Eryk wrote:
>Look at Burroughs, Kerouac, Neil Cassidy, Allen Ginsberg. The beats took
obscenity to a whole new level of art<
I would say that only Burroughs worked with obscenity as any kind of concept
and even then did he do more with obscenity than DeSade who predates him?
Burroughs obscenity seems an accident of his literary concerns I don't think
he's actually even that obscene although I remember when I first read
Burroughs "The Naked Lunch" I was surprised by it for two reasons, firstly
the explicit nature of the material, I was still a teenager when I read it
and I'd never before read anything like it, secondly how boring the book
was: I read half of it at first and then it was several months later before
I finished it. In fact I think it's his worst/most boring book..I much
prefer "Queer" or "Cities of the Red Night". For some reason the film of the
Naked Lunch bores me too. I went to see it in the cinema when it came out
and fell asleep during it....the cinema was half empty and even more empty
by the end as people walked out. My second attempt to watch it was on
video..again I fell asleep. I'm quite surprised as I can normally watch all
manner of dreadful films without falling asleep. The fact is that the film
itself seems extremely dull. In fact I secretly suspect that Burroughs'
popularity was mostly due to his strange life rather than his fiction.
BP mentions Burroughs hatred of women but I always think that's just an act.
It was a good way to get attention and to appeal to the misogyny market(gay
and straight), he only said most of this long after his marriages. He
certainly cared for the two women he married(he seemed a better husband than
Kerouac for example in temrs of commitment) and even if he did shoot the
second one I am willing to believe it was an accident as most of the
biographical data mentions. After all he had no reason to marry her yet he
did and had children with her.
BP wrote:
>And Kerouac. Myself and many other women I know read On The Road and were
awe struck, heavily identifying with the male leads and suddenly realizing
only the males were on the road and the chicks were pit stops. <
I enjoyed "On the Road" again as a teenager, so much so that I read a lot of
other Kerouac as well as a couple of biographies. As soon as I read the
biographies I could no longer take any of his books seriously. I know one
should separate the artist and the man but when you find out that Kerouac in
reality lived most of his life with his mother (despite 3 marriages) and was
actually only "on the road" for his summer holidays it all seems a bit of a
joke.
Actually I found that most of the beats' work lost appeal for me after a
while. I still like a few of Ginsberg's poems but once you've read the good
ones and start reading the rest it's disappointing...esp. "Punks of Dawlish"
which is a truly terrible poem. However I must admit that he was a great
performer and seeing him read was a great moment in my life.
I believe Burroughs has a more lasting appeal because of his ideas. Not the
misogynistic rubbish but his ideas on the nature of society and addiction
and his audio-visual work: The films made with Brion Gysin and Anthony
Balch, and his own visual art (Gun Door and the works/book with Keith
Haring) and audio recordings(from Call me Burroughs through Dead City Radio
etc.).
To make a point, since my wittering on should arguably come to some
conclusion: For me Richard Brautigan is the only beat whose work is long
lasting(i.e. it never seems to diminish with re-reading) and this is
probably because he is not trying to shock. He wrote wonderful stories
filled with imagination and great ideas.
Anyway, I'll stop now as this post is too long considering it says so little
of substance.
cheers,
Sol.
