New in our Moloko Plus catalogue:
William Burroughs/Brion Gysin – BATTLE INSTRUCTIONS
(Edited and introduced by Oliver Harris, published by Moloko Print, 2020)
From Oliver Harris’ introduction:
A unique lost manuscript pieced together from the archives, BATTLE INSTRUCTIONS weaponises the methods of radical art for acts of anarchic insurrection against the global elites and alien powers that rule our planet. Just as fresh and ferocious as when it was written in 1960, it reveals Burroughs the polemicist and prophet at his most revolutionary, the cut-up guerrilla tactician and man of ideas at his most incendiary, a surprise to even dedicated followers and a spectacular introduction for new readers. But don’t be misled by the publicity puff and scholarly spin, for this isn’t a minor masterpiece recovered from the past to celebrate or study; it’s something far more ambivalent and important. This is the Real Thing we thought we always wanted, Burroughs absolutely unbound, radical in tooth and claw—which forces us to wonder: is this what we wanted after all?
Oliver Harris’ life as a Burroughsian began in 1984 with a PhD at Oxford that nobody would supervise. He has since gone on to publish and edit more than a dozen books about and by Burroughs, including William Burroughs and the Secret of Fascination and new editions of three trilogies: Junkie Queer, The Yage Letters: Restored versions of Nova Express, The Soft Machine and The Ticket that exploded; and in 2020 Minutes to go redux, The Exterminator redux and BATTLE INSTRUCTIONS. He is Professor of American Literature at Keele University and President of the European Beat Studies Network.