kept an entire network of correspondents hooked on his remarkable letters. In an interview, Bukowski once described how “a letter from Carl always was and still is an infusion of life and hope and easy wisdom.” Later the same was true of Carl’s emails. They were snatches of literature addressed to you personally. They made you want to save and print them. Often they were passed around among friends.

Carl’s early publications were experiments in fragmentation that call to mind a Burroughs line he was able to recite from memory: “Images — millions of images — That’s what I eat — Cyclotron shit.” Highlights include the collaboration with Burroughs and Claude Pélieu, So Who Owns Death TV? (1967); The Braille Film (1970); and the collaboration with Jan Herman and Jürgen Ploog, Cut Up or Shut Up (1972). In 2009, Carl permitted RealityStudio to publish Death in Paris, an experiment in noir with roots in Thomas Mann’s Death in Venice. In 2010 he published a novel in German, Manhattan Muffdiver, which cast a jaundiced eye on post-9/11 New York. He followed this in 2011 with Die Abenteur von Trashman, a fictive journal of New York in 1968.

Carl was a man of wisdom, gusto, generosity, and biting humor. He passed away at his home in Germany on January 24, 2012. A few years ago he sent an email describing a dream he had of Burroughs:

had a dream in which I’m talking to bill burroughs across my parents’ living-room in karlsruh-on-rhine (carpetbombed 54 times – cincuenta-y-cuatro veces – by gen. curtis lemay and his jolly flyboys). his head exists inside a b&w tv set, in the space where the cathode tube would be, and can be seen only from the side. there isn’t enough space for him to turn his head and look at me. but we haff a lively rap going, irregardless. then his hand (the one with half the pinkie cut off) comes up to his left ear, and he beckons me closer. i hesitate. no, he says, come real close. i do. i now realize that he is indecently good-looking. tanned skin, full lips, loong straight nose. he didn’t look this fetching ten years ago, I say to myself. I bet he got himself a stash of those secret pills from a connection in ciudad juarez… carl, he says and gets totally choked up emotional, this may be the last time you see me alive, sort of… tears are rolling down his leathery left cheek. i’m so shocked i can hardly get a word out. william, i manage to say, it’s not the time for you to die! dammit!… his face begins to flicker, like a bad tv image… then he just fades away, and I’m looking at an empty screen. and an empty set.

Dammit, Carl. It’s not the time for you to die either.

Other Tributes to Carl Weissner

• “Ave Atque Vale” by Jan Herman
• “Transfers from a Different World” by Matthias Penzel
• “Cody’s Conversation” by Cody Mahler
• “A long Shot für Carl, den Survivor” by Jürgen Ploog
• “Carl Weissner (1940-2012)” by Pierre Joris
• “Badass Doppelgänger to Burroughs, Ballard, and Dylan Dies, Leaves Big Hole in the World” by Nas Hedron

The Lost Tapes of Carl Weissner, Claude Pélieu and Mary Beach, 1967-1969

by Edward S. Robinson

For academics and fans alike, the archives of the pivotal beat triumvir of William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac have long been a source of fascination and a continued wealth of lost texts. Despite the excavation of a large number of letters and minor works, alongside significant manuscripts such as the Burroughs / Kerouac collaboration And the Hippos Were Boiled in their Tanks (written in 1945, but not published until 2010) there is nevertheless a sense that the well may be beginning to run dry. 

It is perhaps for this reason that interest in the extended “Beat family tree” which has branches that extend far and wide is finally beginning to grow. While largely (and unjustly) neglected thus far, the so-called “European Beats” made a substantial contribution to the dissemination of the cut-up method. Many of these writers were introduced to the technique by Burroughs himself through his many contributions to underground zines in the 1960s, when his project had been specifically to “recruit” practitioners far and wide in order to “spread the virus” and spearhead an assault against linguistic programming and rational thought. Amongst these, Carl Weissner, Claude Pélieu and Mary Beach stand out for their contributions to the cut-up canon. Many of their works were produced with Burroughs’ direct involvement in some capacity: for example the “Counterscripts” which preface Pélieu’s 1967 novel With Revolvers Aimed… Finger Bowls, and Weissner’s The Braille Film (1970) and the “Tickertape” introduction to the three-way collaboration between Weissner, Jürgen Ploog and Jan Herman, Cut Up Or Shut Up (1969), and not forgetting the Weissner / Pélieu / Burroughs pamphlet So Who Owns Death TV? (1967). These publications are relatively sought after and are commanding increasingly high prices on the collectors” market. However, to date, the archives of these authors remain largely unexplored. 

A few months ago, I received an email from Gary Lee-Nova. Aware of my research into these writers, he wondered if I might be interested in hearing a tape he had in his possession, the details of which he explained as follows:

Since the early 1970s, I have had a five-inch reel, ¼” audiotape recording in my collection. I obtained the tape from Richard Aaron of AM HERE BOOKS which at the time, was based in Switzerland.¹

Gary reported that the tape was well-preserved, had been carefully stored and played only once while in his collection, but the recording quality very much reflected the technology of the time, noting:

To my ear, it sounds like it was recorded in a small shed made of sheet metal; a bit tinny. I’ve heard other old tape recordings that sound like they were recorded in a wet, cardboard box.

His intention was, then, to convert the audio to digital files and re-equalize the recording in order to render it as listenable as possible and to “bring about as pleasant a sound of the reading voices as possible.”²

Naturally, I was extremely interested. I knew that Weissner had been heavily involved in a number of recording projects in the late 1960s, as he recalled in a 1988 interview with Jay Dougherty, recounting,

I documented a good part of the New York poetry scene on tape for the German Avantgarde Archive, which is run by an old friend of mine. I think I wound up with about a hundred hours of tape. It was a good cross-section: Ginsberg, Ted Berrigan, Diane DiPrima, Ray Bremser, Jack MacLow, Dick Higgins, and Alison Knowles. Ron Tavel. Jack Micheline. John Wieners. Ed Sanders.³

In the same interview he also remembers being “totally fascinated with William Burroughs’ cut-up thing” which led him to “all these cut-up collaborations with Burroughs, Nuttall, Pélieu, Mary Beach. Tape experiments and whatnot.”⁴ However, I had never actually heard any of Weissner’s recordings myself. What’s more, here was a bone fide rarity, compiling a number of recordings catalogued as being in the Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections in the Northwestern University Library, Illinois, and others that appear to be unlisted.⁵

I did not have to wait long before the suspense was over and I received not only a digital copy of this rare tape, but also photographic evidence of the source, including a high-resolution reproduction of the sheet attached to the box, which contained the full track listing that Gary had provided in his email.

The Contributors and the Material Facts

The facts: the tape contains four separate recordings. There is a gummed piece of paper attached to the box bearing the typed details of the recordings, which read as follows:

CARL WEISSNER reading from THE BRAILLE FILM (San Francisco, 1970) followed by tape experiments (New York / San Francisco 1967/68).

MARY BEACH reading from ELECTRIC BANANA (Darmstadt 1969) followed by

CLAUDE PELIEU, MARY BEACH and CARL WEISSNER reading from their resp. notebooks & works in progress – a spontaneous cutup experiment – recorded by Carl W., Honolulu, 12 Dec. 1968 60 min.

Beneath this track listing is Weissner’s signature.

The Recordings, Side 1: Carl Weissner

The first three tracks or sections in the digital reproduction represent the first side of the tape, and all feature Weissner reading from The Braille Film. The sound quality varies across the three parts, suggesting that they were recorded in different locations and / or at different times, perhaps using different equipment.

The first track — in its digital form — has a duration of two minutes and twenty-nine seconds and features a straight recording of Weissner reading a segment of text. The reading is largely clear, although occasional words are a little difficult to distinguish through a combination of microphone positioning and enunciation. The piece contains a thin thread of narrative, beginning ostensibly with the scene of an execution, while also incorporating “classic” cut-up elements, in the form of references to virus and mutation and biological and technological synesthesia, such as “faded lips, palpitating emphysema lungs” and “infra-red veins” which are representative of the “composite bodies” that populate Weissner’s (anti-)novel.⁶ Interestingly, this section of text does not appear in the published version of the book, which appeared in 1970 on Jan Herman’s Nova Broadcast Press.

The second section is louder and clearer than the first, with a trebly sound which occasionally tweets at certain frequencies. It has a running time of almost twelve minutes. It features Weissner delivering a measured reading of a section of The Braille Film that begins on page 92. The delivery is deadpan, almost Burroughsian in many respects. The meter is reminiscent of those which appear on Call Me Burroughs, and, like Burroughs, Weissner adopts different voices for dialogue. To hear him raise the pitch of his voice and deliver the lines “Why, it is possible? Something’s touching me on the ass…!” in the tone of a posh woman in a state of affronted surprise cannot fail to amuse, while his rendition of an upper-class British accent for her “gray companion” is remarkable for its accuracy. 

Significantly, there are portions of text — the occasional sentence here and there — which are read here that do not appear in the final published version. The interest here lies not, perhaps, so much in the details of textual variations or edits per se (although scholars of major authors, including Burroughs, are often given to analyzing such variant and alternative edits in great depth), but in the way that this evidences the theories that lie at the heart of The Braille Film in live practice. Much of The Braille Film is given to demonstrating the ways in which the media, authors, historians, all manipulate text — and film — to achieve specific ends. Minor, often subtle edits, a change of camera angle or focus, the cropping of an image, all contrive to alter — potentially quite dramatically — the way the audience receives and perceives a “text.” As such, the minor alterations Weissner makes to his own text show the author effectively manipulating, adjusting, altering his own text, and in doing so, in some small way, the course of history is changed. This marks a central theme of The Braille Film, and also stands in parallel with Burroughs’ theories concerning the idea of “history as construct”:

We think of the past as being there unchangeable… the past is ours to shape and change at will. Two men talk… if no recording of the conversation is made, it exists only in the memory of the two actors. Suppose I make a recording… and alter and falsify the recording, and play the altered recording back to the two actors. If my alterations had been skilfully and plausibly applied the two actors will remember the altered recording.⁷

The third track is of lesser quality, and sounds as though Weissner’s voice has been recorded down a drainpipe or processed through a flange effect. This is, in fact, intentional, as he recounts: “I remember producing the effect of talking down a drain on purpose: I talked directly into an empty whisky bottle when I made that recording (Wong’s Cabaret, etc.) in Jan [Herman]‘s room on Bush Street, San Francisco, ’68.”⁸ Seemingly recorded in two takes, the material does undeniably suffer on account of the recording quality. Nevertheless, Weissner’s flat delivery stands in stark contrast to the sex acts he details within this section, which again, is not included in the published version of the book. However, it is worth noting at this juncture that Weissner produced a number of texts entitled The Braille Film; the 1969 German language collection of works edited by Weissner, entitled Cut-Up, which featured works by Burroughs, Mary Beach, Harold Norse, Jürgen Ploog, Claude Pélieu, Brion Gysin and Jeff Nuttall, features a number of short texts by Weissner gathered under the main heading of The Braille Film. While some of these “Composite Soundtrack” pieces do also appear in the book, they do so in re-edited forms. This may appear somewhat confusing, as The Braille Film was written directly in English, yet the texts which appear in Cut-Up, published a year earlier — are in German. However, as Carl explained, “the stuff in the antho was translated (sort of) from the English ms.” As such, this recording provides an insight into the evolution of The Braille Film as a book that emerged from an array of texts written over a period of time and then pieced together: a large-scale textual collage of smaller cut-ups.

The fourth and final track on side one is given to Weissner’s “Tape Experiments (New York / San Francisco 1967/68).” With a running time of eight minutes and ten seconds, it comprises a selection of segments of recordings from a range of courses cut together. Most of the different samples stand separate from one another: a few seconds of the radio, a few more of the television, a few more seconds of Weissner reading. The pieces are, as one would probably expect, of variable quality, although there are some interesting delay effects and overlays, plus an unsettling — not to mention slightly disorientating — loop of a crowd’s recorded laughter, which are noteworthy from an experimental perspective.

Beginning at the 1:21 mark, between a loop of what sounds like coughing accompanied by a droning hum in the background and a segment of narrative delivered in an eerie, echoed whisper, Weissner reads a permutational piece that effectively recreates Burroughs’ “Recalling All Active Agents.” In Weissner’s recording, the words are changed to “Calling All Erogenous Agents” and additional words and phrases are also incorporated. While recorded in 1960, Burroughs’ recording remained unreleased commercially until 1986, when Sub Rosa issued the compilation Break Through in Grey Room, evidencing that Weissner had access to Burroughs’ personal archive during the time they worked on their various collaborations. This demonstrates just how keen Burroughs was during his “cut-up period” to “spread the virus.” His prodigious output through the underground press and in his numerous collaborations, in conjunction with his liberal sharing of his methodology and frequent incitement for others to utilize the cut-up technique, evidence just how strongly he believed it was possible to revolutionize writing and all word-based media. Recordings such as those made by Weissner show how infectious Burroughs’ enthusiasm was. 

Other sections of these “Tape Experiments” are more developed and sophisticated, and contain a number of layers of audio simultaneously. Possibly generated in part by ambient sounds, the hum of electricity or even the amplified recording device itself, between 1:30 and 3:00 and from 7:15 to the end, long, low notes, drones and hums provide a backdrop to snippets of dialogue and also to longer readings from texts, with an almost musical tonality. In many ways, these sections are the most remarkable of all, in that they sound very like contemporary experimental / ambient records, illustrating just how ahead of their time these tape experiments really were.

Leading the Electronic Revolution

It is perhaps because of their continued relevance that Burroughs’ audio experiments, conducted in the 1960s, continue to be a source of great interest on both a literary and technical level. Burroughs’ interest in the applications of audio was well documented, particularly in The Job and Electronic Revolution, which would prove seminal for experimental music pioneers of the late 1970s and early 1980s. 

Burroughs’ own recordings, however, remained in the vaults. Initially recorded for the purposes of his own personal research, the tapes were not intended for public consumption. It wasn Genesis P-Orridge of Throbbing Gristle who convinced Burroughs to allow him to release a selection of these experiments commercially. After spending many long hours going through the tapes, Orridge compiled the hour’s worth of material that was released as Nothing Here Now But the Recordings on Industrial Records in 1980.⁹

Nevertheless, Burroughs’ influence on music, particularly the music of the avant-garde, precedes the public release of his experimental recordings, primarily on account of his book Electronic Revolution (1970, 1972, 1976), which expounds the theoretical contexts of some of his practical experiments with audio. Along with Cabaret Voltaire and Coil, Throbbing Gristle were among the first to explore the possibilities of using tape loops, cut-ups, samples and “found sounds” to make music. It was in the work of these bands that Burroughs’ influence on music became truly tangible.¹⁰ “A lot of what we did, especially in the early days, was a direct application of his ideas to sound and music,” recalls Cabaret Voltaire’s Richard H. Kirk.¹¹ This was true of many of the bands involved in the Industrial scene that exploded on both sides of the Atlantic between 1978 and 1984. They immersed themselves in studio experimentation and the application of techniques first explored by Burroughs and Gysin some 20 years previous. The reason for the delayed spread of the Virus in sound recordings was largely due to the lack of technology to facilitate widespread experimentation prior to 1978. But once Burroughs and Gysin had made the “breakthrough,” it was almost inevitable that their ideas would spread. Kirk regards Electronic Revolution as “a handbook of how to use tape recorders in a crowd… to create a sense of unease or unrest by playback of riot noises cut in with random recordings of the crowd itself” adding, “that side was always very interesting to us.”¹² The book’s great impact on the underground music scene is indubitable, serving as a catalyst for a new wave of avant-garde musical experimentation. 

The appeal of Electronic Revolution is obvious. While those who had followed Burroughs’ writing through the cut-up experiments would have been able to admire the many qualities of the writing, and even the methodology behind it, to the extent that it was possible to “write like Burroughs,” Electronic Revolution revealed new possibilities, demonstrating the potential for the written word to develop and mutate in new directions off the page. It also represented a “call to arms” for dissenters, providing as it did directions for sonic terrorism with the potential for “real” results:  

…make recordings and take pictures of some location you wish to discommode or destroy, now play recordings back and take more pictures, will result in accidents, fires, removals. Especially the latter. The target moves. We carried out this operation with the Scientology Center at 37 Fitzroy Street. Some months later they moved to 68 Tottenham Court Road, where a similar operation was carried out…¹³

Like Naked Lunch and The Third Mind, Electronic Revolution is a “how-to” book, a handbook, with instructions for the replication of the author’s techniques to achieve specific effects. “Riot sound effects can produce an actual riot in a riot situation. Recorded police whistles will draw cops. Recorded gunshots, and their guns are out.”¹⁴ Burroughs explained the function of site-specific recording and playback thus:

…playback on location can produce definite effects. Playing back recordings of an accident can produce another accident… We carried out a number of these operations: street recordings, cut in of other material, playback in the streets …(I recall I had cut in fire engines and while playing this tape back in the street fire engines passed.)… (I wonder if anybody but CIA agents read this article or thought of putting these techniques into actual operation.) Anybody who carries out similar experiments over a period of time will turn up more “coincidences” than the law of averages allows.¹⁵

It was the capacity to achieve a specific desired effect, as Burroughs’ empirical testing of the theories demonstrated, which proved a significant factor in the book’s appeal to a certain audience. Although Burroughs believed that “the influence of fiction is not direct,” he always intended for his writing to have a tangible effect upon the reader in some way — after all, “if your writing had no effect, then you would have something to worry about.”¹⁶ That an early Cabaret Voltaire gig where Burroughs’ instructions were put into practice ended in a riot is testament to the effectiveness of the method.¹⁷

It is abundantly evident from hearing these brief examples of Weissner’s experimental recordings that Carl, like Burroughs, recognized the value of applying the cut-up method to audio tape.

The Recordings, Side 2, Part. 1: Mary Beach and Electric Banana

Side two begins with Beach reading from Electric Banana. This is a straightforward spoken-word recording, and Beach’s proper-sounding enunciation stands very much at odds with the colloquial and coarse elements of the prose, particularly within the dialogue. If anything, this heightens the impact of the reading and of the text itself. Beach’s performance is largely clear and confident, with only occasional stumbles, and the lines “wild screams of boys jacking off… on street corner of Madrid” causing some slight difficulty. Rather than detracting from the listening experience, such details remind us that this is a real, live reading captured on tape. While the readings Burroughs recorded for Call Me Burroughs were recorded over several takes and carefully edited to present an almost mechanically precise recording, free of background noise or errors, the scraping chair and other background sounds that can be heard during this twelve-minute recording are integral to its spirit, which is natural and immediate. The text itself is brutal and prosaic, a veritable blizzard of violence and sex, an orgy of drug consumption. 

As with Weissner’s readings from the then-unpublished Braille Film, so Beach’s Electric Banana was yet to be published, at least in its original language. (A section did appear in the Weissner-edited anthology Cut-Up in 1969, the year of this recording, and the full text was published in translation in Germany the following year, although it would be another five years before Cherry Valley Editions would publish an English language edition.) Once again, as with Weissner’s readings, the version Beach reads here is different from the published version. Beginning with a section that starts on page 12 of the Cherry Valley Edition, Beach omits a number of words, alters the tense of others and reads “I was apparently the only one interested in what was going on,” whereas the published version reads “I was not the only one.” Skipping most of page 13, she segues “Bromo-Seltzer trickling, foaming over blue headlights” into “Nothing but my own brain counts now.” 

The reason I draw attention to what may appear to be rather minor details is because, in the first instance, they enable us to observe the evolution of the text and the way additions and excisions were made over a period of time. Perhaps most importantly, however, we must consider the variations within the context of the theories which surrounded the cut-ups, specifically the ideas relating to textual manipulation. The underlying belief that words are malleable — Burroughs likened words to physical mediums such as paint — means that altering the position of a word within the broader context of the sentence and the paragraph in which it is located, and the way different juxtapositions of words can produce radically different meanings or present very different images in the reader’s mind’s eye, is key.

That the published text is, arguably, more explicit — and more Burroughsian — than the version Beach reads here is also noteworthy. The line “lips hovering over the ivory prick raised ready to strike like a snake — Iron exploding on a white moon, cool floods of white sound” would be published as “lips hovering over the ivory prick raised ready to strike like a pink cobra — Iron exploding on a white moon, cool floods of jissom & a white sound.” Whether or not this necessarily adds to the text’s impact is questionable, but one thing that is placed in sharp relief by this recording is Beach’s eye — and ear — for a Surreal image, and I would contend that some of the images conveyed in the recorded, earlier version of the text, are stronger or more striking than those which appear in the later revision. 

The Recordings, Side 2, Part. 2: Claude Pélieu, Mary Beach, Carl Weissner

The second track on side two has a running time of six minutes and twelve seconds. It comprises two separate readings, beginning with Claude Pélieu reading a brace of short pieces in a segment which has a duration of fractionally under five minutes, with a calm, smooth delivery. He speaks exclusively in French, which renders comment from me on the contents of the piece extremely difficult. On a purely technical level, however, Pélieu’s voice is clear, despite there being significant “snow” on the recording. Beach then reads briefly from a work in progress, which would appear to draw on cut-up articles from medical journals, with references to schizophrenia, liver disease and hepatitis, in juxtaposition with images of apocalypse, life-drawing and dissection. The sound quality suggests that it was recorded during the same session as Pélieu’s piece. 

The final section, which runs for eight minutes, begins with a collaborative piece, in which all three authors read in turn, although in no discernible sequence: Beach and Weissner in English, Pélieu in French. The result is certainly interesting, as each speaker delivers one or two lines from their text, their styles of delivery contrasting dramatically with one another — Pélieu’s style is laid-back and steady, while Beach’s delivery is akin to that of a newsreader, and Weissner has a controlled intensity in his voice. On a formal level, this intercutting of each author’s work effectively creates a new composite text that amalgamates three pre-existing texts. Described as a “spontaneous cut-up experiment,” its use of longer phrases in juxtaposition function more like those which form “The First Cut-Ups” that appeared in Minutes to Go than the choppier, more fragmentary cut-ups that would subsequently become the more popular form. However, it would perhaps be more accurate to describe this eight-minute sound collage as a real-time audio fold-in.

These recordings are fascinating and valuable in their own right, on a number of levels and not least of all because of the names involved in their production. While perhaps not possessing the commercial or mass appeal of discovering a “lost” recording of Burroughs, in the context of the broader Beat “scene,” Weissner, Pélieu and Beach are all significant writers, while Beach’s role in the publication and circulation of some of the most experimental works of the late 1960s and early 1970s, through her Beach Texts & Documents imprint was substantial. While it seems unlikely at the time of writing that further recordings from Weissner’s archive will surface — or find their way to me — it is extremely exciting to speculate about what gems may be in existence. At the very least, this tape affords a fascinating insight into a brief yet extremely fertile time in the ever-evolving, ever-mutating history of the cut-ups and the Beat generation.

Download the Lost Tapes

• Side 1, Track 1 (Weissner)
• Side 1, Track 2 (Weissner)
• Side 1, Track 3 (Weissner)
• Side 1, Track 4 (Weissner)
• Side 2, Track 1 (Beach)
• Side 2, Track 2 (Pélieu and Beach)
• Side 2, Track 3 (Pélieu, Weissner, and Beach)

Notes

1. Email from Gary Lee-Nova, 8th November 2010.

2. Ibid.

3. Jay Dougherty. “Translating Bukowski and the Beats: An Interview with Carl Weissner” in Gargoyle 35, 1988, p. 73.

4. Ibid., p. 70.

5. See the finding aid to the Weissner archive at Northwestern University Library.

6. Carl Weissner, The Braille Film. San Francisco: Nova Press, 1970, p. 26.

7. William S. Burroughs and Daniel Odier, The Job. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1989,  p. 35.

8. Carl Weissner, email to K. Seward, April 2011 (edited for capitalization).

9. Industrial Records, IR0016. Reissued as part of The Best of William S. Burroughs at Giorno Poetry Systems 4 CD box set. New York: Mercury Records, 1998.

10. Although David Bowie famously applied the cut-up technique in the formulation of the lyrics to his album Diamond Dogs, this example of Burroughs’ influence being applied on a technical level within music is wholly isolated. Moreover, Bowie still only applied the technique to words on the page as Burroughs has in Minutes to Go, The Third Mind and the Nova trilogy. The cutting and splicing of audio represents a developmental departure from this.

11. Biba Kopf: ‘spread the Virus: How William Burroughs infected the world of music”, in My Kind of Angel: I. M. William Burroughs, ed. Rupert Loydell. Exeter: Stride, 1998, p. 72.

12. Ibid., p. 72.

13. William S. Burroughs, The Electronic Revolution. Gottingen: Expanded Media Editions, (2nd edition) 1970, p. 74.

14. Ibid., p. 67.

15. Ibid., p. 74.

16. “The Nova Convention” by Richard Goldstein, reproduced in Burroughs Live: The Collected Interviews of William S. Burroughs 1960-1997. Los Angeles and New York: Semiotext(e), 2001, p. 436.

17. Biba Kopf: “Spread the Virus: How William Burroughs Infected the World of Music” in My Kind of Angel: I. M. William Burroughs, p. 72.

Reports from the Bibliographic Bunker

Jed Birmingham on William S. Burroughs Collecting

The Last Times was an underground newspaper published in San Francisco in 1967 by poet and printer Charles Plymell. It contained works by William S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Charles Bukowski, Robert Crumb, Carl Weissner, Claude Pélieu, Mary Beach, Antonin Artaud, and others. Issue one has become collectible for the contribution by Crumb, printed just a few months before Zap Comix #1. At least two variants of the second issue were published.

Charles Plymell Holding The Last Times
Photograph by Guy B. Taken at Beyond Baroque in Venice, CA on 26 May 2011.

The Last Times I

The Last Times I
Collage by Charles Plymell

The Last Times I
“Day the Records Went Up” by William S. Burroughs, photograph of Herbert Huncke

The Last Times I
“Do It Yourself & Dig It” by Claude Pélieu, interview with Buckminster Fuller, photo and text by Charles Plymell

The Last Times I
“The Orion Dream Stuff” by Carl Weissner, “Introduction” by D.A. Levy, texts by Carl Solomon and Bob Kaufman

The Last Times I
Text by Dennis Williams, drawing by Jeff Nuttall, poem by Roxie Powell, “Notes of a Dirty Old Man” by Charles Bukowski

The Last Times I
“Television Baby Crawling toward that Death Chamber” by Allen Ginsberg

The Last Times I
Conclusion of poem by Allen Ginsberg, text by Dave Harris

The Last Times I
“Head Comix” by R. Crumb, collage by Jean-Jacques Lebel

The Last Times I
Found photo

The Last Times II (variant a)

The Last Times II

The Last Times II

The Last Times II
“National Prestige” by Jeff Nuttall

The Last Times II
Poems by Charles Plymell and Philip Whalen

The Last Times II

The Last Times II
Poems by Yvonne Bond and Alan Russo

The Last Times II
Drawing by Erin Matson (friend of Herbert Huncke)

The Last Times II

The Last Times II

The Last Times II
Mini-poster

The Last Times II (variant b)

The Last Times II

The Last Times II
Drawing by Erin Matson (friend of Herbert Huncke)

The Last Times II
“National Prestige” by Jeff Nuttall, “Dominion” by Alan Russo

The Last Times II
Poem by Philip Whalen

The Last Times II
Centerfold by Bob Branaman

The Last Times II
Poem by Yvonne Bond

The Last Times II
Poem by Charles Plymell

The Last Times II

The Last Times II

An Airmail Interview with Carl Weissner

by Victor Bockris

Coldspring Journal 10
April 1976

Dripping Wet in Reykjavik

Dripping Wet in Reykjavik

Dripping Wet in Reykjavik

Dripping Wet in Reykjavik

Dripping Wet in Reykjavik

Dripping Wet in Reykjavik

Dripping Wet in Reykjavik

Dripping Wet in Reykjavik

Dripping Wet in Reykjavik

Dripping Wet in Reykjavik

1974 Letter from With William Burroughs

Carl Weissner to Victor Bockris
1974

(Letter reproduced in Victor Bockris, With William Burroughs: A Report from the Bunker, New York: Seaver Books, 1981)

In 1966 I was living at 1-3a Mühltalstrasse, Heidelberg, West Germany, in a room about the size of a 3rd-class passenger berth of an Estonian saltpeter freighter on the Rita-Valparaiso run. On June 6, at precisely 8.20 PM, there was a knock on the door. I opened the door and for a fraction of a second before the hall light went out I caught a glimpse of a tall thin man, about 52 years of age, black suit black tie white shirt w/ black needle stripes black phosphorescent eyes black hat. He looked like Opium Jones.

“Hello,” he said in a voice hard and black as smoked metal.

“Hello, Mr. Burroughs,” I said. “Come in.”

He had come from Paris where he had worked on the sountrack of Chappaqua, with Conrad Rooks. He took three or four steps and stood by the narrow table in front of the window. He put his hands into his pockets and in one smooth movement brought out two reels of mylar tape and put them on the table.

“Got your tape recorder?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Let’s compare tapes.”

We played his tapes, then some of mine. Nothing was said. Except at one point he stopped his tape, wound it back for a second or two, and played it again. “You hear that?” he asked. “…’wiring wiring’… It’s the voice of a friend of mine from the south. Haven’t seen him in twenty years. Don’t know how his voice got on there.”

Then we put a microphone on the table and took turns talking to the tape recorder switching back and forth between tracks at random intervals. We played it back and sat there listening to our conversation:

“The other veins crawl through mine,” he said. Adjusting his throat microphone. Breathing heavily in the warm anaesthetic mist that filled the old Studio.

“Mind you take film. I want to see that. Grammars of distant differential tissue.”

“Agony to breathe here.”

“Muy alone in such tense and awful silence and por eso have I survived.”

“Echoes of sticky basements. From Lyon to Marseilles. Fossil flesh stormed the exits.”

“Carl made words in the air without a throat without a tongue. Vesitial penis figures to the sky now isn’t that cute?”

“Yes that’s what makes a real 23 as the focus snaps like this & you are actually there.”

“Junkie there at the corner flicking empty condoms H caps KY tubes?”

“Now what I was telling you abou tthe Police Parallele. The Manipulator takes pictures for 24 hours. His eyes unbluffed unreadable.”

“His face melted under the flickering arc lights. Most distasteful thing I ever stand still for.”

At approximately 1.30 AM Mr. Burroughs took a cab to the Hotel Kaiserhof. At approximately 1.36 the receptionist handed him the key to his room. It was the key to room 23.

Previously Unpublished Correspondence

Victor Bockris to Carl Weissner
17 Nov. 1975

Dear Chuck Colson,

Your memo reached me late last night and I was confused. I told you to hide your false teeth. Elke Sommer is too fat. Like you. Don’t you know we all rage at fat. Be gone, woebegotten one, and sink in the mire of your own fudge. Your abrasive hibiscus knows no Prussia.

Our much discussed interview takes a giant step forward with the enclosed questions. Please answer them at as great a length as you can. I think we make porridge and progress.

Much love to you my darling from the shores of sleep.

Alphonse.

P.S. Liebling! Return the questions mit dem answeren since dieses ist mine only copy!

Carl Weissner to Victor Bockris
27 Nov. 1975

Dear Alphonse,

Sorry to hear that my memo left you confused late last night. I have put my dentures in a glass of Bavarian brandy but they are still rattling. It’s ab-third.

Excuse me while I disengage my business hand here and finish whacking off.

All right!

Now: Enclose aide-memoir on first meeting Burroughs, for your ambitious piece. Plus, answers to your questionnaire. Good luck with both. Or either, as the case may be. And go easy on the porridge. Frau Sommer didn’t. She’s grown a goiter the size of my pet elephant’s left ball. Elephantiasis of the deep throat, dig.

Twilight of the Dogs to you, buster.

Yrs.,

Chuck Cole

Victor Bockris to Carl Weissner
11 Dec. 1975

Dear Carloni,

Thank you for your excellent report on a visit from Mr. Burroughs, which I have inserted into this 50 page opus I am currently trying to complete. I willl send you a copy of it.

I feel deep in my molecules that I now have enough material to put together an exquisite little interview with you, mon enfant. If you should have any more to say, speak now or forever hold your fat piece.

I’ll send you a xerox as soon as it is completed and I want to pooblish it in an issue of Coldspring.

Much licking and stomping oh great Parker.

Victor.

P.S. Should I come and live in Germany? I don’t know.

Carl Weissner to Victor Bockris
1 March 1976

Dear Frank,

Swell to hear from you. Yes, I trust we managed to disgrace ourselves with that interview for good and permanent. As my charming Russian wife said the other day. “Tovarish”, she says, “this one will make Scott Meredith think twice before he sends you another invitatiion to represent you on the basis of ten percent across the top and loser take nuthin’.”

So be it. Can’t remember a word of what I said. I must have a carbon around somewhere but I can’t find it. In any case, I hope you cut the fat and the whale drek and made it slick as a toilet seat worn smooth by the asses of a million pig-eating dykes.

Listen, that was a jewel you produced with Coldspring #10. It blinded me. How come you’re so good and I am such a miserable misogynist shit? What else can I do short of a Christine Jorgensen?

Happily yours,

Carlo Deutschmark

Letter from William Burroughs to Carl Weissner
30 April 1965

Correspondence with Charles Bukowski

Letter from Charles Bukowski to Carl Weissner
16 October 1976
This letter appeared at auction on ebay in August 2009.

Letter from Charles Bukowski to Carl Weissner
15 Jan 1979
This letter appeared at auction on ebay.

Letter from Charles Bukowski to Carl Weissner
15 Jan 1979
This letter appeared at auction on ebay.

Letter from Charles Bukowski to Carl Weissner
6 Feb 1979
This letter appeared at auction on ebay.

Letter from Charles Bukowski to Carl Weissner
6 Feb 1979
This letter appeared at auction on ebay.

Letter from Charles Bukowski to Carl Weissner
6 July 1988
This letter appeared at auction on ebay in July 2009.

Letter from Carl Weissner to Charles Bukowski
16 August 1988
This letter appeared at auction on ebay in July 2009.

Carl Weissner-Jeff Nuttall Corresondence

Letter from Carl Weissner to Jeff Nuttall
19 October 1965

Letter from Carl Weissner to Jeff Nuttall
19 October 1965

Letter from Carl Weissner to Jeff Nuttall
1966

Letter from Carl Weissner to Jeff Nuttall
26 January 1966

Letter from Carl Weissner to Jeff Nuttall
14 February 1966

Letter from Carl Weissner to Jeff Nuttall
20 March 1966

Letter from Carl Weissner to Jeff Nuttall
1 July 1966

Letter from Carl Weissner to Jeff Nuttall
3 October 1966

Letter from Carl Weissner to Jeff Nuttall
3 October 1966

Letter from Carl Weissner to Jeff Nuttall
14 October 1966

Letter from Carl Weissner to Jeff Nuttall
2 January 1967

Letter from Carl Weissner to Jeff Nuttall
15 March 1967

Letter from Carl Weissner to Jeff Nuttall
28 March 1967

Letter from Carl Weissner to Jeff Nuttall
9 April 1967

Letter from Carl Weissner to Jeff Nuttall
19 May 1967

Letter from Carl Weissner to Jeff Nuttall
27 September 1967

Letter from Carl Weissner to Jeff Nuttall
19 June 1969

Letter from Carl Weissner to Jeff Nuttall
19 June 1969

Miscellaneous Correspondence

Letter from Carl Weissner to Roy Pennington
26 February 1973

“Demolition Plan 23″
Text by Carl Weissner, International Times 60 (July 18-31, 1969)

Fruit Cup: No. Zero
Includes cut-up by Carl Weissner, “Historia de Chiquita D.,” published by Beach Books, New York, 1969

Fruit Cup: No. Zero
Includes cut-up by Carl Weissner, “Historia de Chiquita D.,” published by Beach Books, New York, 1969

Fruit Cup: No. Zero
Includes cut-up by Carl Weissner, “Historia de Chiquita D.,” published by Beach Books, New York, 1969

Parvis à l’echo des cils
Includes text by Carl Weissner, published by Jean-Jacques Pauvert, Paris, 1972

Intrepid

Also see the Intrepid cover archive.

Intrepid 14-15, Special Burroughs Issue
Includes cut-up by Carl Weissner, “On Burroughs,” published by Intrepid Press, 1970

Intrepid 14-15, Special Burroughs Issue
Includes cut-up by Carl Weissner, “On Burroughs,” published by Intrepid Press, 1970

Intrepid 14-15, Special Burroughs Issue
Includes cut-up by Carl Weissner, “On Burroughs,” published by Intrepid Press, 1970

Intermedia ’69

Intermedia 1969
Poster for 1969 Intermedia festival in Heidelberg featuring Fluxus artists, as well as Carl Weissner and Jan Herman

Intermedia 1969
Invitation

Intermedia 1969
Invitation

Intermedia 1969
Weissner Bio and bilingual cut-up

Abyss

Abyss 1970
Includes “The Photographic Medium,” a cut-up by Carl Weissner and Jan Herman

Abyss 1970
Includes “The Photographic Medium,” a cut-up by Carl Weissner and Jan Herman