William S Burroughs signing copies of The Western Lands at Tony Shafrazi Gallery, December 1987. (photo: Allen Ginsberg)
From the Western lands..
Well, the most arbitrary and bureaucratic immortality blueprint was drafted by the ancient Egyptians. First you had to get yourself mummified, and that was very expensive, making immortality a monopoly of the truly rich. Then your continued existence in the Western Lands (that’s the title of my next book, Egyptian Paradise) was entirely contingent on the continued existence and welfare of your mummy. That is why they had their mummies hid good.
Now mummy’s your basic passport but you must also know the names. You shall not pass unless you know my name for page after page in the Egyptian Book of the Dead.
Well here is plain citizen Horus. He’s got enough vigor and vitality to survive his physical death. He won’t get far. He’s got no mummy, he’s got no names, he’s got nothing. What happens to a bum like that, a nameless, mummy-less asshole? Why, demons will swarm all over him at the next checkpoint. He will be dismembered and thrown into a flaming pit, where his soul will be utterly consumed and destroyed forever. While others, with sound mummies and the right names to drop in the right places, sail through to the Western Lands. (excerpt from The Western Lands, Viking Press, 1987)
