#burroughs writers typewriter

[recursive360]

(via GIPHY)

[xtruss]

Evelyn Berezin in 1976 at the Long Island office of her company Redactron. She developed one of the earliest word processors and helped usher in a technological revolution. Evelyn Berezin said her word processor would help secretaries become more efficient at their jobs. Photo By Barton Silverman/New York Times.

Evelyn Berezin, “Godmother of the Word Processor!” The Woman That Made Bill Gates and Steve Jobs Possible

Evelyn Berezin (1925-2018) was born in the Bronx to poor Russian-Jewish immigrants. Growing up, she loved reading science fiction and wished to study physics. She excelled at school and graduated two years early. Berezin had to wear make-up and fake her age to get a job at a research lab. She ended up studying economics because it was a more “fitting” subject for women at the time. During World War II, she finally received a scholarship to study physics at New York University. Berezin studied at night, while working full time at the International Printing Company during the day. She continued doing graduate work at New York University, with a fellowship from the US Atomic Energy Commission. In 1951, she joined the Electronic Computer Corporation, designing some of the world’s very first computers. At the time, computers were massive machines that could only do several specific functions.

Evelyn Berezin, “Godmother of the Word Processor.” Born: April 12, 1925, The Bronx, New York City, NY — Died: December 8, 2018, ArchCare at Mary Manning Walsh Nursing Home & Rehabilitation Center, New York, NY

Berezin headed the Logic Design Department, and came up with a computer to manage the distribution of magazines, and to calculate firing distances for US Army artillery. In 1957, Berezin transferred to work at Teleregister, where she designed the first banking computer and the first computerized airline reservation system (linking computers in 60 cities, and never failing once in the 11 years that it ran). Her most famous feat was in 1968 when she created the world’s first personal word processor to ease the plight of secretaries (then making up 6% of the workforce).

“Without Ms. Berezin There Would Be No Bill Gates, No Steve Jobs, No Internet, No Word Processors, No Spreadsheets; Nothing That Remotely Connects Business With The 21st Century.” — The Times of Israel (12 December 2018)

The following year, she founded her own company, Redactron Corporation, and built a mini-fridge-sized word processor, the “Data Secretary”, with a keyboard and printer, cassette tapes for memory storage, and no screen. With the ability to go back and edit text, cut and paste, and print multiple copies at once, Berezin’s computer freed the world “from the shackles of the typewriter”. The machine was an in instant hit, selling thousands of units around the world. Berezin’s word processor not only set the stage for future word processing software, like Microsoft Word, but for compact personal computers in general. It is credited with being the world’s first office computer. Not surprisingly, it has been said that without Evelyn Berezin “there would have been no Bill Gates, and no Steve Jobs”.

Evelyn Berezin Pioneered Word Processors and Butted Heads With Men! A ‘loud woman,’ she studied physics and found that to get to the top she had to start her own company. Evelyn Berezin later became a mentor to entrepreneurs, venture capitalist and director of companies. Photo: Berezin Family. Wall Street Journal

“Why Is This Woman Not Famous?” British Writer Gwyn Headley Wrote In A 2010 Blog Post. — The Times of Israel

Redactron grew to a public company with over 500 employees. As president, she was the only woman heading a corporation in the US at the time, and was described as the ��Most Senior Businesswoman in the United States”. Redactron was eventually bought out by Burroughs Corporation, where Berezin worked for several more years. In 1980, she moved on to head a venture capital group investing in new technologies. Berezin served on the boards of a number of organizations, including Stony Brook University and the Brookhaven National Laboratory, and was a sought-after consultant for the world’s biggest tech companies.

She was a key part of the American Women’s Economic Development Corporation for 25 years, training thousands of women in how to start businesses of their own, with a success rate of over 60%. In honour of her parents, she established the Sam and Rose Berezin Endowed Scholarship, paying tuition in full for an undergraduate science student each year. Sadly, Berezin passed away earlier this month. She left her estate to fund a new professorship or research centre at Stony Brook University. Berezin won multiple awards and honourary degrees, and was inducted into the Women in Technology International Hall of Fame.

[litteratured]

John Giorno Interview: Inside William S. Burroughs' Bunker

Step inside ‘The Bunker’ in New York, the windowless former apartment of the legendary writer William S. Burroughs, and let yourself be guided around – from Burroughs’ typewriter to his shooting target – by its the current resident, the iconic poet John Giorno (b.1936 - d.2019). William S. Burroughs lived several places throughout his life. Between 1975-82 the drug addict and writer –famous not least for his automatic writing in books like ‘Naked Lunch’– lived in 222 Bowery, one of New York’s first YMCAs in the 1880s. Performance poet John Giorno has lived at the address since the early 1960s and was delighted to host his friend and colleague, who lived in the basement for seven years and dubbed the windowless space ‘The Bunker’. “ He was a brilliant transcendent writer, but he was more brilliant here,” Giorno recalls and explains how Burroughs was high from nine in the morning, and then would have vodkas and joints at five o’clock in the afternoon. Giorno himself would join him, albeit a bit later in the day: “Doing that for those endless years and years, that was a lesson – not sure what the lesson is though.” Having downed several more bottles of vodka and smoked more joints, Burroughs and his guests would shoot at the target poster, which still has its original bullet holes. John Giorno has been using ‘The Bunker’ as a guest room for visiting friends and today everything has been restored and kept like it was when Burroughs lived there: the target poster, the typewriter, the gun magazines and the desk all set for someone to sit down and write. We also get to see the ‘Orgone box’ – a box invented by psychoanalyst William Reich, who believed that orgones are vibratory atmospheric atoms of the life-principle, which can be concentrated as a creative substratum. “And if you sat in there you would collect orgone energy of the universal power,” Giorno adds. Burroughs “always believed there could be chaos and catastrophe, so every house should have a vessel to be able to save enough water to live for four days. So that’s why that was there,” says Giorno about the big water tank on the floor. Giorno also shows us Burroughs’ lamp, which is made from a – still functioning – rifle from the Civil War, as well as his BB gun: “It's a generational thing of his, coming of age as a young person in the 1920s and 30s, living in the country in St. Louis, and also outside, and being alone and being frail. I don't think his family were shooters, somehow it entered his life, all of those things.” John Giorno (b.1936 - d.2019) is an American poet and one of the most influential figures in contemporary performance poetry with his intensely rhythmic and philosophical poetry. He has published a wide range of poetic works such as the collection ‘You Got to Burn to Shine’, spoken words with William S. Burroughs and Laurie Anderson. In 1962, Giorno was the subject of Andy Warhol’s 6-hour movie ‘Sleep’. Giorno has also created Giorno Poetry Systems, which has published more than 40 spoken LP’s with acclaimed artists such as Allen Ginsberg and Patti Smith. William S. Burroughs (b. William Seward Burroughs II in 1914 – d. 1997) was an American writer and artist. He was a primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major influence in popular culture and literature, he wrote eighteen novels and novellas, six collections of short stories and four collections of essays, found success with his confessional first novel ‘Junkie’ (1953) but is best known for his highly controversial third novel ‘Naked Lunch’ (1959).  Along with artist, writer and poet Brion Gysin, Burroughs re-invented the literary cut-up technique in works such as ‘The Nova Trilogy’ (1961-1964). Much of Burroughs’ work is semi-autobiographical, primarily drawn from his experiences as a heroin addict. In 1951, he accidentally killed his wife Joan Vollmer with a pistol during a drunken ‘William Tell’ game and was consequently convicted of manslaughter. Through the years, Burroughs also created and exhibited thousands of paintings and other visual artworks, including his celebrated ‘Gunshot Paintings’. He did not, however, exhibit his artwork until 1987, and for last 10 years of his life, he presented his paintings and drawings at museums and galleries worldwide. He died at his home in Kansas after suffering a heart attack in 1997. John Giorno was interviewed by Christian Lund in New York City in October 2017.  Copyright: Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2018

[creativepenstudio]

The History And The Beauty Of Typewriters And Why We Still Need Them!

The Beauty of Typewriters

In recent years, popularity has been resurgent for these vintage machines, with people of all ages rediscovering the joys of typing on a typewriter.

A Brief History of the Typewriter

In 1829, William Austin Burt invented and patented the typewriter, which at the time was called the typographer.

Of course, typewriters have come a long way since their invention in the late 1800s. The first commercially successful typewriter was the Remington No. 1, which was introduced in 1873. This machine was designed to be used by businesses and therefore had a QWERTY keyboard layout (which is still used today).

Over the next few decades, several improvements were made to the typewriter design. In 1878, Type-Writer became the first company to sell a commercial typewriter. The following year, an Italian inventor named Pellegrino Turri created the first portable typewriter. In 1886, William Seward Burroughs developed the first adding machine that could also be used as the typewriter—an invention that would lay the foundation for modern computers. Early typewriters were somewhat slow and cumbersome to use, but they gradually improved over time. By the early 1900s, they were widely used in offices and schools.

One of the most popular typewriters of all time was the Smith-Corona Coronet Electric, which was

introduced in 1955. This machine was lightweight and portable, making it perfect for students and busy professionals who needed to be able to take their work with them on the go. It also had a built-in correcting feature that allowed users to erase mistakes without having to start over from scratch. More than 1 million Coronets were sold between 1955 and 1960.

The Sound of a Typewriter

For many people, the sound of a typewriter is nostalgic. It takes them back to a simpler time when things were done by hand. The sound of the keys hitting the paper is therapeutic and calming. It's a reminder that though times have changed, some things will always stay the same.

The Feel of a Typewriter

Another reason people love typewriters is they feel them. Unlike typing on a computer or phone, which can feel cold and sterile, typing on a typewriter is a tactile experience. The keys are larger and have more resistance, which some people find to be more satisfying. And because you can feel the keys moving, it can help you stay more focused on your writing.

The Nostalgia Factor

There's no denying that part of the appeal of typewriters is the nostalgia factor. For many people, typewriters conjure up images of a simpler time; a time when life wasn't so reliant on technology. In a world where we are constantly bombarded with notifications and alerts, it can be nice to take a step back and disconnect from all the digital noise. With a typewriter, there are no distractions—just you and your thoughts.

The Aesthetic Factor

There's something about the look and feel of a vintage typewriter that is simply irresistible. Whether it's the satisfying *clack* of the keys as you type or the beautiful lines of an antique model, there's no denying that typewriters have a certain je ne sais quoi. Thanks to social media platforms like Instagram, typewriters have been thrust into the spotlight as must-have pieces for both professional and amateur writers and photographers alike.

In addition to the improved writing experience that comes with using a typewriter, there is also an aesthetic element to consider. When you type on a computer, your words appear on the screen in a generic font that doesn't add anything to your work. However, when you type on a typewriter, each letter is unique and adds its personality to your work. Additionally, because typewritten documents are physical objects, they can be hung on walls or given as gifts in a way that computer-generated documents cannot be.

The Practical Factor

Let's not forget that typewriters can be practical too! In an age where we are constantly worried about cyber-attacks and data breaches, it can be reassuring to know that your confidential documents are safe from prying eyes—after all, nobody can hack a physical piece of paper! Typewriters also come in handy when the power goes out or there's no WiFi available. And if you're someone who loves to write long-hand, then a typewriter can be a great way to transcribe your thoughts onto paper without having to deal with messy ink cartridges or smudged pages.

The Lost Art of Typewriting

In a world where we now rely on computer keyboards and touch screens to communicate, it is easy to forget the lost art of typewriting. This once ubiquitous method of writing was once the primary way that people composed letters, essays, and even novels. Though it has been largely replaced by digital methods of writing, there is still something special about the act of typing on a typewriter.

In This Age Is The Typewriter Making A Comeback?

With computers and smartphones, it's easy to forget the simple joys of typewriting. The feel of the keys under your fingers, the sound of the keys clacking as you type, the satisfaction of a job well done when you're finished... There's nothing quite like it. And in a world where we're constantly bombarded with digital distractions, taking the time to sit down and write on a typewriter can be a very calming experience.

In recent years, there has been a resurgence of interest in typewriters, thanks in part to celebrities like Tom Hanks and Hunter S. Thompson who are known for their love of these classic machines. Today, there are even companies that make modernized versions of vintage typewriters, such as the Smith-Corona Galaxie Deluxe. If you've never experienced the joy of typing on a typewriter, I highly recommend giving it a try!

Whether you're a busy professional or a student who needs to be able to take your work with you on the go, there's a typewriter out there that's perfect for you. And in this age of digital distraction, taking the time to sit down and write on a typewriter can be a very calming experience. So if you've never tried it before, I highly recommend giving it a go!

The Rise and Fall of the Typewriter

Typewriters were once essential office equipment, but their popularity began to decline in the 1960s with the advent of cheaper and more portable alternatives like laptops and word processors. By the 1980s, most offices had switched to using computers, and typewriters were seen as nothing more than relics of a bygone era. As a result, many companies stopped manufacturing them altogether.

In recent years, however, there has been a renewed interest in typewriters. This may be due to a desire for simpler times, or it could be because people are looking for ways to express their individuality in an increasingly digital world. Whatever the reason, vintage typewriters are now seen as stylish accessories, and new models are being released by companies like Royal Sovereign and Swintec.

The Soundtrack of Your Life

Hi There, I'm Martin Laird the author of this blog. Here I am with my own Circa Early 1900s typewriter. It's not in 100% working order and hasn't been for many years I believe. The last time I think it was used was way back in approx 1943, the last impression was the number 1943 which was indented on the barrel, that alone makes this a cool piece of history.

In Conclusion:

Though they may seem like relics of a bygone era, typewriters still have a lot to offer writers in terms of both function and form. If you've never tried typing on a typewriter before, we highly recommend giving it a shot.

Whether you're looking for a unique way to express yourself or you're longing for a simpler time, there's no denying that typewriters are back in a big way. Thanks to their customized features and stylish designs, these classic machines are once again becoming popular office equipment. So why not dust off your old typewriter or buy a new one today? You might just find that you enjoy pounding out those essays or letters after all!

There's no denying that typewriters have seen better days—but that doesn't mean they're completely obsolete. There's been a recent resurgence in interest in these vintage machines. Whether it's for their nostalgic appeal, their aesthetic value or their practicality, more and more people are rediscovering the joys of typing on a trusty old typewriter. Who knows? Maybe one day we'll all be trading in our laptops for these retro devices!

Thank you for reading.

[aaroncutler]

Mistérios e paixões [Naked Lunch]

October 15: The link above leads to Portuguese-language information about upcoming screenings in São Paulo of a newly restored digital version of the film Naked Lunch, directed by David Cronenberg, which will take place on October 17th and 18th at the theater CineSesc. The amazing and frankly unique 1991 film tracks the inner and outer journeys taken by a writer named William Lee (played by Peter Weller) following an accident with his wife Joan (Judy Davis). It emerged as a result of a collaboration between the Canadian horror-cum-science-fiction master Cronenberg and the American writer William S. Burroughs (otherwise known as the man at the insect typewriter), whose 1959 novel Naked Lunch is used as a point of departure for explorations into diverse territories.

The screenings of the film Naked Lunch have been organized by me and Mariana Shellard on behalf of Mutual Films, and CineSesc's programming precedes them with screenings of two other films directed by Cronenberg - his most recent feature, Crimes of the Future (which shares its name with his second film, from 1970), and the film that he made directly before Naked Lunch, the unsettling Dead Ringers. The screening on October 17th will be followed by a public conversation between the filmmaker Fábio Leal, the film curator and publishing house coordinator Maria Chiaretti, and the philosopher, teacher, and author Vladimir Safatle. They will discuss a film that welcomes diverse perspectives and interpretations.

[astroneatly]

The Johnson family minded their own business. While born and raised in Saint Louis to a father and inventor/tinkerer, and his mother, Burroughs began his life on a cotton plantation. The wetbacks he hired to do the work, while he enjoyed the strange fruits of business. It’s not peculiar that he decided that cotton would become his vocation, at least then, being a junkie without a developed interest in writing books, which could wait until he was 39 years old. He decided to grow Marijuana, and in Louisiana the laws in affect for narcotics were stern: an addict could be arrested for even having tracks marks on their arm.

Suffice it to say, Burrough’s did not last long in N’Orleans, and sought refuge in Mexico. Then, he had a wife and a son, though his fondness for masculine men brought out a favorable group of counterculturists known as the Beatniks. Burroughs was in a relationship with the poet Allen Ginsberg, and remained friends all of his life. Kerouac, and Neal Cassady too were among Burroughs garrulous group of the beat. In Mexico, Burroughs was sentenced to 5 years in a Mexico prison, for shooting his wife. Yet, Tangier became the place where Burroughs could vacillate. ‘Antaeus was the god of losers, which made Tangier an appropriate haven for all the washed-up people who gravitated there,’ where he met the Novelist and Short Story writer Paul Bowles.

Writing became a fixation for Burroughs, who from the success of Naked Lunch could develop his technique. Naked Lunch is essentially a Picaresque novel about original sin. Burroughs liked to consider his books to be instructional, composed in a collage format that he invented taking pieces of newspapers and great works of fiction and splicing them.

To sit down at a desk and peck away at his typewriter in a drugged or trancelike state was more than a professional activity- it was a lifeline, an absolute necessity, a way of connecting with the world, a way of fleeing from the world into fantasy, and a way of reconstructing the world according to Burroughs.’ #literaryoutlaw #williamsburroughs

[zerogate]

The Black Book is a form of hypersigil, a term that comes to us via occultist and comic book writer Grant Morrison. Morrison speaks of them as long-form narrative sigils. ‘Regular’ sigil magic most commonly refers to the practice of turning single desires or statements of intent into glyphs and then working with the resulting glyph to manifest our desires or needs. This is the type of sigil derived from the work of artist and sorcerer Austin Osman Spare. A hypersigil instead seeks to produce an overwhelming body of evidence to the senses (waking, dreaming, liminal, and unconscious) that things are or can be very, very different from what the mind tells us they are or should be. In time, as we build the hypersigil, we tend to see reflections of our written narrative manifest in our life.

I started playing with the ideas of something like this around 1990. I discovered that by writing and mailing letters to myself about events I desired to occur as if they already had, they often did in fact happen. What started me down the path was this: I knew someone with an old William S. Burroughs-esque manual typewriter that he said was a potent magical tool. I tried writing a few things with it to see if they would manifest, and they didn’t pan out. I then wrote a letter to myself about things that I wanted to happen as if they already had and then mailed it to myself. Once I received the letter, rather than opening it, I used it as a focal point on my altar. That one worked fine. Over time, this turned into full-blown journaling about a life that suited me better than the one I was living. This led to aspects of my life beginning to mirror the journaled stories.

I had found a solid technique for creating rather amazing effects. In Grant Morrison’s case, his comic series The Invisibles was a graphic-novel version of a hypersigil rather than a journal, and one of the characters in the story was a version of himself. As he wrote the stories, various parts of the tale began to manifest in his life, for better or sometimes worse.

-- Aidan Wachter, Weaving Fate

[fremontvintagemall]

Current typewriters in stock for your future novel.... #fvm711 royal typewriter $60, #fvm3 vintage royal typewriter with case $45, #fvm860 Olympia typewriter $69.99, 1920s Burroughs typewriter $120. #typewriter #vintage #burroughs #olympia #royal #1920s #1940s #writer #writing #typing #hipster (at Fremont Vintage Mall) https://www.instagram.com/p/BwxM4qonlDu/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1jd0mnh13ng3m

[shakethispeare]

KILL YOUR DARLINGS (2013)

— MOVIE REVIEW —

poster by @shakethispeare

CASTS

Daniel Radcliffe | Dane Dehaan | Jack Huston | Ben Foster | Michael C. Hall | Jennifer Jason Leigh | David Cross | Elizabeth Olsen and others.

DIRECTOR

John Krokidas, Austin Bunn (co-writer)

MUSIC SCORE

Nico Muhly

GENRE

Biopic, drama

SYNOPSIS

In 1944, four students would become the pioneers of an influential literary movement in American history. The earliest days of ‘Beat Generation’ is comprised of young writer Allen Ginsberg, the athletic Jack Kerouac, the easy-going William S. Burroughs, and the intensely charming Lucien Carr. But with Carr, comes David Kammerer, an older man who follows Carr wherever he goes.

RUNNING TIME

1h 44min

MY RATING

7 / 10 | 🌕🌕🌕🌘🌑

REVIEW

If there is one word that I will use to describe this movie, it is; fucking intense.

I am sorry.

That was two words.

The reason why I wanted to watch this movie was because of the dark-academia style (an aesthetic I have come to like). And basically, that's what this movie is about—literature, intense love and murder.

I have to be honest, I do not know anything about the Beat Generation or the authors. I'm not a literature student either. I don't have the same fiery passion (yet) for classic literature as the characters in this movie. And so, I struggled to understand the plot. But, I don't think you have to understand or know the Beat Generation very well to understand Kill Your Darlings.

The emotions in this movie are just absolutely raw, and it can be hard to swallow. There is so much to see and feel. It is not for the faint-of-heart. Kill Your Darlings is an energetic coming-of-age tale, surrounding love, obsession, jealousy, and the use of illicit drugs.

At some point, it seems like a romantic story, but overall, I realised that it is more about the characters desperately trying to find themselves in the world and who they want to be in a fragile society.

Director, John Krokidas and co-writer, Austin Bunn, did well in producing this movie. Although, I do feel a little conflicted with the way they executed the storytelling. The pace feels fast, especially the part where Allen and Lucien hanged out for the first time. But I also think it was because, at that point, Allen was under the heavy influence of drugs, which implied him having vague memories during those days he got to know Lucien. Thus, making me feel like I (we, as viewers) aren't supposed to dig about the basis of their friendship. It's also proven by how the cinematography changes from normal to quick snippets of flashbacks, repeatedly rewinding and forwarding in Allen's mind as he types away on his typewriter.

The costumes were appropriate (I'm a bit biased here because I love seeing a man in suits, jumpers, and overcoats). The soundtrack was okay. You can hear jazz music being played often (and I must say, some are quite catchy).

The actors and actresses cast in this movie deserve high praise. They delivered extraordinary performances. Daniel Radcliffe, even though he was wearing glasses, did not remind me of Harry Potter. Radcliffe's facial expressions nailed every single emotion—happy, sad, tortured, and pretty much everything else. I felt pity for his character throughout the whole film. I think it is one of Daniel Radcliffe's best post-Potter performances. Next is Dane DeHaan. Dane DeHaan played Lucien Carr with a charm that is seductively chaotic and dangerous (and, yes, I loved every second of it because he made feel something).

I could see this movie isn't everyone's cup of tea. But if you're into dark-academia, a coming-of-age or coming-out story, and don't mind some nude gay scenes, do give this movie a try. It's marvellous in a way and every emotion, subtle or not, brings you spiralling down with every second.

[recursive360]

(via GIPHY)

[words-pics-flicks]

I've had periods of complete writer's block where I can't look at a typewriter. Well, the only thing to do is write it out. What you do is routine work like answering letters . . . and all that routine work.

William S. Burroughs (quoted in 'Willuam S. Burroughs - A Life' by Barry Miles)

[life]

LIFE legend William S. Burroughs was born 105 years ago today on February 5, 1914 in St. Louis Missouri. He was one of the great writers of the Beat Generation and well known for books such as Naked Lunch and Junkie. He is pictured here at his typewriter in a hotel in Paris, France in 1959. (Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images) #LIFElegends #WilliamBurroughs https://www.instagram.com/p/BtgK8IZgSuH/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1q0adlwhn75qa

[writingnotwriting]

William Burroughs, 1959.

The news is concussive right now. Too many blows. But I’ve still got a book out in April and I’m excited about that. It’s about hearts. Our hearts, my heart, your heart, even, you know, their hearts. And a boy, and a man and a family whose hearts can only take so much.  

[cleverwordsandotherstuffilike]

A catless writer is almost inconceivable. It’s a perverse taste, really, since it would be easier to write with a herd of buffalo in the room than even one cat; they make nests in the notes and bite the end of the pen and walk on the typewriter keys. —  Barbara Holland Earnest Hemingway, Charles Bukowski, Joyce Carol Oates, Neil Gaiman, Ray Bradbury, Doris Lessing, Mark Twain, Sylvia Plath, Aldous Huxley, William S. Burroughs, Edgar Allan Poe, Hermann Hesse, T. S. Eliot, Jorge Luis Borges, Patricia Highsmith, William Butler Yeats, Charles Dickens, Steven King, Jack Kerouac, Edward Gorey, Colette, Truman Capote, W.H. Auden

[newstfionline]

Evelyn Berezin, 93, Dies; Built the First True Word Processor

By Robert D. McFadden, NY Times, Dec. 10, 2018

Evelyn Berezin, a computer pioneer who emancipated many a frazzled secretary from the shackles of the typewriter nearly a half-century ago by building and marketing the first computerized word processor, died on Saturday in Manhattan. She was 93.

In an age when computers were in their infancy and few women were involved in their development, Ms. Berezin (pronounced BEAR-a-zen) not only designed the first true word processor; in 1969, she was also a founder and the president of the Redactron Corporation, a tech start-up on Long Island that was the first company exclusively engaged in manufacturing and selling the revolutionary machines.

To secretaries, who constituted 6 percent of the American work force then, Redactron word processors arrived in an office like a trunk of magic tricks, liberating users from the tyranny of having to retype pages marred by bad keystrokes and the monotony of copying pages for wider distribution. The machines were bulky, slow and noisy, but they could edit, delete, and cut and paste text.

Modern word processors, which appear as programs on computers, long ago simplified the tasks of authors, journalists and other writers--sometimes after misgivings over the risk of surrendering to a future of dystopian technology--but became so efficient in offices that they killed off the need for most of the old-fashioned secretarial skills Ms. Berezin was trying to enhance.

“I’m embarrassed to tell you that I never thought of it--it never entered my mind” that the word processor might endanger women’s jobs, Ms. Berezin said in an interview for this obituary in 2017.

Ms. Berezin called her computer the Data Secretary. It was 40 inches high, the size of a small refrigerator, and had no screen for words to trickle across. Its keyboard and printer was an I.B.M. Selectric Typewriter with a rattling print head the size of a golf ball. The device had 13 semiconductor chips, some of which Ms. Berezin designed, and programmable logic to drive its word-processing functions.

Later versions of Redactron word processors came with monitor screens for text, separate printers, greater memory caches, smaller consoles, faster processing speeds and more programmed features to smooth the writing and editing tasks.

With law firms and corporate offices as its main clients, Redactron sold some 10,000 machines for $8,000 each before running into financial problems after seven years of independent operation. The company was sold in 1976 to the Burroughs Corporation, and Ms. Berezin joined the parent company as president of its Redactron division, a post she held until 1980. She then went on to careers in venture capital and consulting.

Even in her Redactron heyday, Ms. Berezin was hardly alone in the word processing business. Her chief competitor, International Business Machines, made devices that relied on electronic relays and tapes, not semiconductor chips. I.B.M. soon caught up technologically and swamped the market in the 1970s and ‘80s, pursued by a herd of brands like Osborne, Wang, Tandy and Kaypro.

But for a few years after Redactron started shipping its computerized word processors in September 1971, Ms. Berezin was a lioness of the young tech industry, featured in magazine and news articles as an adventurous do-it-herself polymath with the logical mind of an engineer, the curiosity of an inventor and the entrepreneurial skills of a C.E.O.

“Why is this woman not famous?” the British writer and entrepreneur Gwyn Headley asked in a 2010 blog post.

“Without Ms. Berezin,” he added enthusiastically, “there would be no Bill Gates, no Steve Jobs, no internet, no word processors, no spreadsheets; nothing that remotely connects business with the 21st century.”

Although Ms. Berezin was inducted into the Women in Technology International Hall of Fame in Los Angeles in 2011, Matthew G. Kirschenbaum noted in “Track Changes: A Literary History of Word Processing” (2016), “she remains a relatively unknown and underappreciated figure, with nowhere near the stature of other women who played significant roles in computer science and the computer industry and have since been recognized by historians.”

[occultadama]

Kafka vs Burroughs - insect representation

When researching insect representation one point of reference that persistently appeared was "Naked Lunch". I have read the Burroughs novel and watched the Cronenberg screen adaptation. On completion I was left bemused to why it was such a poignant landmark in entomological media inclusion.

Its Kafka inspired story and style is heavily evident in both formats of story telling. Even taking the time to reference Kafka several times in the dialogue. Having the aspiration to write literature as influential and original as Kafka's "The Trial" and "The Metamorphosis", to me - is impossible. His writings were intrinsic to his character. Kafka never intended the books to be published and due to his crippling insecurities he was oblivious to thier cultural importance. He unintentionally created a world outlook - were we commonly describe the bureaucratic nonsense and constraints of capitalist culture as "Kafkaesque". Kafka had a unique frustration and specific lens that (post death) resonated deeply with many hyper aware members of the public.

This is where I believe Naked Lunch falls short. It's not that it is "bad" but it's immediately comparable with some of most influential kafka books of the 20th century, Most notably, "The Metamorphosis". In Kafka's short novel the protagonist Gregor Samsa wakes up finding himself transformed into a "monstrous vermin" - a beetle. Kafka uses this "Metamorphosis" to inhabit the collosal pressure of working hierarchies, our growing inability to excersize compassion, our modern cog like existence and the insignificance of the individual. All of which become amplified and unbearable in his new insectoid form. Samsa is not important or respected or even liked by those around him making an insect a fitting vessel for his characterisation. Beetles similarly offer a parallel in working structures - Often portrayed as automatic species - mindlessly working in unison. The difference being they lack all the bureaucratic film that suffocates mankind.

Samsa, despite becoming a burden and creature of resentment to all his family and Co workers is the only likeable character. Kafka presents him in a sympathetic manner showing him to be the only one with awareness to the idiocy and cruelty of life expectations and its institutions.

Kafka has a very clear core to the book, a burning frustration toward all of mans evolutionary arrogance, cruelty and idiocy. His writing is suffocated with a desperate longing for freedom - whatever that may be, his lack of answer to which he appears more down trodden by.

This is were Burroughs and Kafka differ. "Naked Lunch" follows emotionally sterile  insect exterminator Bill Lee as he tumbles into a severe addiction to the bug killing powder he uses for work. After killing his dead‑eyed wife, Joan "accidently" (at the behest of a "probably" illusionary Giant, cockroach secret agent with an anus for a mouth) Bill flees the US to finish an imaginary report (again at the request of insect agents) and devolves into more extreme drug addiction. The story is non-linear with the confusion propping up the drug fuelled perception of Lee.

The Insects in the book and film represent the peeling back of lifes skin showing all its guts, gore and puss. The insects are presented in the film as malicious, untrustworthy and the psychical manifestation of his drug dependency. They similarly represent Lees insecurities as an addict. He feels like guttural, lowly, vermin. The beetles often inhabit human objects such as a typewriter as a way of both imaginary shape-shifters and as a interuptation to realities monotamy. Something Burroughs establishes early on that Bill is listlessly disdainful of. The film garnishes all of this with controversial imagery. To me it's often misplaced and feels tipped on the film without any real purpose other than distracting from actually interesting elements of the plot. There's constant overt, graphic sexual and violent content - which is fine, if it had purpose. I feel Burroughs gets far to preoccupied with making the most shocking book. Something it actually achieved on release being banned and burned in numerous locations.

If it had a point it gets lost in its own ego and end goal. The non linear style feels deliberate as Burroughs gets lost in his own point. Bill Lee is Burroughs alter ego, which makes sense in the books more masculine and self indulgent Portions. The Insects don't hold the same level of symbolic and metaphorical value as Kafka. They appear to be there to create more revulsion and "shock" value.

Both writers presentation of insects, although commonly comparable, couldn't be more different. Both Burroughs and Kafka sit at different ends of the spectrum. Burroughs uses insect species  mainly to double down on controversy whereas Kafka uses them as sympathic vessels for a wider philosophical ideals. Burroughs (to me) is attempting to make the viewer think this work is important and intellectual (the use of non linear and confusing time frames to me is something often equipped in this objective) without any of the needed substance. Kafka's work on the other hand - just is.

This isn't to say I thought Burroughs book and film adaptation were abjectively bad. If I pull it out of its confusingly "cool dad" and morbidly preachy context- it's quite good fun with unique elements and feverish imagery. I just don't think it is what it is trying to be, it feels forced. It also makes the error of mentioning Kafka frequently creating an instant comparison. For example I wouldn't make a stop motion film where I reference jvan svankmajer constantly, that would be really stupid of me.