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Nothing Is True-Everything Is Permitted: The Life of Brion Gysin
The multimedia artist, poet and novelist Brion Gysin may be the most influential cultural figure of the twentieth century that most people have never heard of. Gysin (1916-1986) was an Englishborn, Canadianraised, naturalized American of Swiss descent, who lived most of his life in Morocco and France. He went everywhere when the going was good. He dabbled with surrealism in Paris in the 1930s, lived in the "interzone" of Tangier in the 1950s and traveled the Algerian Sahara with Sheltering Sky author Paul Bowles before moving into the legendary Beat Hotel in Paris. Gysin's ideas influenced generations of artists, musicians and writers, among them David Bowie, Keith Haring, Patti Smith, Michael Stipe, Genesis POrridge, John Giorno and Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones. None was touched more profoundly than William S. Burroughs, who said admiringly of "There was something dangerous about what he was doing." It was Gysin who introduced the Rolling Stones to the exotica of Morocco and took Stones' guitarist Brian Jones to Jajouka where he recorded the tribal musicians performing the Pipes of Pan. It was Gysin who provided the hashish fudge recipe published in Alice B. Toklas' cookbook, promising "ecstatic reveries and extensions of one's personality on several simultaneous planes." It was Gysin who introduced Burroughs to an automatic writing method called the cutup, a literary progenitor to sampling. And it was Gysin who developed--with Ian Sommerville, the Dream Machine--a device that allowed people, with the flick of a switch, to access altered states of consciousness without drugs. Working with the authorization of Gysin's literary executor, William S. Burroughs, John Geiger has produced the firstever biography of the painter, poet, piper Brion Gysin.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 2005
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317 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 25, 2018
When you first pick up this book, you might think to yourself "Who is Brion Gysin?" but by the time you finish this superb biography, the question will change to "Why haven't I heard of Brion Gysin?"
Some might say that he lived and loomed constantly in the greater shadow of William S. Burroughs. That might be partly true or maybe it is just harder to hit the jackpot when you are more of a painter than a writer.
This is one fantastic biography - right up there with some of the very best biographies I have ever read including Literary Outlaw (on Burroughs), Memory Babe (on Kerouac), Ambassador from Venus (on Robert Duncan) and Many Years from Now (on Paul Macartney). This book goes into Gysin's life year by year in great depth and detail and like all great biographies paints such as vivid portrait of the man, it's almost like an actual TV documentary going through your head as you read it. Another reviewer on amazon.com pointed out that the biographer tended to make Gysin's life seem dull, bland and boring. I did actually feel this way to some extent, with the first 3 or 4 chapters, but after that, once Gysin heads over to France and meets the surrealists - Breton and his crew - then the book really kicks off, or maybe I should say kicks into gear.
Without going into too much detail, Gysin was a classic example of a 'jack-of-all-trades but master of none.' And he realised this himself, but only when it was too late. I always thought of him as a painter first and foremost who was probably inspired by people like Burroughs to try his hand at writing. But I was wrong. Since a young age, his main motivation (even from his high school days) was to be a writer and his main passion was literature. As fate would have it, he met someone at his high school who taught drawing and inspired Gysin to take up sketching, drawing and later painting. This really was interesting because it shows how the people we meet in our life, or the people we come across, for good or for worse, help shape our life if we let them have an influential effect over it.
Gysin never seemed to have the right luck, especially with timing. Perhaps this is because he was TOO FAR AHEAD of the rest of the game. With his Dreamachine idea (which was his idea originally but credit for its building and execution really should go to Ian Sommerville) never really kicked off, not until after his death. His tour-de-force first novel, The Process, similarly, was not recognised for its artistic merit until many years later.
In short, one of the many points the biographers makes in this great book is that even though Gysin sadly did not achieve the recognition and the acclaim that he so rightly deserved (and which Burroughs tried his best to bring about) in his lifetime, he undoubtedly had a huge influence over the art of others, including Burroughs (of course) with his cut-ups, Brian Jones from the Rolling Stones (whom Gysin introduced to the jajouka musicians of Morocco), Paul Bowles (a fellow writer and friend), his wife Jane Bowles (a stunning writer herself), Iggy Pop, David Bowie and a whole slew of other writers, poets, musicians and artists.
Finally, this biography is very well written and has a very addictive pace to it. I found it really hard to put this book down, even after reading it on my one-hour commute to work when I had to get off the train and put it away.
Gysin's paintings are held in high regard by many artists today, especially in France, which he made his own expat home. Here's hoping that he will one day receive the credit and recognition for also being a wonderful writer. I am also looking forward to the day they publish the original 900-page manuscript of the Bardo Hotel/The Last Museum as they did with Wolfe's original manuscript to Look Homeward, Angel (called O Lost!).
Highly, highly recommended. Go get it. You won't be disappointed.
Some might say that he lived and loomed constantly in the greater shadow of William S. Burroughs. That might be partly true or maybe it is just harder to hit the jackpot when you are more of a painter than a writer.
This is one fantastic biography - right up there with some of the very best biographies I have ever read including Literary Outlaw (on Burroughs), Memory Babe (on Kerouac), Ambassador from Venus (on Robert Duncan) and Many Years from Now (on Paul Macartney). This book goes into Gysin's life year by year in great depth and detail and like all great biographies paints such as vivid portrait of the man, it's almost like an actual TV documentary going through your head as you read it. Another reviewer on amazon.com pointed out that the biographer tended to make Gysin's life seem dull, bland and boring. I did actually feel this way to some extent, with the first 3 or 4 chapters, but after that, once Gysin heads over to France and meets the surrealists - Breton and his crew - then the book really kicks off, or maybe I should say kicks into gear.
Without going into too much detail, Gysin was a classic example of a 'jack-of-all-trades but master of none.' And he realised this himself, but only when it was too late. I always thought of him as a painter first and foremost who was probably inspired by people like Burroughs to try his hand at writing. But I was wrong. Since a young age, his main motivation (even from his high school days) was to be a writer and his main passion was literature. As fate would have it, he met someone at his high school who taught drawing and inspired Gysin to take up sketching, drawing and later painting. This really was interesting because it shows how the people we meet in our life, or the people we come across, for good or for worse, help shape our life if we let them have an influential effect over it.
Gysin never seemed to have the right luck, especially with timing. Perhaps this is because he was TOO FAR AHEAD of the rest of the game. With his Dreamachine idea (which was his idea originally but credit for its building and execution really should go to Ian Sommerville) never really kicked off, not until after his death. His tour-de-force first novel, The Process, similarly, was not recognised for its artistic merit until many years later.
In short, one of the many points the biographers makes in this great book is that even though Gysin sadly did not achieve the recognition and the acclaim that he so rightly deserved (and which Burroughs tried his best to bring about) in his lifetime, he undoubtedly had a huge influence over the art of others, including Burroughs (of course) with his cut-ups, Brian Jones from the Rolling Stones (whom Gysin introduced to the jajouka musicians of Morocco), Paul Bowles (a fellow writer and friend), his wife Jane Bowles (a stunning writer herself), Iggy Pop, David Bowie and a whole slew of other writers, poets, musicians and artists.
Finally, this biography is very well written and has a very addictive pace to it. I found it really hard to put this book down, even after reading it on my one-hour commute to work when I had to get off the train and put it away.
Gysin's paintings are held in high regard by many artists today, especially in France, which he made his own expat home. Here's hoping that he will one day receive the credit and recognition for also being a wonderful writer. I am also looking forward to the day they publish the original 900-page manuscript of the Bardo Hotel/The Last Museum as they did with Wolfe's original manuscript to Look Homeward, Angel (called O Lost!).
Highly, highly recommended. Go get it. You won't be disappointed.
Want to read
February 3, 2012Now the sunshine has been unbottled and layered across my part of the British Isles, I'm off on a book-journey to the hot lands of Araby, about to delve deeper into the life of Brion Gysin and distill some of his creative/magickal strategies! Having spent time myself in Paris, Tangier and the High Atlas, I'm expecting a Djintastick literary exploration!
January 13, 2019
John Geiger's biography of Brion Gysin is a gem. I found myself thoroughly captivated, laughing my ass off every few pages at the utter weirdness and shock factor of a man who lived unapologetically.
The book reads almost like a memoir; Geiger put significant effort into gathering what makes for a lucid, fully fleshed-out story from extremely thorough digging for information and conducting interviews. This is a biography done right! I think so much like Gysin. I AM so much like him in a number of ways. It was a pleasure to realize that here, and to get a glimpse into his life.
Things start a little slow for the first chapter or two, then it really gets going. The first half to two-thirds of the book was glorious! The last part gets a bit sad and glum.. but you know, many biographies do when they get to the last chapter. Well worth it, though!
The book reads almost like a memoir; Geiger put significant effort into gathering what makes for a lucid, fully fleshed-out story from extremely thorough digging for information and conducting interviews. This is a biography done right! I think so much like Gysin. I AM so much like him in a number of ways. It was a pleasure to realize that here, and to get a glimpse into his life.
Things start a little slow for the first chapter or two, then it really gets going. The first half to two-thirds of the book was glorious! The last part gets a bit sad and glum.. but you know, many biographies do when they get to the last chapter. Well worth it, though!
February 12, 2018
I have been waiting to read this book for several years. I was brought to Burroughs by a Moncton poet whoo introduced me to the cut-up and to anti-linear writing/reading. I had heard of BG through my connections to Burroughs and after that Genesis P. Orridge, Throbbing Gristle and all the productions of these entities. Still I resisted.
I was fascinated with this story but it fell short on exploring The Process other than tell us the parties and un-parties it all created. Entertaining to the max, but shallow in some ways. I did learn he was born in my home country and refused it for all the reasons I tended to be reticent of my citizenship. The description of the epoch and personalities involved is engaging to a certain extent.
I look forward to seeing re-publication of "The Third Mind", "Here to Go" to get a better view of the process and its underpinnings. I am getting more engaged with poetry all the time as I distance myself from the structured definition of time used in language with words. All things happen all the time; I am That am I?
I was fascinated with this story but it fell short on exploring The Process other than tell us the parties and un-parties it all created. Entertaining to the max, but shallow in some ways. I did learn he was born in my home country and refused it for all the reasons I tended to be reticent of my citizenship. The description of the epoch and personalities involved is engaging to a certain extent.
I look forward to seeing re-publication of "The Third Mind", "Here to Go" to get a better view of the process and its underpinnings. I am getting more engaged with poetry all the time as I distance myself from the structured definition of time used in language with words. All things happen all the time; I am That am I?
February 17, 2016
A good biography because it presents Gysin as a complicated figure in a Pantheon of complicated figures and the ease of staging lets you make up your own mind which days of the week you'll subsequently set aside to pay tribute to his substantial contribution to the cut-up of the curtain between man, pop-culture, and reality.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews