“Language is a virus from outer space.” - William S. Burroughs
Photograph, Harry Chapman
William S. Burroughs is a favorite reference for contemporary writers and writing scholars. He was a prolific novelist, producing works that spoke of a drug riddled underworld, the likes of which most of us are fortunate to avoid. Regardless, his many references to writing, and to composing, still populate our essays and books. In a series of essays, many of which can be found in The Adding Machine (1986), Burroughs outlines his orientation to language:
My general theory since 1971 has been that the Word is literally a virus, and that it has not been recognized as such because it has achieved a state of relatively stable symbiosis with its human host; that is to say, the Word Virus (the Other Half) has established itself so firmly as an accepted part of the human organism that it can now sneer at gangster viruses like smallpox and turn them in to the Pasteur Institute. But the Word clearly bears the single identifying feature of virus: it is an organism with no internal function other than to replicate itself. (Burroughs, 47)
It’s clear that Burroughs’s own understanding of writing depended on evolution and change, coinciding with basic function of a virus. Later, Burroughs would speak explicitly about one such method that enacted his viral sense of language. In The Job (1989), Burroughs ruminates on the oft-cited cut-up method:
I follow the channels opened by the rearrangement of the text. This is the most important function of the cut-up. I may take a page, cut it up, and get a whole new idea for straight narrative, and not use any of the cut-up material at all, or I may use a sentence or two out of the actual cut-up. … It’s not unconscious at all, it’s a very objective operation… (Burroughs, 29)
In addition to these and many more texts about his own sense of writing, Burroughs also participated in several lectures and seminars discussing the craft. Just this week, a set of videos spread like a virus on social media and online publications. These videos capture William S. Burroughs lecturing on “how to write.”
In response to the William S. Burroughs “teaches writing” videos, we invite submissions for Responses that cut-up, mashup, and remix those recordings in a way that teaches writing once more. Make use of the entire set of recordings to rearrange, remix, cut it up to provide new writing lessons using Burroughs as your material.
We will publish a number of the responses provided they adhere to the following guidelines:
• The recording is exactly 2 minutes long
• The recording makes use only of the Burroughs audio found in the above videos
• The recording is submitted as a video (.mp4 format) using only a single, still image of William S. Burroughs as background
All responses must be submitted no later than May 15th May 30th and can be directed to Enculturation editors, Jim Brown and/or Casey Boyle.
Photograph, Harry Chapman