RealityStudio

RealityStudio is the web’s leading resource dedicated to William S. Burroughs and the underground press in the 1960s.

William S. Burroughs with a copy of Naked Lunch at the Beat Hotel, 1959

What’s New

Updated the page on the 1962 International Writers’ Conference with new documentary materials furnished by Graham Rae.

Graham Rae interviews Chris Kelso about his new book Burroughs and Scotland: Dethroning The Ancients: The Commitment Of Exile.

James Grauerholz, William Burroughs’ long-time friend and manager, as well as current steward of the Burroughs Estate, offers a thoughtful, revealing take on his relationship with Burroughs on the Wake Island Broadcast podcast. A must-listen!

Moloko Print has just put out three new must-have Burroughs books. The first is a new edition of Minutes to Go and the second is a new edition of The Exterminator — two foundational cut-up works which have been newly edited and contextualized by Oliver Harris. The third is a 1960 cut-up work titled BATTLE INSTRUCTIONS. Never before published, this “new” work has also been artfully assembled and edited by Oliver Harris. RealityStudio will feature more about these and the new edition of Dead Fingers Talk soon.

The new edition of Dead Fingers Talk: The Restored Text, edited and introduced by Oliver Harris, is available for order from the publisher Alma Books.

A review of the brilliant BATTLE INSTRUCTIONS by William S. Burroughs, newly published by Moloko Print.

On the 61st anniversary of the book’s publication, RealityStudio is proud to share “Secrets of the Olympia Press Naked Lunch.” Pirates, print run, points of distinction — what you thought you knew about the publication history of Naked Lunch was wrong.

Professor Rob Johnson, author of The Lost Years of William S. Burroughs: Beats in South Texas and other works, contributes two texts. The first, “A Note on ‘The Great Peters’ in Burroughs’ Word,” explores a historical source for the hanging trope in Burroughs’ work. The second, “Old Arch,” is the last story completed by William S. Burroughs. It is reproduced from The Beatest State In The Union: An Anthology of Beat Texas Writings with the kind permission of James Grauerholz and the William S. Burroughs Estate.

Thomas Antonic contributes “The White Russian Countess: On Ilse Herzfeld Klapper and Her Marriage to William Burroughs,” an excerpt from his book Amongst Nazis: William S. Burroughs in Vienna 1936/37 (Moloko Print, spring 2020)

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