''The Third Mind'' is a book by
Beat Generation novelist
William S. Burroughs
William Seward Burroughs II (; February 5, 1914 – August 2, 1997) was an American writer and visual artist, widely considered a primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodern author who influenced popular cultur ...
and artist/poet/novelist
Brion Gysin. First published in a French-language edition in 1977, it was published in English in 1978. It contains numerous short fiction pieces as well as poetry by Gysin, and an interview with Burroughs. Some chapters had previously been published, in slightly different form, in various literary journals between 1960 and 1973.
The book is a combination of literary essays and writing showcasing the
cut-up technique popularized by Burroughs and Gysin in the 1960s. Cut-ups involves taking texts, cutting the pages, and then rearranging and combining the pieces to form new narratives. The technique was adapted for filmmaking, as demonstrated by Burroughs and director
Antony Balch
Antony Balch (10 September 1937 – 6 April 1980) was an English film director and distributor, best known for his screen collaborations with Beat Generation author William S. Burroughs in the 1960s and for the 1970s horror film, '' Horror Hospi ...
in their early 1960s short film, ''The Cut-Ups''.
Contents
* "Proclaim Present Time Over" (in: ''The Award Avant-Garde Reader'')
* "Let the Mice In" (in: ''Brion Gysin Let the Mice In'' (1973))
* "The Cut-up Method of Brion Gysin" (in: ''A Casebook on the Beat'')
* "Cut-ups Self-Explained," "Cut-ups: A Project for Disastrous Success," and "Fold-ins" (in: ''
Evergreen Review'')
* "The Exterminator" (in: ''The Exterminator'' (1960))
* "Formats: The Grid" (in: ''
Insect Trust Gazette'')
* "Films" (in: ''
May fair'')
* "First Cut-ups" and "Intersection Readings" (in: ''
Minutes to Go'' (1960))
* "Technical Deposition of the Virus Power" (in: ''
Nova Express'')
* "Interview with William S. Burroughs." (in: ''
The Paris Review'')
1977 short story collections
Essay collections by William S. Burroughs
Short story collections by William S. Burroughs
Viking Press books
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