Adam and Eavesdroppers [J:532]

Two files. The first file contains several drafts of Burroughs' article about Watergate written in 1972. Included in this file are the following: 2pp. typed first draft manuscript about 500 words. 4 pp. typed second draft expanded manuscript, signed by the author on first page, approximately 1250 words. 9 pp. typed variant text manuscript, with a different title Towards a Field Theory of Word, signed by Burroughs, which is another attempt to essay the same topic, approximately 3000 words. 19 pp. final draft of MS, with 6 pp. of inserts and illustrations for the article, of which all is in photostat with new title typed on first page, last 2 pp. in original typescript, some corrections in author's hand. 1 page of holograph notes primarily dealing with Blake's theory of language as a virus. Burroughs' own clipped copy of the final published article, from Harper's, November 1973, which has yet another title, probably provided by the magazine's editor, Playback from Eden to Watergate.

Second file contains 33 pp. of various carbon redrafts (1973-1974) of Adam and Eavesdroppers, signed by Burroughs. Text of these drafts resembles the text used by Grove Press in the 1974 first paperback edition of The Job, which has a new Introduction, which this seems to be. About 4500 works altogether. Textually varies from any published materials.

Both sets of manuscript drafts are enclosed in the original red folders, the first elaborately decorated by Burroughs on the front cover, with pasted cut-outs of Blake's drawing of Moses mixed in a collage with a photograph of the White House and tape recorder. The second bears a note in Burroughs' hand on front cover: Adam and Eavesdroppers and Academy Copy Notes.