November 24, 2005

William S. Burroughs' "Thanksgiving Prayer" - QuickTime 7.6 MB - a movie montage by Director Gus Van Sant of the author reading his poem against image and music. Quicktime or equivalent required. 'And saying so to some means nothing; others it leaves nothing to be said.'

More Burroughs multimedia here.

posted by Chyren 18 years ago
  • thanks and btw:
    The first official Thanksgiving wasn't a festive gathering of Indians and Pilgrims, but rather a celebration of the massacre of 700 Pequot men, women and children, an anthropologist says. Due to age and illness his voice cracks as he talks about the holiday, but William B. Newell, 84, talks with force as he discusses Thanksgiving. Newell, a Penobscot, has degrees from two universities, and was the former chairman of the anthropology department at the University of Connecticut. "Thanksgiving Day was first officially proclaimed by the Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1637 to commemorate the massacre of 700 men, women and children who were celebrating their annual green core dance-Thanksgiving Day to them-in their own house," Newell said. "Gathered in this place of meeting they were attacked by mercenaries and Dutch and English. The Indians were ordered from the building and as they came forth they were shot down. The rest were burned alive in the building," he said. Newell based his research on studies of Holland Documents and the 13 volume Colonial Documentary History, both thick sets of letters and reports from colonial officials to their superiors and the king in England, and the private papers of Sir William Johnson, British Indian agent for the New York colony for 30 years in the mid-1600s. "My research is authentic because it is documentary," Newell said. "You can't get anything more accurate than that because it is first hand. It is not hearsay." Newell said the next 100 Thanksgivings commemorated the killing of the Indians at what is now Groton, Ct. [home of a nuclear submarine base] rather than a celebration with them. He said the image of Indians and Pilgrims sitting around a large table to celebrate Thanksgiving Day was "fictitious" although Indians did share food with the first settlers.
  • Nice links. I also liked the Ah Pook Is Here animtion.
  • Thanks for the link Chyren - although I wonder what Burroughs was referring to in his last sentence - "the last and greatest betrayal of the last and greatest human dreams". I wondered if he was referring to democracy, but the imagery being presented hinted at space travel/rocketry. And I had no idea that there were "Kill a queer for christ" stickers back in Burroughs' time. I shuder at the thought.
  • The date Burroughs gives at the beginning of the video is 1986.
  • I think he was referring to the current (post 1985) political climate and social situation in general as a betrayal. But then again I think he uses the term 'greatest of human dreams' rather ironically, seeing as how he probably didn't think much of the founding fathers either.
  • Durr. Completely glossed over the date in my head. I'd love to see what he'd have to say about the clusterfuck happening right now.
  • Thanks Chy ... I could listen to him read the ingredients list on a cereal box.
  • Thank you Chyren. Superbly apposite!
  • Exactly, Koko. I love the way he almost sings '..until the baaaaaare lies shiiiiiiiiine through'. The whole fucking thing is just.... right. Whatever you say about the c*nt, everyone know he was a debauched old fuck, who shot his wife in the head in a moment of drugged craziness and paid for it with a lifetime of madness.. but by god he was more sane than any bastard in government before or since. Cheers, jeraboam. I got a CD of him, a rare edition of him and lori anderson, picked up in a second hand store. God damn the man's dry old voice next to her rhythms make a tone poem of truth. Send that shit out to the Pleiades instead of Waldheim, I say. Ahpook is here. So is Benway. Fuckers.
  • *bows head* Dear Pazuzu, Lord of Fevers and Plagues, Dark Angel of the Four Winds with rotting genitals from which he howls through sharpened teeth over stricken cities, Thank you for letting me shoot my wife, fuck boys and take drugs. Amen.
  • Paging Mr. Sharky, white courtesy telephone please ...
  • I ordered the Doctor Benway Turkey Carving Kit™ three weeks ago, still hasn't shown up.
  • re: Etheylne's thing- leaving aside for a moment the implied 7th grade level cynicism of "some white people hurt Indians once- therefore the holiday of Thanksgiving and everything associated with it is worthless and evil" - I liked this part: "My research is authentic because it is documentary," Newell said. "You can't get anything more accurate than that because it is first hand. It is not hearsay." a) gotta love researchers who feel they have to explicitly state "My research is authentic" before anyone even questions them b)"You can't get anything more accurate than that" - yes, because no one in history has ever said anything less than 100% accurate and c) "firsthand"?? So you actually travelled in time to the 1600s and spoke to the principals? Impressive.
  • drjimmy11: Don't mess with people's white guilt and American self-loathing.
  • a) That's the first issue I wanted him to address and I think he did a decent job of proving his point. b) But that is the best historians can do. c) Fair enough. I have my doubts about the whole blurb myself, but you can't ignore that it wasn't just some white people hurting some Native Americans one time. This country was built by some pretty loathesome, ungrateful, genocidal people. I don't feel guilty because I'm white, but I'm not going to celebrate these people. Not that I won't celebrate Thanksgiving, though.