Brion Gysin: Beat Outsider in Morocco

A nomadic polymath who spent considerable time in Morocco and was a champion of Jajouka, Brion Gysin, this essay proposes, can be considered as “an outsider in a movement [the Beats] that defined itself by outsidedness.” A survey of Gysin’s wide range of production in diverse media and genres—painting, film, calligraphy, cut-ups, permutation poems, and novel (The Process)—reveals that his work participates in an esthetic and values associated with the Beats: Experimentation with new forms of expression, an iconoclastic spirit, and a firm commitment to radical freedom. While Gysin himself admitted that his inability to stick with just one mode of artistic production, his multifaceted and unrestrained talent remains a source of enduring fascination.