The Writings series is the largest series in the collection and contains working drafts of 1961's Grove Press Edition of The Soft Machine, as well as annotated drafts and galley proofs of Burroughs's substantial 1965 revision of the novel published by Grove Press. There are also drafts and galleys of Nova Express; a corrected, signed galley proof of The Naked Lunch; and full typescript drafts of The Yage Letters and Junkie. This series also contains a collection of prose experiments conducted by Burroughs utilizing the cut-up technique that he utilized in much of his longer fiction, as well as experiments in using a grid form to intersplice different texts together.
Box 1 Folder 8
"A Brief Statement on The Naked Lunch The Soft Machine and The Nova Express" circa, 1963
(carbon copy in WSB's hand)
Box 1 Folder 9
Dealer Catalogs and Book Reviews
Box 1 Folder 10
"Epic Prose Poem," circa, 1963
Box 1 Folder 11-16
Experimental Prose, circa, 1958-1965, (6 Folders)
Box 1 Folder 17
"Johnny 23" (with Editor's Corrections)
Box 5
Junkie-- Manuscript
The Naked Lunch
Box 1 Folder 18
Signed Galley Proofs
(original proof, 1964 Burroughs's signature, 1969)
Box 1 Folder 19
Recording of Burroughs reading Naked Lunch, undated
Box 1 Folder 19
"New Comment" radio show episode
This content is the remainder of the tape that also contains Burroughs reading Naked Lunch. The remainer of side 1 and all of side 2 are an episode of a British radio program called "New Comment," featuring various contemporary British poets reading their work.
Box 2 Folder 1
A Distant Hand Lifted, 1961-1964
Nova Express
Box 2 Folder 2
Galley Proofs, 1964
The Soft Machine
Box 2 Folder 3
Typescript with autograph corrections, 1960
(for 1961 Olympia Press Edition)
Box 2 Folder 4
Typescript with autograph corrections, 1963
(This is dated 1963, but it is likely the 129 page manuscript, dating from November 1962, that Burroughs submitted to Olympia Press for their planned 1963 revised edition of the book which never appeared.)
Box 2 Folder 5
Galley Proofs- Grove Press Edition, 1965
Box 2 Folder 6
Related Correspondence, 1963-1966
Box 2 Folder 7
"The Strange Bed," circa, 1961-1962
(Part ofThe Ticket that Exploded)
Box 3 Folder 1
The Yage Letters- Draft, undated