I tell this anecdote with tongue in cheek at the start of my book William Burroughs and the Secret of Fascination, but my academic involvement with Burroughs was entirely due to my tutor at Oxford, Peter Conrad. I was discussing with him the idea of staying on to do graduate work and when I tossed the name of Burroughs into the conversation - well, he let it fall loudly onto the floor, and proceeded to cross himself as if warding off an evil spirit. Since I was very ambivalent about an academic career in any case, that decided it for me.
That rewriting of literary history is most obvious in the case of The Yage Letters, where I was able to show that the true history inverts the offici… - Oliver Harris
That rewriting of literary history is most obvious in the case of The Yage Letters, where I was able to show that the true history inverts the offici…
- Oliver Harris
A good deal of editing a manuscript looks like mechanical work, as if anyone with time on their hands and a magnifying glass could do it. But at a ce… - Oliver Harris
A good deal of editing a manuscript looks like mechanical work, as if anyone with time on their hands and a magnifying glass could do it. But at a ce…
I like to focus on the varieties of paper, the different sizes and watermarks, evidence perhaps of what was typed when and sometimes where and by who… - Oliver Harris
I like to focus on the varieties of paper, the different sizes and watermarks, evidence perhaps of what was typed when and sometimes where and by who…
I was suckered in by the myth of the man [ William Burroughs] as much as by his work. - Oliver Harris
I was suckered in by the myth of the man [ William Burroughs] as much as by his work.
It started out as a typically insane idea to map every part of the published text in terms of its manuscript provenance and history, and to establish… - Oliver Harris
It started out as a typically insane idea to map every part of the published text in terms of its manuscript provenance and history, and to establish…
I tell this anecdote with tongue in cheek at the start of my book William Burroughs and the Secret of Fascination, but my academic involvement with B… - Oliver Harris
I tell this anecdote with tongue in cheek at the start of my book William Burroughs and the Secret of Fascination, but my academic involvement with B…
Of course, for me Naked Lunch was the big one, but I still believe I was right to pass on that. James Grauerholz and Barry Miles did an important job… - Oliver Harris
Of course, for me Naked Lunch was the big one, but I still believe I was right to pass on that. James Grauerholz and Barry Miles did an important job…
I have really been fortunate, incredibly privileged, to have done so much editorial work, and I would love to do more. But just as my editions have t… - Oliver Harris
I have really been fortunate, incredibly privileged, to have done so much editorial work, and I would love to do more. But just as my editions have t…
I am always looking for some clue, some easily missed sign that might just be the missing piece in the puzzle. - Oliver Harris
I am always looking for some clue, some easily missed sign that might just be the missing piece in the puzzle.
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