Here to Go: Planet R-101

by Brion Gysin (Foreward)

Alternate version of this book.

HERE TO GO is a unique introduction to the life and art of Brion Gysin, a master of twentieth-century expirentation. William S. Burroughs has described him as 'the only modern artist, and theirs remains the most important collaboration in modern literature.

Here is a discourse both intimate and authoritative, ranging freely over fascinating subjects: Morocco, magic, science, literature, painting and music. Wilson's inventive questioning and craft have created a new kind of book, in which photographs and texts are effectively introduced by the sound of Gysin's voice, 'entertaining, instructing, cajoling; perverse, fulminating...'

With HERE TO GO the reader is urged more than a reader; listen to Gysin's 'special knowledge' and learn to Rub Out The Word.

Genres: Fiction, Art

300 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1982

About the author

John Clifford Brian Gysin, raised in Canada and England, was a peripheral figure in the Beat movement of the mid-20th century.

After serving is the U.S. Army during WWII, he received one of the first Fulbright Fellowships in 1949. A decade later he became closely associated with Beat writer William S. Burroughs. Their popularization of the Dadaist "cut-up technique" are the primary source of Gysin's literary fame.

Reviews

[Dreamachine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here to Go: Planet R-101 is Brion's signature work of writing, discussing a range of topics influencing generations of Artists in all disciplines.


Brion Gysin (January 19, 1916 – July 13, 1986) was a painter, writer, sound poet, and performance artist born in Taplow, Buckinghamshire. He is best known for his discovery of the cut-up technique, used by his friend, the novelist William S. Burroughs. With the engineer Ian Sommerville he invented the Dreamachine, a flicker device designed as an art object to be viewed with the eyes closed. It was in painting and drawing, however, that Gysin devoted his greatest efforts, creating calligraphic works inspired by the cursive Japanese "grass" script and Arabic script. Burroughs later stated that "Brion Gysin was the only man I ever respected."

[George Schmoe · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must for any person interested in Gysin and Burroughs. provides alot of knowledge and insight about Gysin who is often missunderstood and overlooked for his contributions to arts and the work done with Burroughs.

[Michel Tuomy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I began reading this book in 1992, thats over thirty years ago. I still marvel at it's content. A prophesy on planet earth and it's purpose. This book is not for the faint hearted. In interview Brion Gysin outlines how and why humanity is doomed as a collective species. And our only means of survival is to leave our home base and enter space. My journey begun with reading his book The Process, where psychic experiences occurred which were both individualistic and at the the same time connected to his precise style of cosmology, Here To Go ocnitnued this trip. Gysin was very specific, nothing happens by mistake and you can only teach someone something they already know. Turn on, tune in, set off into the space time idiom which makes a mockery of linear time. Best of luck!

[Mark Schomburg · Rating 3 out of 5]

The transcripted audio interview from 1976 that forms the thread of this book keeps it on track, while various sideshows are introduced - extracts from texts, photos, and art. Enough ideas are elucidated to make this worth reading through, although I don't think the concepts get enough treatment - the treatment that they really deserve. It may be that the main themes get more discussion in other books which I just haven't read, but then again maybe not. Themes that I would like to see more discussion of are the "viral" theories of communication and bodily existence, intuitions on dream machine practices, and an even more exacting looks at the mechanics and implications of cut-ups. Thankfully, there is enough coverage of these areas here as to give enough idea for a reader to infer meaningful connections. Maybe it will never be spelled out, and maybe that's the point. I would prefer to see a Daniel Dennett style treatment of the core ideas, i.e. analysis and exhaustive thought experiments written down. I'd like to see explained more WSB's views on space travel which seem to say that if man doesn't change to meet new environments then there has been no real progress. Put man into a super high tech can to get him to another star and there's no flesh & blood & perceptual difference; he's as dependent on technology for survival as he was "on Earth." Gysin's point of view is also ultimate, asking questions of existence in the perspective of deep, deep space, as localized into our own lives. It's really only in books such as this where there is evidence of people actively challenging their own perceptual mechanisms to an unknown universal structure, and not only mapping neurons and counting cycles to reinforce an already set in stone view of reality. Well-documented resources here too.