Oliver Twist holds up his empty soup bowl. The Moroccan mess sergeant shrugs “You too late Meester. No glot. Clom Fliday.” Terry Wilson speaks for the too late generation, as restaurants of the world close down. Everywhere empty soup. Oh yes, soup in the bowl but the soup is empty, the life and flavor is gone in Tangier, Hong Kong, Kabul, Kathmandu. Too late. Nothing left. The old school tie is empty, the Old West is empty, the ghost of Christmasses to come lifts his hands sadly and turns them out. Terry Wilson speaks for an empty generation. There is nothing left of the old and the new is not here yet.
(William Burroughs. June 8, 1977)
British author Terry Wilson was a close friend of Brion Gysin’s and William Burroughs’. He is best known for his collaborative work with Brion Gysin Here To Go: Planet R-101, published in 1982. Wilson also authored ‘D’ Train (1985), Dreams of Green Base (1986), Days Lane (2009), Perilous Passage (2012) and collaborated on Gysin’s as yet unpublished Beat Museum – Bardo Hotel. Wilson is also known for his photographic collages, which have been exhibited alongside works by Gysin and Burroughs. As Wilson once put it: “According to Brion Gysin, I was an Apprentice to an Apprentice and I have never claimed otherwise. In my work I have always done absolutely what I wanted to do at the time. I have been fortunate and privileged to encounter and become friends with some incredible people.”
Dreams of Green Base was originally published by Inkblot Publications, Oakland, California in 1986 and has now been handsomely re-published by Moloko Plus from Schönebeck, Germany.