Ali's Smile/Naked Scientology
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| Expanded Media Editions paperback edition. | |
| Author | William S. Burroughs |
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| Country | United States, West Germany |
| Language | English, German |
| Genre(s) | Correspondence, religion, short stories |
| Publisher | Expanded Media Editions |
| Released | 1978 |
| Media Type | Print (Paperback) |
Ali's Smile/Naked Scientology is the title of a short collection of essays and fiction by William S. Burroughs which was first published in 1978. The short story "Ali's Smile" had previously been published on its own in 1971 and later in the collection, Exterminator!. The collected edition was published by Expanded Media Editions of West Germany.
The contents are a collection of different texts that all have one subject in common: they all deal one way or the other with Scientology (or Dianetics), the controversial science-based religion founded by L. Ron Hubbard. The original edition of the Ali's Smile/Naked Scientology collection was bilingual, with the text printed in both English and German - the latter in translation by editor Carl Weissner.
The first half of the book documents a series of articles and letters written by Burroughs in early 1970s and published in various newsletters and magazines. The first of these texts is an article reprinted from the Los Angeles Free Press, March 6, 1970, entitled "Burroughs On Scientology" in which he, quite critically, describes his personal experience with the religion, as he was briefly a member before quitting and becoming a critic of the movement. Burroughs also attacked psychiatry in the article. This article sparked a storm of letters and controversy between Burroughs and the Church of Scientology.
The second text is an "Open Letter To Mister Gorden Mustain" which was originally published in The East Village Other only July 7, 1970. It was a response to Mustain who had attacked Burroughs in the pages of the Free Press over his stand on Scientology.
The third text is a reprint of a review by Burroughs of the book Inside Scientology by Robert Kaufman from the November 9, 1972 issue of Rolling Stone. This is followed by a letter from a Church of Scientology representative in reaction to the review of Kaufman's book, and then Burroughs' replay to that.
The book ends with a fictional, stream-of-consciousness text by Burroughs inspired by Scientology entitled "Ali's Smile".
[edit] External links
- Online version of the book in PDF format.
| Works by William S. Burroughs |
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| Novels: And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks (unpublished) - Junkie - Queer - Naked Lunch - The Soft Machine - The Ticket That Exploded - Dead Fingers Talk - Nova Express - The Last Words of Dutch Schultz - The Wild Boys - Port of Saints - Cities of the Red Night - The Place of Dead Roads - The Western Lands - My Education: A Book of Dreams Short fiction : Interzone - Exterminator! - Ali's Smile/Naked Scientology - Blade Runner, a movie - Tornado Alley - Ghost of Chance Non-fiction: The Yage Letters - The Electronic Revolution - The Job - The Third Mind - Letters to Allen Ginsberg - The Burroughs File - The Adding Machine: Collected Essays - The Cat Inside - Last Words: The Final Journals of William S. Burroughs - Evil River (announced 2007) Recordings : Dead City Radio Films: The Junky's Christmas - Ah Pook is Here - Naked Lunch |
