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The Letters William S. Burroughs Wrote at the Height of His Success - New York Times
3 February 2012, 11:35 am
By LUC SANTE
Published: February 3, 2012

Throughout the period, Burroughs dabbled in a variety of psychological nostrums and therapies, including Wilhelm Reich’s orgone box, L. Ron Hubbard’s Scientology and Timothy Leary’s experiments with psychedelics. He clashed with Leary during a visit to Harvard and quickly terminated the connection. He similarly objected to Hubbard’s personality and ambitions and denounced the highly regimented Scientology organization, although he continued to subscribe to some of the religion’s core beliefs, making frequent references to its chief diagnostic tool, the e-meter, throughout the decade. For Burroughs, these alternative approaches to inner life ranged close to his literary terrain. He believed that language was a virus that had achieved equilibrium with its human host, and that “blocks” of language and thought enforced convention, making it necessary to find techniques, from cut-ups to ­e-meters, to break the patterns.

more at http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/05/books/review/the-letters-william-s-burroughs-wrote-at-the-height-of-his-success.html?_r=1