Wednesday, March 4, 2009

TVD's Libertine Circle | William S. Burroughs

"Critics constantly complain that writers are lacking in standards, yet they themselves seem to have no standards other than personal prejudice for literary criticism. (...) such standards do exist. Matthew Arnold set up three criteria for criticism: 1. What is the writer trying to do? 2. How well does he succeed in doing it? (...) 3. Does the work exhibit "high seriousness"? That is, does it touch on basic issues of good and evil, life and death and the human condition. I would also apply a fourth criterion (...) Write about what you know. More writers fail because they try to write about things they don't know than for any other reason.
–William S. Burroughs, 'A Review of the Reviewers'


William S. Burroughs - Reads From 'Naked Lunch' (Mp3)
William S. Burroughs - Excerpt From Ah Pook Is Here (Mp3)
William S. Burroughs - '103rd Street Boys' From 'Junkie' (Mp3)
William S. Burroughs - Totally Corrupt (Mp3)
William S. Burroughs - What Washington, What Orders (Mp3)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

So where are you guys actually finding the Libertine Circle recordings?


I just read On the Road about a month ago and I've been waiting to sink my teeth into some more of the beat generation stuff these records would be really sweet.

Jon said...

The serendipity of crate digging......

Anonymous said...

So a blog about DC vinyl isn't giving away any secrets?


Respect.

Jon said...

Not trying to be evasive! It really is years of trolling through record stores, in DC and elsewhere, and luck o' the crate!