Naked Lunch in Manuscript > Naked Lunch in Manuscript
Allen Ginsberg, 1926-1997
Howl, and other poems
San Francisco: City Lights, 1956
The mention of Burroughs and Naked Lunch on the dedication page of Howl, and other poems marks the first time that both the author’s (real) name and his work appeared in print. Ginsberg acted as a literary agent for Burroughs, pitching the book to City Lights and New Directions. His mention of Naked Lunch before its publication is typical of both Ginsberg’s enthusiasm for his friend’s work as well as his savvy marketing sense.
Allen Ginsberg, 1926-1997
Howl, and other poems
San Francisco: City Lights, 1956
The dedication mentioning Burroughs.
William S. Burroughs, 1914-1997
The Word, “Interzone” Manuscript
Allen Ginsberg Papers
The opening page of “The Word,” the final 60 page section of the “Interzone” manuscript. As an indication of the mutable quality of Burroughs’s work at the time, he instructed Lawrence Ferlinghetti, to whom he had submitted the manuscript for publication at City Lights, to ignore “The Word,” sending alternate pages intended as a replacement. See the accompanying letter to Ferlinghetti in this case. “The Word” was not published in its entirety until Interzone appeared in book form in 1989 (a copy of which is included in this exhibition).
William S. Burroughs, 1914-1997
Have you seen Pantapon Rose?, 1958
Allen Ginsberg Papers
The three pages shown here were among those sent to Lawrence Ferlinghetti April 18, 1958 with the “Interzone” manuscript, see Burroughs’s letter later in this exhibition. Burroughs gives his Paris address as 9 Rue Gît-le-Cœur, i.e., the Beat Hotel, a Latin Quarter hotel whose residents in the late 1950s included Gregory Corso, Allen Ginsberg, Brion Gysin, Peter Orlovsky, Ian Sommerville and others.
William S. Burroughs, 1914-1997
Excerpts from Naked Lunch, “The Algebra of Need,” “The Black Meat,” “Coke Bugs,” and “The Exterminator does a Good Job.”, [1959-60]
Allen Ginsberg Papers
Among the manuscript excerpts from Naked Lunch in Columbia’s collection are those shown here: “The Algebra of Need,” “The Black Meat,” “Coke Bugs,” and “The Exterminator does a Good Job.” The pages include Burroughs’s autograph corrections and changes, and were sent by him to Ginsberg in July 1959 (date from the postmarked envelope). A listening station in this exhibition includes Burroughs reading from “The Exterminator does a Good Job.”
William S. Burroughs, 1914-1997
Typed letter signed, William S. Burroughs to Allen Ginsberg, October 19, 1957
Allen Ginsberg Papers
The update that Burroughs provides Ginsberg in this letter shows Burroughs working out various features of Naked Lunch; among other things, he establishes that “material from Queer Yage etc. does not belong in this novel,” thus giving Naked Lunch a clearer identity as it takes form as an autonomous work. Both Queer (1985) and The Yagé Letters, with Allen Ginsberg as co-author (1963), appeared latter as independent works.