Burroughs, William S. (Ansen, Alan; Grauerholz, James; Ploog, Jurgen; Stephenson, Gregory; Waldman, Anne; Weinreich, Regina; Zurbrugg, Nicholas et al.)

A William S. Burroughs Bundle: (1) The Review of Contemporary Fiction Vol. 4 No. 1 (Spring 1984): Burroughs Special Issue, with: (2) Queer (First American Hardcover Ed.)

Elmwood Park, IL; New York, NY: The Review of Contemporary Fiction; Viking/Penguin, 1984; 1985. First Editions. Softcover; Hardcover. (1) This loaded-syringe-of-a-bundle begins the "William S. Burroughs Number" of The Review for Contemporary Fiction from Spring 1984, a must-have for the True Burroughsian or anyone with a real commitment to surveying what's been written about WSB. This is especially true when it comes to surveying the first decade of scholarship after the seismic 1976 release of John Tytell's groundbreaking work "Naked Angels: the Lives and Literature of the Beat Generation." A few friends of John's and colleagues of ours at the European Beat Studies Network (ebsn.eu) appear with pieces of their own in this volume. The brilliant Regina Weinreich contributes "The Dynamic Deja Vu of William Burroughs;" friend of TMB Gregory Stephenson appears with "The Gnostic Vision of William S. Burroughs; and Burroughs himself kicks off the volume with three pieces: "Creative Reading," "Revenge of the Ice Box," and "Ruski." Other delicacies-of-the-page abound, such as Nicholas Zurbrugg's interview of James Grauerholz, friend of TMB, head of Burroughs Communications, and the judicious sentinel of Burroughs' estate and legacy. The informative interview is centered around WSB's 1981 work, "Cities of the Red Night." (New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1981). The great polymath Alan Ansen contributes "William Burroughs: a Personal View;" ground-floor Burroughsian Anne Waldman contributes "June Dream," and Jurgen Ploog with a refulgent-informative essay entitled "A Burroughs Primer." These delights and more make the "William S. Burroughs Number" of The Review of Contemporary Fiction an essential addition to any Burroughs-&-Beyond library. While he was too young to make it into this compilation at the time, one of the only Mount Rushmore Burroughsians notably missing from this volume is the great Oliver Harris. Book in very fine condition with only modest shelf-wear to fine-edges and slight spotting to text block. (2) As famous, if not more so, for WSB's controversial introduction as the work itself, Queer recounts WSB's pining after "Allerton," a thinly disguised fictional version of the real-life A. Lewis Marker, in Mexico City & the South American jungles as they search for shamans & their potions during the late 1940s through the dawn of the 1950s. The events of this novel-memoir are shadowed by a growing sense of menace & evil, and end just before the actual notorious incident that every hard-core Burroughsian has deeply pondered but which will ever remain an enigma: The shooting death of WSB's common-law wife, Joan Vollmer Burroughs, at his hand during a drunken "William Tell" performance. We offer here the first hardcover edition, first printing (Schottlaender, A59(A), pg. 19; Shoaf, Section 1, No. 66, pg. 54), featuring reproduction of an artwork by George Baselitz ("Orangenesser X," 1981) on front & back cover of dust jacket; & frontispiece of photograph of WSB with hand-written caption taken by Allen Ginsberg in 1953. Book in very fine condition with only minute shelf-wear and slight discoloration from dust-jacket at fine-edges; dust-jacket in fine condition with only single spot near rightmost fine-edge of front cover; tiny closed tear at top left corner of front cover near spine; back cover largely pristine with only small shelf-wear stresses at bottom left-hand corner; ever-so-slightly-more pronounced shelf-wear to spine at topmost fine-edge. Very Fine; Very Fine / Fine. [Item #4048]

Price: $125.00