American Studies

After gaining a Double First in English Language and Literature from Christ Church, Oxford, I went on to study for my doctorate there (1984-88), before working free-lance as an editor and writer. In 1993 I joined the department of American Studies, where I’ve taught a wide range of modules, from English and American 20^th-century fiction to courses on the Beat Generation and the Counterculture of the 1960s, from introductions to cinema to specialist courses on film noir and Alfred Hitchcock. From 2003 I was Programme Director for English and American Literatures and then also for American Studies. Over the past fifteen years I've become a leading scholar in the Beat field, especially on the work of William Burroughs, and in 2010 I became founding President of the European Beat Studies Network.

Since completing my D.Phil at Oxford, I’ve focused on material scholarship, and have edited a series of books by William Burroughs: The Letters of William S. Burroughs 1945-1959 (1993); a fiftieth anniversary edition of his first novel, Junky: the definitive text of “Junk” (2003); his epistolary novella, The Yage Letters Redux (2006); Everything Lost: The Latin American Notebook of William S. Burroughs (2008); and, most recently, a 25^th-anniversary edition of Queer (2010). In addition to my full-length critical study, William Burroughs and the Secret of Fascination (2003), I also co-edited Naked Lunch@50: Anniversary Essays (2009) and have published many articles on Burroughs in journals and collections. I’ve also given numerous conference papers and talks about other Beat Generation writers, including Jack Kerouac, and about editing theory and practice, most recently for Columbia University’s prestigious Book Colloquium series (September 2010).

In addition to publishing my research and scholarship, I am active in organizing symposia and conferences, including the week long series of talks and performances in Paris (July 2009) to mark the 50^th anniversary of Naked Lunch’s publication there. I also co-organised and/or contributed to other events that year in Bristol (September), in New York (October) and San Francisco (November). You can find further information on a special anniversary website. I’ve also organized numerous events at Keele, including the symposium “Uncovering the Scholarly Edition.”

As well as my Burroughs work, I have researched and written about the Beat movement more broadly, publishing essays in Beat Culture: The 1950s and Beyond (1999), College Literature (2000), Twentieth Century Literature (2000), Reconstructing the Beats (2003), Beat Culture: Lifestyle, Icons and Impact (2005), and The Encyclopedia of Beat Literature (2007). In 2010 I became the founding President of the European Beat Studies Network, a new organization which aims to stimulate and disseminate both scholarly and non-academic work in the field.

Finally, in addition to my work in the Beat and Burroughs fields, I have published essays on film, on literature-film adaptation, on Ernest Hemingway’s early work, on the epistolary, on social text editing theory, and on Surrealism.

• Queer: 25^th-Anniversary Edition by William S. Burroughs. Penguin, 2010. 150 pp. Introduction: IX-XLV.
• Naked Lunch@50: Anniversary Essays. Southern Illinois University Press, 2009. 283 pp.
• Everything Lost: The Latin American Notebook of William S. Burroughs. Ohio State University Press, 2008. 217 pp. Introduction: IX-XXVIII.
• The Yage Letters Redux by William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg. City Lights, 2006. 127 pp. Introduction: IX-XLVII.
• William Burroughs and The Secret of Fascination. Southern Illinois University Press, 2003. 287 pp.
• Junky: the definitive text of “Junk” by William S. Burroughs. Penguin, 2003. 166 pp. Introduction: IX-XXXIX.
• The Letters of William S. Burroughs 1945-1959. Viking, 1993. 472 pp. Introduction: XV-XL.

See also the Further Information tab and Oliver Harris CV and publications Sept 2010.

I teach literature, mainly 20^th-century American and English fiction, and also film, but my specialism is the culture of the postwar period. I’ve taught a range of modules about the Beat Generation of the 1950s (key writers: Burroughs, Kerouac, Ginsberg), and about the counterculture of the 1960s (writers from Ken Kesey via Thomas Pynchon to Carlos Castaneda).

As for film, I teach an introduction to American Cinema course and Alfred Hitchcock’s America, both at Level 2, and will soon be running a film noir module at Level 3. I’d like to offer a module on adaptation (having published a study of Hemingway and Hollywood in Literature and the Visual Media [2005]), but that’s one for the future.

For postgraduates, I have supervised and examined numerous PhDs about William Burroughs, and am currently working with doctoral and post-doctoral students based in Europe and the US. As is reflected in my scholarship and editing work, I also have a special interest in the materiality of writing. If you’re at all interested in Burroughs, you’re welcome to get in touch; for the premier Burroughs website, you should check out Reality Studio.

Oliver Harris CV and Recent Publications May 2012

Main Publications (links to Amazon)

	Queer: Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Edition (2010) Interview Interview 2   | Review
	Naked Lunch@50: Anniversary Essays (2009) More information on nakedlunch.org
	Everything Lost: the Latin American Notebook of William S. Burroughs (2008) Interview | Review 1 | Review 2
	The Yage Letters Redux (2006) Review 1 | Review 2 | Review 3
	Junky: The Definitive Text of "Junk" 50th Anniversary Edition (2003) Reviews
	William Burroughs and the Secret of Fascination (2003) Review
	The Letters of William S. Burroughs, 1945-1959 (1993)
	“Cutting Up the Corpse,” in The Exquisite Corpse: Chance and Collaboration in Surrealism's Parlor Game (2009) edited by Davis Schneiderman et al.
	"'Virus X': Kerouac's Visions of Burroughs," in Reconstructing the Beats (2004) edited by Jennie Skerl
	"Cut-Up Closure: The Return to Narrative," in William S. Burroughs at the Front: Critical Reception, 1959-1989 (1991) edited by Jennie Skerl and Robin Lydenberg
	"Cutting up Politics" in Retaking the Universe: William S. Burroughs in the Age of Globalization (2004) edited by Davis Schneiderman and Philip Walsh

Critical Articles on-line

• Cold War Correspondents: Ginsberg, Kerouac, Cassady, and the Political Economy of Beat Letters (from twentieth Century Literature 46 (Summer 2000), 171-192) Read more here.
• Beating the Academy (from College Literature 27.1 (Winter 2000), 213-231). Read more here
• “’Can You See A Virus?’ The Queer Cold War of William Burroughs” (from Journal of American Studies 33.2 (1999), 243-266). Read more here
• "Burroughs is a poet too, really": the poetics of Minutes to Go from The Edinburgh Review 114 (2005), 24-36. Read more here
• "Not Burroughs' Final Fix: Materializing : The Yage Letters" from Postmodern Culture 16.3 (January 2006). Read more here

Conference Papers on-line

• “‘Confusion’s Masterpiece’: Re-editing Burroughs’ First Trilogy” (Columbia Book Colloquium, 16/9/2010)
• From Dr. Mabuse to Doc Benway: the Myths and Manuscripts of Naked Lunch  (Columbia Keynote address 9/10/2009)
• The Holy Shit of Burroughs and Kerouac (13/12/2008)
• Cutting Up the Archive: William Burroughs and the Composite Text (25/5/2007)