Editing Cut-up technique (section)

==Technique==
The cut-up and the closely associated fold-in are the two main techniques:

*''Cut-up'' is performed by taking a finished and fully linear text and cutting it in pieces with a few or single words on each piece. The resulting pieces are then rearranged into a new text, such as in poems by [[Tristan Tzara]] as described in his short text, ''TO MAKE A DADAIST POEM''.<ref name="autogenerated1920">{{cite web|url=http://www.391.org/manifestos/19201212tristantzara_dmonflabl.htm |title=manifestos: dada manifesto on feeble love and bitter love by tristan tzara, 12th december 1920 |publisher=391 |date=12 December 1920 |access-date=2011-06-27}}</ref>
*''Fold-in'' is the technique of taking two sheets of linear text (with the same linespacing), folding each sheet in half vertically and combining with the other, then reading across the resulting page, such as in ''[[The Third Mind]]''. It is a joint development between Burroughs and [[Brion Gysin]].<ref>Laura Caruso. William Burroughs, the infinite groundbreaker. Buenos Aires Herald. buenosairesherald.com.</ref>

[[File:Burroughs1983 crop b.jpg|thumb|upright|[[William S. Burroughs]], popularizer of the technique]]
William Burroughs cited [[T. S. Eliot]]'s 1922 poem, ''[[The Waste Land]]'', and [[John Dos Passos]]' [[U.S.A. trilogy|''U.S.A.'' trilogy]], which incorporated newspaper clippings, as early examples of the cut ups he popularized.

Gysin introduced Burroughs to the technique at the [[Beat Hotel]]. The pair later applied the technique to printed media and [[audio recording]]s in an effort to decode the material's implicit content, hypothesizing that such a technique could be used to discover the true meaning of a given text.  Burroughs also suggested cut-ups may be effective as a form of [[divination]] saying, "When you cut into the present the future leaks out."<ref>[{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r541727|pure_url=yes}} Break Through in Grey Room]</ref> Burroughs also further developed the "fold-in" technique. In 1977, Burroughs and Gysin published ''[[The Third Mind]]'', a collection of cut-up writings and essays on the form. [[Jeff Nuttall]]'s publication ''[[My Own Mag]]'' was another important outlet for the then-radical technique.

In an interview, [[Alan Burns (author)|Alan Burns]] noted that for ''Europe After The Rain'' (1965) and subsequent novels he used a version of cut-ups: "I did not actually use scissors, but I folded pages, read across columns, and so on, discovering for myself many of the techniques Burroughs and Gysin describe."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dalkeyarchive.com/book/?fa=customcontent&GCOI=15647100621780&extrasfile=A09F77F7-B0D0-B086-B615C61B62D698F2.html |author=David W. Madden |title=A Conversation with Alan Burns |access-date=2013-06-05}}</ref>