The Cut-Up Method of Brion Gysin

The introduction talks about how the concept of cutting and pasting with poetry makes sense and is a good idea, but compares it with how the method has been applied in modern technology on the web and computer software. Surrealists such as Burroughs meant for the process of cutting up text and rearanging it to be used as an "intermediate step in composition." Furthermore, random text-generators are not meaningful alone; they must be used within the context of the individual and his or her society. As the passage from "Cybernetics and Ghosts" by Italo Calvino states, literature holds deeper meaning than the words do themselves; when they are taken in context the attitues and perspectives of the audience, new layers of meaning appear. Burroughs compares this cut-up method to other realms in life, other than art such as photography, film, military strategy, and writing in general. The article emphasizes the point that "all writing is cut-ups" because the ideas and words are usually obtained spontaneously, like the words in a cut-up poem.