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Search Results (5)

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Keywords = William S. Burroughs

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16 pages, 298 KiB  
Article
‘Muzak for Frogs’—Representations of ‘Nature’ in Decoder (1984)
by Eva-Maria Hanser
Humanities 2021, 10(2), 67; https://doi.org/10.3390/h10020067 - 9 Apr 2021
Viewed by 2698
Abstract
This paper examines the various representations of ‘nature’ present in Decoder (1984), a German experimental cyberpunk film that was inspired by William S. Burroughs’ thoughts on utilising tapes as revolutionary weapons. Though Decoder is not a film one would easily associate with labels, [...] Read more.
This paper examines the various representations of ‘nature’ present in Decoder (1984), a German experimental cyberpunk film that was inspired by William S. Burroughs’ thoughts on utilising tapes as revolutionary weapons. Though Decoder is not a film one would easily associate with labels, such as ‘green’ or ‘environmental’, signs and images that represent or refer to ‘nature’ and non-human life are not omitted. Through a close reading of the film, the paper first explores the ways in which these representations convey and evoke certain meanings and associations and then elucidates the themes at play in the context of these representations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Keep on Rolling Under the Stars: Green Readings on the Beat Generation)
10 pages, 236 KiB  
Article
Baboons, Centipedes, and Lemurs: Becoming-Animal from Queer to Ghost of Chance
by Alexander Greiffenstern
Humanities 2021, 10(1), 51; https://doi.org/10.3390/h10010051 - 15 Mar 2021
Viewed by 3192
Abstract
The paper establishes a connection between the becoming-writer of Burroughs, who found his calling and style during the 1950s and his signature characteristic of becoming-animal. This can first be observed in Queer, where Burroughs develops his so-called routine; a short sketch-like text [...] Read more.
The paper establishes a connection between the becoming-writer of Burroughs, who found his calling and style during the 1950s and his signature characteristic of becoming-animal. This can first be observed in Queer, where Burroughs develops his so-called routine; a short sketch-like text that often involves instances of metamorphosis or transformation. The theoretical background for this short form and the term becoming-animal is taken from Deleuze’s and Guattari’s book on Kafka, who also worked best in short texts and frequently wrote about animals. “The Composite City” may be the central text to understanding Burroughs’ work. It is the text where Burroughs found his style and his identity as a writer. Becoming-animal is a logical consequence that further develops Burroughs’ aesthetic ideal. Over the following decades, he experimented with it in different forms, and toward the end of his career, it became part of an environmental turn. In Ghost of Chance, one can find the same aesthetic ideal that starts Burroughs’ writing in 1953, but the political implications have turned toward saving the lemurs of Madagascar. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Keep on Rolling Under the Stars: Green Readings on the Beat Generation)
16 pages, 229 KiB  
Article
The Future of Extinction: William S. Burroughs’ The Western Lands
by Steen Ledet Christiansen
Humanities 2020, 9(4), 142; https://doi.org/10.3390/h9040142 - 8 Dec 2020
Viewed by 3844
Abstract
In this article, I draw on William S. Burroughs’ The Western Lands to think about what François Laruelle has termed a “generic humanity.” This generic humanity broadens and expands our ethical obligations towards those who have not yet been included in humanity. Burroughs’ [...] Read more.
In this article, I draw on William S. Burroughs’ The Western Lands to think about what François Laruelle has termed a “generic humanity.” This generic humanity broadens and expands our ethical obligations towards those who have not yet been included in humanity. Burroughs’ emphasis in the novel on flattened time, magic, and death as transformation is used to show how we can make Mankind extinct from our way of thinking. Burroughs’ novel is thus an example of a “philo-fiction,” a work of literature that allows us to see the world differently. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Keep on Rolling Under the Stars: Green Readings on the Beat Generation)
10 pages, 227 KiB  
Article
The Dark Ecology of Naked Lunch
by George Hart
Humanities 2020, 9(4), 130; https://doi.org/10.3390/h9040130 - 30 Oct 2020
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 4227
Abstract
In this article, I argue that William S. Burroughs’ novel Naked Lunch engages in a “perverse aesthetics” that is analogous to Timothy Morton’s theory of dark ecology. The novel’s main themes of consumption and control are directly related to the Anthropocene’s twin disasters [...] Read more.
In this article, I argue that William S. Burroughs’ novel Naked Lunch engages in a “perverse aesthetics” that is analogous to Timothy Morton’s theory of dark ecology. The novel’s main themes of consumption and control are directly related to the Anthropocene’s twin disasters of global warming and mass extinction, and the trope for addiction, junk, reveals Burroughs’ deep analysis of the political and social forces that attempt to control life, what Burroughs calls biocontrol. By placing the novel’s obsession with hanging/lynching in the context of dark ecology, its critique of racism can also be seen as a critique of speciesism. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Keep on Rolling Under the Stars: Green Readings on the Beat Generation)
14 pages, 267 KiB  
Article
Genius and Genitality: William S. Burroughs Reading Wilhelm Reich
by Thomas Antonic
Humanities 2019, 8(2), 101; https://doi.org/10.3390/h8020101 - 21 May 2019
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 8734
Abstract
This article explores the impact of Wilhelm Reich’s theories and writings on the works and thinking of William S. Burroughs. Reich’s significance for Burroughs’ fiction is beyond doubt, as the appearance of Reich’s discoveries and inventions, such as orgones and orgone accumulators, in [...] Read more.
This article explores the impact of Wilhelm Reich’s theories and writings on the works and thinking of William S. Burroughs. Reich’s significance for Burroughs’ fiction is beyond doubt, as the appearance of Reich’s discoveries and inventions, such as orgones and orgone accumulators, in Burroughs’ major works demonstrates. Yet to date, no attempt has been made in academia to make all those references to Reich in Burroughs’ complete œuvre visible. In order to make the thinking of the Austrian-American psychoanalyst and scientist comprehensible for readers not familiar with Reich, the first section will provide a brief biographical outline. In the subsequent sections, the article will describe how Burroughs and other Beat writers discovered Reich, how and to what extent Burroughs incorporated Reich in his texts throughout his career and what opinions Burroughs expressed about Reich in interviews and letters. For the first time, with a summary as undertaken in this article and by documenting most of the references to Reich in Burroughs’ work, the importance of the former to the latter is revealed in a compact form. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Beat Generation Writers as Readers of World Literature)
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