Rub Out the Past: Nostalgia and the Cut-Up Works of William S. Burroughs

William S. Burroughs' cut-up texts of the 1960s have been read as a representation of the author's attempt to escape the repressive hold of nostalgic memory. I show that this reading is flawed and argue that the treatment of memory in Burroughs' cut-up works can be more successfully read in terms of Svetlana Boym's concept of 'reflective nostalgia'. Through examining Burroughs' 1965 text 'St. Louis Return' alongside a page from his contemporaneous 'Black Scrapbook', I provide a reading that counters earlier critical responses to the cut-ups: firstly, by belying the assumption that Burroughs' use of the cut-up technique enabled the author to overcome the allure of nostalgic memory; secondly, by demonstrating the importance of the nostalgic theme across Burroughs' body of work; and thirdly, by challenging prevailing conceptions of nostalgia as an inherently sterile and reactionary impulse.