The Spoken Word: William S. Burroughs and Brion Gysin (British Library Sound Archive)

The latest release in the British Library’s highly acclaimed Spoken Word series of authors in their own words, The Spoken Word: William S. Burroughs and Brion Gysin is a rare collection of recordings featuring the American writer William S. Burroughs (1914–97) and the British-born artist Brion Gysin (1916–86), the man Burroughs credited with the invention of the “cut-up” literary technique. The centerpiece of the collection is a complete, previously unissued recording of Burroughs reading live in Liverpool in 1982. The disc also includes performances by Gysin of a selection of his “permutated poems,” as well as previously unheard home recordings made by the pair in Paris in 1970, all taken from tapes in the British Library collection.