Brion Gysin (January 19, 1916 - July 13, 1986) was a writer and painter.

He is best known for his rediscovery of Tristan Tzara's cut-up technique while cutting through a newspaper upon which he was trimming some mats. He did many experiments with cut-ups while living in Tangiers. He shared his discovery with his friend William S. Burroughs, who subsequently put the cut-up technique to good use and dramatically changed the landscape of American literature.

Gysin helped Burroughs with the editing of several of his novels, and wrote a script for a film version of "Naked Lunch" which was never produced. The pair collaborated on a large manuscript for Grove Press titled "The Third Mind " but it was determined that it would be impractical to publish it as originally envisioned. The book later published under that title incorporates little of this material.

As a joke, he contributed a recipe for marijuana fudge to a cookbook by Alice B. Toklas; it was unintentionally included for publication, becoming famous under the name Alice B. Toklas brownies.

A consummate innovator, Gysin altered the cut-up technique to produce what he called permutation poems in which a single phrase was repeated several times, with the words rearranged in a different order with each reiteration. A memorable example of this is "I don't dig work, man" (try it!)

Many of these permutations were derived using a random sequence generator in an early computer program written by Ian Sommerville .

He also experimented with permutation on recording tape, by splicing together the sounds of a gun firing recorded at different amplitudes in the BBC Radiophonic Workshop thus producing 'Pistol Poem.' The piece was subsequently used as a theme in 1960 for the performance in Paris of Le Domaine Poetique , a showcase for experimental works by people like Gysin, Françoise Dufrêne , Bernard Heidsieck , and Henri Chopin.

He worked extensively with the noted jazz soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy.

In the early '60, together with Ian Sommerville, he built what is called the Dreamachine, a device meant to be viewed with the eyes closed.

Bibliography

• To Master A Long Goodnight
• Minutes to Go (with William S. Burroughs)
• The Exterminator (with William S. Burroughs)
• The Process
• The Third Mind (with William S. Burroughs)
• The Last Museum
• Here To Go (Interviews with Terry Wilson)