Ballard ( Crash and The Atrocity Exhibition) and Allen Ginsberg’s Howl. Clearly visible are William Burroughs’ Naked Lunch and Ah Pook Is Here, as well as books by J.G. Image from Anton Corbijn’s 2007 film Control showing a fictionalized vision of Ian Curtis’ bookshelf. Editorial comments by RealityStudio, which have been kept to a minimum, are set What follows are primary documents - accounts, recollections, and interviews that tell the story. Taken together, this research forms a dossier that paints the encounter of Burroughs and Curtis in a more complicated light. It was a natural progression: both the band and the writers hail from Manchester both drew inspiration from literary and counter-cultural sources both toyed with Nazi symbolism (or rather, with the public’s notions of Nazi symbolism) and in fact they intersected in Savoy’s bookshops, where young Ian Curtis hung out and where he may well have discovered Burroughs for himself. RealityStudio began doing research on Joy Division as an offshoot of its work on Savoy Books, aka David Britton and Michael Butterworth. What could have prompted such an exchange? Was Curtis insulting? Burroughs in a bad mood? Were there mitigating circumstances? Typically he was generous with fans and admirers, particularly with young men as handsome as Ian Curtis. Burroughs tended to be unfailingly courteous, even a touch “old world” in his manners. To anyone familiar with Burroughs, the thought of him telling a fan to get lost is perplexing. Ian got lost immediately, not a little hurt by the rebuff.” Chris Ott’s book Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures repeats the story, and Mark Johnson’s book An Ideal for Living asserts that Burroughs refused to speak to Curtis. If you search around the internet, you’ll see sites describing the encounter in terms like this: “Unfortunately when Ian went up to talk to him the author told Ian to get lost.” And this: “Burroughs probably was tired and bored with the concerts and when Ian went up to talk with him the author told Ian to get lost. This meeting, like so many things about both Curtis and Burroughs, has already become legend - which is another way of saying that its factual basis may have receded into darkness. You can read the French original or the English translation of Duval’s interview with Joy Division, as well as the French original or the English translation of Duval’s interview with William Burroughs.Īfter Burroughs’ reading brought the opening of Plan K to its climax, Curtis attempted to introduce himself to his literary idol. Graciously provided to RealityStudio by the interviewer and the organizer of the Plan K opening, Michel Duval, these have been translated from the French and are reproduced here for the first time since their publication in November 1979. And Burroughs and Brion Gysin were to read from their recently published book, The Third Mind.īefore the evening’s events, Burroughs and Joy Division gave separate interviews to the culture magazine En Attendant. The Plan K theater troupe were to perform “23 Skidoo.” Joy Division and Cabaret Voltaire were to give “rock” concerts. Films were to be screened - among others, Nicholas Roeg’s Performance (starring Mick Jagger) and Burroughs’ own experiments with Antony Balch. The opening was conceived as a multimedia spectacle. The avant-garde theater troupe Plan K, which had made a specialty of interpreting Burroughs’ work, were founding a performance space in a former sugar refinery in Brussels, Belgium. That alone would have distinguished the gig for the band, but of special interest to Curtis and his mates was the fact that they would be opening for Burroughs. Joy Division was given its first opportunity to play outside the United Kingdom on 16 October 1979. Though he had already written the lyrics to the song, Curtis lifted the title “Interzone” from Burroughs for a song on Joy Division’s groundbreaking record Unknown Pleasures. Ballard, borrowing the title of The Atrocity Exhibition for one of his songs, and also of William S. He notes that “Ian Curtis was an avid reader who became a driven writer,” one whose lyrics reverberated with his passion for authors ranging from Gogol and Kafka to the Existentialists. Having followed the band from its inception, Savage is in a unique position to offer insights. Recently the writer Jon Savage published a thoughtful essay about the literary influences of Ian Curtis, lead singer of the seminal post-punk band Joy Division.
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