This catalogue, edited by Robert A. Sobieszek, curator of photography at LACMA, was issued for an exhibition in 1996. It emphasizes the importance and influence of the painted and poetic works as well as the life of William Burroughs and his collaborator, Brion Gysin. In his preface Sobieszek writes that "Burroughs is far more than a writer of imaginative prose and speculative fiction. His revolutionary literary tactics have led him to margins of activity where genres cease to matter, where the distinctions between words and images blend together, where paragraphs become filmic montage, and where a shotgun blast is the same as a painting. At the core of Burroughs's art is the 'cut-up' technique that he and Brion Gysin developed following the appearance of Naked Lunch. While loosely related to the more traditional techniques of collage, photomontage, and text-image experiments used by modern artists, Burroughs's cut- up strategy inaugurated an essentially postmodern shift in the conceptual and technical characteristics of both literature and the visual arts...Combined with images or pictures, these techniques totally unplug linear logic." A large section of the catalogue deals with reproductions of pages from Burroughs "cut-up"scrapbooks of the sixties and early seventies along with critical comments. The scrapbooks should be considered as artist books An untitled collage of 1976 by Cozette de Charmoy is reproduced in the chapter "El Hombe Invisible" on page 154. In this work, composed of fictive, international postage stamps, Burroughs' portrait is combined with typescripts and rubberstamped lettering that play on the word "poste." A concrete poem by Alan Ginsberg from "Reality Sandwiches 1953-1960," is reproduced on page 26. A paper weaving entitled New York Times (horizontal) and China Times (vertical) 1971, by Laurie Anderson, reproduced on page 162, is an adaptation of Burroughs' cut-up technique. A review of this catalogue in Eye Magazine number 24 states that "Burroughs's assaults on linear reality using the sense-scrambling techniques of 'cut-up' and 'fold-in' anticipated developments in painting, assemblage, film, pop videos, and the writing of rock lyrics. The examples collected in the book of the show suggest graphic design will have to be added to the list. Burroughs and Gysin may have used the technologically limited media of typewriter and found text for experiments in page structure and reading pattern, but collages such as 'Plan Drug Addiction' mapped out the ramshackle visual territory of 'Ray Gun' and similar 1990's grunge publications decades before their time." R.W. Smith Bookseller: Catalogue of 153 works in various media, including 79 paintings, collages, photo-works, assemblages, and other works by Burroughs, 16 works and illustrations in collaboration with other artists, 31 portraits and other likenesses, and 27 works by other artists (such as designs for dust jackets, record sleeves, works in homage to Burroughs, etc.). Foreword by Andrea L. Rich. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.