the exact influence of William S. Burroughs on William Gibson

topic posted Mon, February 12, 2007 - 7:57 AM by  Frank
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Hello there,
Do you know anything about the influence of William S. Burroughs on William Gibson ? They have a lot of themes in common, and I read somewhere that Gibson used the cut-up technique although I can't find any example. I also read that "all the bits" in his poem "Agrippa" were "recycled" from previous texts, which would prove that he used the cut-up technique.
I sure need some help here !
posted by:
Frank
Texas
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  • Wikipedia talks a little about the Gibson/Burroughs connection on the Burroughs page, and Gibson mentions Burroughs several times in his blog. I found a few references to Gibson and cut-up work on these pages:

    :: The intro to "Academy Leader", presumably written by the editors points out the allusions to William Burroughs and his cut-up techniques in the piece, along with the references to how Gibson coined the term "cyberspace".

    www.skierpage.com/gibson/biblio.htm

    ###

    Interview with Gibson ::: Darren Wershler-Henry: (Producing a copy of the Whole Earth Review, Summer 1989: "Is The Body Obsolete?") Have you seen this? It's a collection of a whole bunch of different things that seem to crystallize around your work: theories of the body, information theory; there's a piece on Survival Research Laboratories [6], a list of the major influences on cyberpunk writers, and (pointing out the interview entitled "Cyberpunk Era") they even did a [William] Burroughs-style cut-up of your old interviews.

    William Gibson: No... show it to me. (To Tom Maddox) Have you seen this? This is really bizarre. I wouldn't give them an interview so they cut up a bunch of old interviews.

    www.eff.org/Misc/Publica...dox.interview

    ###

    Intro to an interview with Gibson ::: A number of critics pointed out Gibson's affinities with certain earlier innovative SF authors: comparisons were made with Alfred Bester's early novels, Philip Dick's mid-period fiction, and Delany's Nova; his reliance on the cut-up methods and use of quick-fire stream of dissociated images that one associates with William Burroughs and J.G. Ballard were noted.

    www.mississippireview.com/1996/...s.html

    ###

    I recommend posting this question on the discussion board on Gibson's website:

    williamgibsonboard.com/6/ubb.x
    • I read all the links (thank you by the way), they all tend to prove that Gibson knows about the cut-up technique, but there's no concrete example...
      I made a mistake... it was "Academy Leader" he said was written using fragments taken from old texts, but, again, I have no example except for a few elements he took from "Darwin" or "Rocket Radio" but which aren't cut-up.
      I think that (maybe) he cut-up two / three texts in "Academy Leader" and mixed them together ? or maybe somewhere else ?

      Thanks again,

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