CURRICULUM VITAE
Professor Oliver Harris
HIGHER EDUCATION
1980-83
1984-88
University of Oxford, BA (First), English Language and Literature
University of Oxford, D.Phil.
APPOINTMENTS HELD
1993-2001
2001-2005
2005-
Lecturer in American Literature, American Studies, Keele University
Senior Lecturer in American Literature
Professor of American Literature
PUBLICATIONS
Books
2014 Editor. The Soft Machine: the Restored Text, by William Burroughs (New York:
Grove / London: Penguin Modern Classics). 272 pp. Introduction IX-LIII.
2014 Editor. The Ticket That Exploded: the Restored Text, by William Burroughs (New
York: Grove / London: Penguin Modern Classics). 287 pp. Introduction IX-LV.
2014 Editor. Nova Express: the Restored Text, by William Burroughs (New York: Grove
/ London: Penguin Modern Classics). 254 pp. Introduction IX-LV.
2010 Editor, Queer: 25th-Anniversary Edition by William S. Burroughs. Penguin.
150 pp. Introduction: IX-XLV.
2009 Co-Editor, with Ian MacFadyen, Naked Lunch@50: Anniversary Essays.
Southern Illinois University Press. 283 pp.
2008 Editor, Everything Lost: The Latin American Notebook of William S.
Burroughs. Ohio State University Press. 217 pp. Introduction: IX-XXVIII.
2006 Editor, The Yage Letters Redux by William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg.
City Lights. 127 pp. Introduction: IX-XLVII. Penguin Classics edition, 2008.
2003 William Burroughs and The Secret of Fascination. Southern Illinois University
Press. 287 pp.
2003 Editor, Junky: the definitive text of “Junk” by William S. Burroughs. Penguin. 166
pp. Introduction: IX-XXXIX. Grove Press Edition, 2012.
1993 Editor, The Letters of William S. Burroughs 1945-1959. Viking. 472 pp.
Introduction: XV-XL.
CV Oliver Harris (February 2015)
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Articles and Essays
2015
“Gateway Drug,” Introduction to A man Called Burroughs Photographic
Exhibition catalogue (London: Aloes Books).
2014
Review Essay, William S. Burroughs: Scientologist! by David Wills, Journal
of Beat Studies vol. 3: 123-26.
2014
“‘Problems after a certain point are insoluble’: An Interview with William
Burroughs,” Beat Scene 71: 52-55.
2013
Review Essay, Scripting Hitchcock by Walter Raubicheck and Walter
Srebnick, The Journal of Screenwriting 4.2 (2013): 43-46.
2012
“Minute Particulars of the Counter-Culture: Time, Life, and the Photopoetics of Allen Ginsberg,” Comparative American Studies 10.1 (March
2012): 3-29.
2010
“William Burroughs” entry in The Encyclopedia of Twentieth-Century
Fiction, ed. Patrick O’Donnell (Wiley-Blackwell): 476-78.
2010
“The Beat Hotel / Cut-Up Headquarters,” Fabrikzeitung (Zurich), 264.
2010
“Cutting Up the Corpse,” in Davis Schneiderman et al, The Exquisite
Corpse: Chance and Collaboration in Surrealism’s Parlor Game (Lincoln:
U of Nebraska P): 82-103.
2009
“The Beginnings of ‘Naked Lunch, an endless novel,’” in Harris and
MacFadyen (Eds.) Naked Lunch@50: Anniversary Essays (Southern Illinois
UP): 14-25.
2008
“Everything Lost: The Latin American Notebook of William S. Burroughs –
The Inside Story,” Beat Scene, 56: 38-45.
2007
“William Burroughs,” entry in Kurt Hemmer (Ed.) The Encyclopaedia of
Beat Literature. New York: Facts on File: 31-37. With Rob Johnson,
“Queer” (267-70) and ‘Yage Letters’ (355-56).
2006
“Not Burroughs’ Final Fix: Materializing The Yage Letters.” Postmodern
Culture 16.3 (January 2006): 8,500 words.
2005
“‘Burroughs is a poet too, really’: the Poetics of Minutes to Go.” Edinburgh
Review 114: 24-36.
2005
“William Burroughs,” entry in William Lawlor (Ed.) Beat Culture:
Lifestyles, Icons, and Impact (Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2005): 29-43.
2005
“Killing the Killers: Hemingway, Hollywood, and Death,” in David Seed
(Ed.) Literature and the Visual Media (Cambridge: D.S. Brewer): 74-95.
2004
“’Virus X’: Kerouac’s Visions of Burroughs,” in J. Skerl (Ed.)
Reconstructing the Beats (New York: St. Martin’s Press): 203-15.
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2004
“Cutting Up Politics,” in Davis Schneiderman and Philip Walsh (Eds.)
Retaking the Universe: William S. Burroughs in the Age of Globalisation
(London: Pluto): 175-200.
2003
“Junky at Fifty,” Beat Scene, 43: 36-37.
2003
“Film Noir Fascination: Outside History but Historically So.” Cinema
Journal 41.3 (Fall): 3-24.
2002
“Film Noir et la fascination nocturne,” Les Cahiers de CIRCAV 13 (Film
Theory Special Issue): 143-68.
2001
“Out of Epistolary Practice: Email from Emerson, Post-Cards to Pynchon,”
American Literary History, 13, 1: 158-68.
2000
“Beating the Academy,” College Literature, 27, 1: 195-212.
2000
“Cold War Correspondents: Ginsberg, Kerouac, Cassady and The Political
Economy of Beat Letters,” Twentieth Century Literature, 46, 2: 171-92.
1999
“Apocalypse-Burroughs-Cage-Dada-Encounter: A Cut-Up ABCDE,”
Burroughs/Cage (Lyme Regis): 9-16.
1999
“‘Can You See A Virus?’ The Queer Cold War of William Burroughs,”
Journal of American Studies (Cambridge), 33, 2: 243-66.
1999
“Queer Shoulders, Queer Wheel: Homosexuality and Beat Textual
Politics,” in C. Van Minnen et al (Eds) Beat Culture: The 1950s and Beyond
(Amsterdam: VU Press): 221-40.
1998
“In hope he is still alive,” in In Memoriam: William Burroughs (Exeter:
Stride Publications): 112.
1997
“Naming Names: The Beat Hall of Fame,” OverHere: A European Journal
of American Culture (Nottingham), 17, 1: 218-25.
1996
“The Beat Generation” and “William Burroughs,” in The Reader’s Guide to
Literature in English (London: Fitzroy Dearbon): 59-60 and 111-12.
1996/97
“It’s no calligraphy for school children,” Connotations: A Journal for
Critical Debate (New York/Munster) 6 3: 337-53.
1991
“Cut-Up Closure: The Return to Narrative,” in Jennie Skerl & Robin
Lydenberg (Eds) William S. Burroughs At the Front: Critical Reception
1959-1989 (Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP): 251-62.
FORTHCOMING PUBLICATIONS
Chapters in books
“Cutting Up The Century,” in Burroughs Centenary Essays (Indiana UP, 2015).
“Burroughs and Postmodernism” in The Cambridge Companion to Beat Studies (CUP,
2016).
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CONFERENCE/SEMINAR PAPERS
2014
“The Nova Machine Exploded,” “William Burroughs @100 Conference,”
International Anthony Burgess Foundation in Manchester (13/12/2014)
2014
Keynote Address, “Shift, Spit, Cut: A Genetic Geography of Naked Lunch”
The Third Annual Conference of the European Beat Studies Network,
Tangier (17/11/2014)
2014
“Editing The Cut-Up Trilogy,” The New York Public Library (26/4/2014)
2014
Keynote Address, “Cutting Up The Trilogy,” to The William Burroughs
Centennial Conference, City University of New York (25/4/2014)
2014
Keynote Address, “A Life-Time Cut-Up,” to “Beyond the Cut-Up: William
S. Burroughs and the Image,” The Photographer’s Gallery, London (15/2/14)
2014
Chair, European Beat Studies Panel, British Association of American
Studies Conference, Birmingham University (11/4/14)
2014
Keynote Address, “Cutting Up the Century,” to “The Burroughs Century
Conference,” Indiana University, Bloomington (7/2/14)
2012
Opening Address to the European Beat Studies Conference, Middelburg,
Holland (5/9/12)
2012
Keynote Address, “Working the Hole with William Burroughs: Censorship
and The Soft Machine,” to “Underground” Conference, Koc University,
Istanbul (8/5/12)
2012
Chair, European Beat Studies Panel, British Association of American Studies
Conference, Manchester (13/4/12)
2011
“The Beats / The French / The American Century,” Department of English and
Comparative Literature, Columbia University, New York (5/4/11)
2010
“Sawing William Burroughs in Half: the Origins of Naked Lunch,” Temple
University, Philadelphia (14/9/10)
2010
“‘Confusion’s Masterpiece’: Re-editing William Burroughs’ First Trilogy,”
Book History Colloquium, Columbia University, New York (16/9/10)
2010
“Double-Crossing Hemingway: The Iceberg Aesthetic as Red Herring,”
Department of English, University of York (3/3/10)
2009
“The Frisco Kid, He Never Returns: William Burroughs in San Francisco,”
San Francisco Art Institute (20/11/09)
2009
Keynote Address, “From Dr Mabuse to Doc Benway: The Myths and
Manuscripts of Naked Lunch,” William Burroughs Conference, Columbia
University, New York (9/10/09)
2009
Organiser’s Address to Naked Lunch@50 Symposium, University of London
Institute in Paris (1/7/09)
2009
“Burroughs and Kerouac on the road to Naked Lunch,” University of Sussex
(24/2/09)
CV Oliver Harris (February 2015)
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2008
Plenary Address, “The Holy Shit of Burroughs and Kerouac,” to “The Beats
and the Post-Beats,” University of Birmingham (13/12/08)
2008
“The Inside Story on Covers: Confessions of a Burroughs Scholar,”
“Uncovering the Scholarly Edition” symposium, Keele (18/6/08)
2008
“Beating Scholarship: On the Unspoken Truth about Editing and
Publishing," American Literature Association, San Francisco (5/08)
2007
“Cutting Up the Archive: William Burroughs and the Composite Text,”
Annual Symposium on Textual Studies, De Montfort University (25/5/07)
2007
“Cutting Up the Beat Hotel,” British Association of American Studies
Annual Conference, University of Leicester (4/07)
2003
Keynote Speaker, “Junky at Fifty,” Columbia University (4/03)
2000
“Film Noir Fascination,” American Culture Association, New Orleans
1998
“Queer Shoulders, Queer Wheel,” Netherlands American Studies
Association Conference, Middelburg, Holland
1997
“The Beat Mythology,” North Eastern Modern Languages Association
Conference, Philadelphia
1996/97/99
Seminars, Department of English, Université Charles de Gaule, Lille-3
1996
“I-con-oclast,” Department of English, Glasgow University
ACADEMIC/CREATIVE EVENTS
2014
Organised the Third Annual Conference of the European Beat Studies
Network, Tangier, Morocco (17-19/11/2014)
2014
In Conversation with Barry Miles, The William Burroughs Centennial
Conference, City University of New York (25/4/2014)
2014
2012
Reading, St Marks Poetry Project, New York (23/4/2014).
Organised the Inaugural Conference of the European Beat Studies Network,
The Roosevelt Academy, Middelburg, Holland
“A Fifty Year Lunch,” illustrated talk at The Cube Cinema, Bristol
Co-organised “Naked Lunch@50” 3-day Symposium and Events. University
of London Institute in Paris
Co-organised and contributed to “Uncovering the Scholarly Edition”
symposium, Keele
“A Flash of Vision,” illustrated lecture for the William Burroughs exhibition
at the Riflemaker Gallery, London
Co-organised and contributed to “A Chance Encounter: William Burroughs /
John Cage” a multi-media academic/creative event, Keele
Organised readings at Keele by David Meltzer and Jack Hirschman
Organised readings at Keele by Ron Sukenick and Robert Creeley
Organised The William Burroughs Symposium, Keele
2009
2009
2008
2005
1998
1997
1995
1994
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CONSULTANCIES AND MEDIA
2014
2014
2014
2014
2013
2012
2012
2009
2006
2006
2005
2003
2000
1999
1997
1998
Interview in Huffington Post Maroc (22/11/2014)
Interview for Burroughs 100 Official Website (6/11/2014)
The Guardian Newspaper, Live Webchat (25/2/2014)
BBC Radio 4: Burroughs at 100: Contributed interviews
Paul Bowles: The Cage Door is Always Open (documentary film by Daniel
Young): Contributed interviews
BBC Radio 4, “The Beat Hotel”: Interviewed for broadcast
Beat Hotel (documentary film by Alan Govenar): Contributed interviews
Agence-France-Presse: Interviewed about Naked Lunch anniversary
Reforma (Mexico City): Interviewed about Burroughs and the Beats
New York Times (3/1/2006): Interviewed about NYPL literary archives
BBC Radio 3: Discussion of collage in the arts on “The Verb”
Beat Scene magazine (issue 43): Interview
Beat (starring Courtney Love): Research consultant
Times Higher Educational Supplement (1401): Interview
Radio National (Australia): William Burroughs obituary interview
BBC Radio Stoke: Interviewed on the Burroughs/Cage Symposium
GRANTS RECEIVED FOR RESEARCH (last ten years)
2009
2007
2004
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British Academy, Small Grant (£1,750)
British Academy, Small Grant (£5,609)
AHRB, 4-month Research Leave Scheme Award (£15,000)
MEMBERSHIP OF PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS
American Literature Association
Beat Studies Association
Society of Cinema Studies
Popular Culture Association
British Association of American Studies
European Beat Studies Network (founding President)
REFEREEING AND REVIEWS
Refereed for: Twentieth Century Literature, Mosaic, Cinema Journal, and College
Literature, Tijdschrift voor Tijdschriftstudies (Magazine for Magazine Studies), Modernism
/ Modernity, The Journal of Beat Studies, Palgrave, Continuum, Vanderbilt University
Press, Routledge, Southern Illinois University Press, Dartmouth College Press.
CV Oliver Harris (February 2015)
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Reviewed for: Journal of American Studies, Journal of Beat Studies, The New Statesman,
PN Review, Harpers & Queen, The Journal of Screenwriting, SCOPE: An On-Line Journal
of Film Studies.
Journal Service: Member of the Editorial Board for The Journal of Beat Studies
PhD SUPERVISION
20142010-2014
2006-2011
2007-2011
2003-2010
1998-2002
1995-1998
1994–1998
Eleanor Boothroyd, Dial M for Motion-Picture: Investigating Movement in
Alfred Hitchcock’s Films
Tomasz Stompor, Precise Intersection Points: Literature/Collage
(co-mentoring) Freie Universität, Berlin
Maja Aanum, Ghetto Culture and the Commodity Imperative: the case of
Master P (part-time).
Jon Weinel, Altered States of Consciousness as an Adaptive Principle for
Composing Electroacoustic Music (co-supervision)
Alberto D’Elia, The Noir Passage between Europe and America (cosupervision, part-time)
Mark Forshaw, Outer Space, Inner Space, Cyber Space: The Shifting
Ontological Spaces of William Burroughs, J.G. Ballard, and William Gibson
John Watters, The Magical Universe of William S. Burroughs. (Joint Award
with Lille-III, France)
Jim Hall, The Failure of the Individual in Tom Wolfe’s Bonfire of the
Vanities
PhD EXTERNAL EXAMINATION
2013
2012
2010
2007
2006
2001
2000
1996
Thom Robinson, University of Sheffield, Bound to the Past: Nostalgia in
the Work of William S. Burroughs
Chad Weiner, Universiteit Gent, The Green Ghost: An Ecocritical
Study of Selected Texts by William Burroughs
Joanna Harrop, Queen Mary, London University, The Yagé Aesthetic
of William Burroughs: The Publication and Development of his Work,
1953-1965
Barbara Pitter, Kings College, London, Fruit Rat: A Consideration of
Gender and Sexuality in the Work of William S. Burroughs
Catherine Nash, University of Nottingham, Technology in the Work of Jack
Kerouac and William S. Burroughs
Brendon Nicholls, University of Essex, Languages of the Body and the Body
of Language: A Comparative Study of Two Beat writers.
Jamie Russell, London University, Bodies of Light: Homosexuality,
Masculinity, and Ascesis in the Novels of William S. Burroughs.
James Drever, University of Wales, William Burroughs and the American
Frontier.
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EXTERNAL EXAMINING
2003-06
2005-07
BA Film and American Culture, University College, Winchester
BA Film Studies, University College, Winchester
TEACHING
Undergraduate Courses designed and taught at Keele University (last 5 years)
The Unreliable Truth: Studies in 20th Century English & American Literatures AMS-10023
Starting Out: An Introduction to American Literature (1820-1990) AMS-10025
New York, New York: An Introduction to American Culture AMS-10024 (lectures only)
Transatlantic Gothic: Studies in 19th Century English & American Literatures
AMS-10027 (lectures only)
Hooray for Hollywood? Approaches to American Film AMS-20060
Alfred Hitchcock’s America AMS-20061
Post-war Counter/Culture: Texts of the ‘50s and ‘60s AMS-30020
Film Noir: The Dark Side of America AMS-30037
High Culture: Drink, Drugs, and the American Dream AMS-30038
Graduate Courses designed and taught at Keele University (last 10 years)
Method in the Madness: Texts and Contexts of The Beat Generation
Film Noir: Death and Desire
Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Hitchcock (But Were Afraid to Ask
Lacan)
Methods in Cultural Analysis
Teaching Nominations:
2006, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015: Keele University’s Award for Excellence in Learning
and Teaching
Invited Teaching outside Keele University (last 5 years)
Staffordshire University (March 2015)
Wesleyan University, Connecticut (April 2011)
School of Visual Arts, New York (September 2010)
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OTHER PROFESSIONAL SERVICE (last 5 years)
2014 External Assessor for National Endowment of the Humanities Fellowship
2013 External Tenure Reviewer for Professorship at Lake Forrest College (Chicago).
2012 External Award Reviewer for The Leverhulme Trust (Visiting Professorships).
2012 External Review for The Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and
Writers, New York Public Library.
2012 External Reviewer for University Professorship at Illinois State University (Normal).
2011 External Reviewer for Chancellor’s Research Professorship at University of
New Orleans.
2011 External Tenure Reviewer for University of Richmond (Virginia).
2010 Reviewer for the National Endowment of the Humanities Fellowship.
2010 External Tenure Reviewer for State University of New York (New Paltz).
2009 External Award Reviewer for The Leverhulme Trust (Early Career Fellowships).
UNIVERSITY SERVICE
Major School Roles and Responsibilities
Programme Director, American Studies, Single and Dual Hons, English & American
Literatures, Single Hons, English Single and Dual Hons, English and Creative
Writing Single Hons (2015)
First Year Tutor, American Studies and English & American Literatures (2010—)
Admissions Tutor, American Studies and in English & American Literatures (2010—)
Programme Director, American Studies, Single and Dual Hons. (2006-10)
Programme Director, English & American Literatures, Single Hons. (2003-10)
Examinations Secretary, American Studies, English & American Literatures (2009-10)
Study Abroad Officer, American Studies, English & American Literatures (2009—)
Institutional Co-ordinator for the North American Exchange Programme (2007—)
Webmaster for American Studies (2012-14)
Director, MA in American Literature and Culture (1994-98)
Director of Undergraduate Studies (1997-2000, 2005-06)
IT and Study Skills Tutor (1996-98)
Chair / Member, Learning and Teaching Committee (1999-2010)
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Careers Liaison Officer (1997-99)
Library Liaison Officer (1994-96)
Chair/Member, Staff-Student Liaison Committee (1995—)
Chair, Post-graduate Staff-Student Liaison Committee (1997-98)
Member, Departmental Management Group (1994-2000)
Member, David Bruce Centre Committee (1994-98; 2006-10)
Major University Roles and Responsibilities
Member of Court (2003—)
Member, Humanities Working Group (Finance Committee) (2010—)
Member of Learning and Teaching Committee (1999-2001)
Chair, Humanities Learning and Teaching sub-committee (1999-2000)
Chair, Humanities Course Development Committee (1997-2000)
Chair/Member, Library Users Group (1999-2005)
Member, Staff Student Liaison Committee (1999-2005)
Chair and Founder, Director of Undergraduate Studies Forum (1998-2000)
Member, “Review of Student Support” working party (1999)
Member, “Continuation Audit” focus group (1999)
CV Oliver Harris (February 2015)
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