Various (Girodias, Maurice (Editor); Burroughs, William S.; Corso, Gregory; Lowenfels, Walter; Nour, Nazli et al.)

Olympia: A Bimonthly Review from Paris No. 4 (1963)

Paris, France: Olympia Press, 1963. First Printing. Softcover. "With bitter hilarity William Burroughs blasts our mismanaged and deranged planet. The section printed here is a continuous excerpt from his latest novel, 'The Ticket That Exploded.' Readers unfamiliar with Burroughs' fold-in technique of writing may appreciate the author's explanation of what he's about: 'My writing methods are similar to those of photographic montage. I want some of my characters in focus and others out of focus. So I cut into the story with a flash-forward in the narrative to give a hint of what is to come.' What comes is a macabre obsessive science fiction universe, abandoned by drugs and sexual exploitation. 'Naked Lunch,' the novel which propelled William Burroughs into the literary orbit (he was already a light to many writers, having lived what he was to write about) was first published in Paris by Olympia Press, later published in America, and is currently being translated for a French edition. This book and the two that followed have aroused the sensational critical controversy that only major transitions in art provoke. But as critics and writers finally decide why they loathe or revere Burroughs, he takes another leap further out." (blurb that appears below Burroughs' contribution, pgs. 10-11) A relic of Paris during the early 1960s, this fourth & final issue of the short-lived but influential bimonthly literary-art journal from the great-&-pioneering publisher Maurice Girodias (1919-1990) and his Olympia Press is a time-stamped artifact of a lost era in art & literature. Significantly, this issue contains the work of William S. Burroughs & Gregory Corso- the most-legendary denizens of what came to be known as "The Beat Hotel" at 9 Rue Git Le Coeur. WSB appears with an episode from The Ticket That Exploded (Maynard & Miles, C54, pg. 122; Shoaf, Section III, No. 42, pg. 129; Schottlaender (5.0), C58, pg. 40); while Corso appears at his erratic best with three poems: "Train Wreck," "Body Fished from the Seine," & "A French Boy's Sunday." Walter Lowenfels contributes an extremely interesting short essay about the "many loves" of Walt Whitman, which surprisingly were not all homosexual relationships- Lowenfels examines veritable evidence of Whitman's sexual relations with women well into his fifties. A more contemporary scholarly-cultural curiosity also appears in this issue: a then-young female writer just out of her teens named Nazli Nour, who appears with a suite of evocative prose poems gathered under the title "The Trial of Gretchen Green." With more, including mostly-erotic art portfolios. Large-format softcover journal, presumed first-&-only printing. From the collection of Kevin Ring, editor-publisher & contributor to the indispensable Beat Scene magazine & other special productions (many of which are available here), & our good friend in the UK. An essential collectible in the Olympia oeuvre of particular interest to the Third Mind WSB acolyte-completist collector, with distinguished provenance. In relatively good-to-near-fine condition with moderate-to-significant rubbing, mostly faint scratching & occasional short creasing to front, back covers & spine; mild wear & some tiny bumps, creases at/from edges & corners of same; discernable crease across length of spine; wear to spine-edges & corners with minimal loss of paper, surface paper esp. at upper edge, corners of same; mild rubbing, age-toning to edges of text block. Interior near-fine with light age-toning to inner covers & page leaves, chiefly at mostly blank margins/edges; tiny bumps at corners of some leaves. Good-Near Fine. [Item #8115]

Price: $50.00