Brion Gysin Let the Mice In

by Brion Gysin, Ian Sommerville, William S. Burroughs

Genres: Poetry, Literature

64 pages, Hardcover

First published January 28, 1973

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

[Vaggelis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ένα βιβλίο γραμμένο από ένα ανήσυχο καί αεικίνητο πνεύμα.

Ο συνεργάτης και κοντινός φίλος του William Burroughs,ο ζωγράφος/μουσικός Brion Gysin ήταν ο βασιλιάς τού λογοτεχνικού (καί όχι μόνο)underground τίς δεκαετίες τού 60 καί τού 70.

Καί είναι λογικό. Η φρεσκάδα καί πληθώρα τών εμπνευσμένων ιδεών στην θεματολογία καί την τεχνική, δίνουν μια πρωτόγνωρη αναγνωστική εμπειρία.
Η συνεισφορά των Burroughs και Sommerville δεν ξέρω τί μέγεθος είχε, αλλά τό βιβλίο είναι η επιτομή τού avant garde.

Παρόλη την δυσκολία καί τό βάθος των νοημάτων τών κειμένων,η μετάφραση στα ελληνικά από τον Λειβαδά είναι εξαιρετική κρατώντας την ατμόσφαιρα καί την συνοχή πού παρέχει η αγγλική γλώσσα. Πολύ απαιτητική δουλειά καί μπράβο τού.

Τα δοκίμια είναι σπάνιας ομορφιάς, όμως σας προτείνω τα cut-up ποιήματα να τα ψάξετε πρώτα στο youtube όπου υπάρχουν διάφορες ερμηνείες καί προσεγγίσεις στην απαγγελία τούς, καθότι κάποιος αμύητος στην μέθοδο τού συγγραφέα πιθανόν να τά βρει ακατανόητα.

[Tentatively, Convenience · Rating 3 out of 5]

Of course, I keep writing over & over: Something Else Press = greatness. This is another installment in the Gysin/Burroughs/(&, in this case, Ian Somerville) history of cut-ups. Add to that some of Gysin's graphics & permutation poems. & fotos too. The permutations were probably pretty exciting to Gysin when he wrote them but now they just seem like: So what? to me.

"I AM THAT I AM
AM I THAT I AM", etc..

I like permutating things but I don't really think that Gysin's simple permutations add up to much. Still, this is a substantial bk for a person not jaded to the subject(s). What so?

[candice · Rating 5 out of 5]

I used to leaf over this book a lot when I was in school at UCSB. There was something about going deep into the stacks to find this book that was fitting.

[Kendal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Had to sell this one, wish I had it back.

[Mat · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book is just okay. Gysin's permutation poems didn't seem to gel much with me but the essays in this book are worth reading just so you can trace a bit of a lineage behind the birth of the cut-ups. some of the cut-ups work well, especially Gysin's cut-up prose which achieves a form of disjunctive beauty hard to describe. Burroughs' cut-up work in this book ranges from very good and sometimes funny to pretty meaningless.

all told, this book serves more as a companion to Minutes to go and The Exterminator