Don’t Hide the Madness: William S. Burroughs in Conversation with Allen Ginsberg

In 1992, after the release of the film of Burrough’s Naked Lunch, Allen Ginsberg was hired to interview and photograph Burroughs. The resulting conversations were taped and later transcribed into book form. Anyone with an interest in these two seminal figures of the Beat movement will like to follow along with the free-flowing discussion. They converse about Burrough’s exorcism by a shaman, the film itself and snippets of memories corresponding to addresses they one visited or lived.

The cover illustration by the very famous R. Crumb is one of the best things about the book. The cover material feels slimy and deserves a higher quality paper. Surprisingly, over the period of days, Burroughs and Ginsberg go target shooting, and Ginsberg shoots his drawing of the Budha. This reader is shocked that this would happen and also the courage of Ginsberg in being proximate to Burroughs wildly erratic aim.

One of the more interesting conversation items is Burrough’s recitation of poetry. Even at seventy-seven, he has a good memory.