Sinclair Beiles (b.

Kampala Kampala (, ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,875,834 (2024) and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kampala, Kawempe Division, Kawempe, Makindy ...

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

, 1930–2000,

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

) was a South African

beat poet The Beat Generation was a literary subculture movement started by a group of authors whose work explored and influenced American culture and politics in the post-World War II era. The bulk of their work was published and popularized by members o ...

and editor for Maurice Girodias at the

Olympia Press Olympia Press was a Paris-based publisher, launched in 1953 by Maurice Girodias as a rebranded version of the Obelisk Press he inherited from his father Jack Kahane. It published a mix of erotic fiction and avant-garde literary fiction, and is ...

in Paris. He developed along with William S. Burroughs and Brion Gysin the cut-up technique of writing poetry and literature. He won the 1969

Ingrid Jonker Prize The Ingrid Jonker Prize is a literary prize for the best debut work of Afrikaans or English poetry. It was instituted in honour of Ingrid Jonker after her death in 1965. The yearly prize, consisting of R10,000 and a medal, is awarded alternatel ...

for poetry for his collection, ''Ashes of Experience''.

Early life

Beiles was born in

to Jewish South African parents of

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

descent.1 Playing Around at Being a Poet - Sinclair Beiles and the Problem of Context
University of the Witwatersrand. Retrieved on 4 June 2024 The family returned to live in

when he was six years old. He graduated with a BA from the

University of the Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), commonly known as Wits University or Wits, is a multi-campus Public university, public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg, South Africa. The universit ...

, having majored in Anthropology.

Career

Beiles was involved with American beat poets

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with Lucien Carr, William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of th ...

Gregory Corso Gregory Nunzio Corso (March 26, 1930 – January 17, 2001) was an American poet. Along with Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and William S. Burroughs, he was part of the Beat Generation, as well as one of its youngest members. Early life Born N ...

and Brion Gysin, and Burroughs at the legendary Beat Hotel in Paris. The photographer Harold Chapman recorded this period in his book ''The Beat Hotel'' (Gris Banal, 1984). He co-authored ''Minutes to Go'' with Burroughs, Gysin and Corso (Two Cities Editions, 1960). Beiles helped edit Burroughs' ''

Naked Lunch ''Naked Lunch'' (first published as ''The Naked Lunch'') is a 1959 novel by American author William S. Burroughs. The novel does not follow a clear linear plot, but is instead structured as a series of non-chronological "routines". Many of thes ...

''. He worked with the Greek artist

Takis Takis may refer to: * Takis (snack), a spicy, roll-shaped snack * Takis Christoforidis, a Greek actor * Takis Fotopoulos, a Greek political philosopher * Takis Ikonomopoulos, a Greek football player * Takis Kanellopoulos a Greek film director * Tak ...

and read his magnetic manifesto -- "I am a sculpture... I would like to see all nuclear bombs on Earth turned into sculptures"—in 1960 in Paris at the

Iris Clert Gallery The Iris Clert Gallery ( in French) was a single-room art gallery named after its Greeks, Greek owner and curator, Iris Clert. It was located on 3 :fr:Rue des Beaux-Arts, rue des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France. It was open from 1955 to 1976 and dur ...

. At this event he was famously suspended in mid-air by a magnetic field from a powerful magnet in a sculpture developed by Takis. Beiles attributed his subsequent mental instability to this experience even though he insisted that Takis provide him with a helmet to protect his head from the magnetic field. Beiles wandered through Europe, including a spell in London and settled in the Greek islands during the 1970s. He fought frequent bouts of depression, mental illness and drug addiction. In later life he returned to South Africa and was associated with the Johannesburg-based Gallery II

group of poets, writers, composers and performance artists. He and the South African columnist and playwright Ian Fraser (playwright), Ian Fraser formed a friendship which lasted many years. The poet had a burst of writing activity from 1991 to 2000, publishing a large number of poetry collections, including ''A South African Abroad'' (Lapis Press, 1991). He died in relative poverty. The independent filmmaker Anton Kotze made a short film called "Sacred Fix" (26 minutes, South Africa, 1997), which is a documentary portrait of Sinclair Beiles. A collection of writings about Sinclair Beiles called ''Who was Sinclair Beiles?'' was published by Dye Hard Press, Johannesburg, in 2009, co-edited by Gary Cummiskey and Eva Kowalska.

Works by Sinclair Beiles

*(S. B. as) Wu Wu Ming: ''Houses of Joy''.

, Paris, 1959. *S. B., William S. Burroughs, Brion Gysin, Gregory Corso: ''Minutes To Go''. Two Cities Editions, Paris 1960 *''Ashes of Experience''. Wurm, 1969 *''Deliria''. Cold Turkey Press, Rotterdam 1971. Edited by Gerard Bellaart. *''Tales: Poems''. Gryphon Poets, 1972 *''Sacred Fix''. Cold Turkey Press, Rotterdam, 1975 *''Universal Truths as Revealed in White Tobacco Fumes''. Writers Forum, London. 1976. *''Ballets'', 1978 *''Dowsings'', 1980 *''Poems Under Suspicion, Poems On Bits Of Paper'' (with Marta Proctor) 1982 *''The Crucifixion'', Two Cities, 1984 *''A South African Abroad'', Lapis Press, 1991 *''On-Stage'', Limited Editions, 1994 *''Aardvark City, or Hieronymous Hotel'', Limited Editions, 1994 *''Khakiweeds'', Limited Editions, 1995 *''Deliria''. Small Spaces Press, 1995. First edition: Cold Turkey Press, Rotterdam, 1971. *''Yeoville: Poems'', Nugget Press, 1996 *''Sugar'', Nugget Press, 1996 *''Plays'' (''Harlem King of the Negroes''; ''My Brother Frederico''; ''Chopin in Majorca''), Nugget Press, 1996 *''The Greek Plays'' (''Electra''; ''Punch and Judy''; ''Genesis''; ''Mme Sausolito''), Nugget Press 1996 *''3 Plays'' (Picasso by Max Jacob; Suzanne Valedon; Colette), Nugget Press, 1996 *''The Golden Years'', Nugget Press, 1997 *''Nagmaal'', Nugget Press, 1997 *''Bicycle Tales'', Nugget Press, 1997 *''Springtime at Raubenheimers'', Nugget Press, 1998 *''Women'', Nugget Press 2000 *''A Jew Takes A Look At Guatemala'', Nugget Press, 2000 *''The Idiot's Voice'', Cold Turkey Press 2012 *''Bone Hebrew'', Cold Turkey Press 2013

Personal life

Beiles had

bipolar disorder Bipolar disorder (BD), previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of Depression (mood), depression and periods of abnormally elevated Mood (psychology), mood that each last from days to weeks, and in ...

, then known as

manic depression Bipolar disorder (BD), previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of depression and periods of abnormally elevated mood that each last from days to weeks, and in some cases months. If the elevated m ...

and this informed his work. Beiles returned to South Africa in the 1970s and later married the poet, Marta Proctor.Sinclair Beiles Papers (1970 - 2011) (Mss Acc 143)
UNISA. 22 February 2012 The couple lived together in

Yeoville Yeoville is an inner city neighbourhood of Johannesburg, in the province of Gauteng, South Africa. It is located in Region F (previously Region 8). Originally intended as a "well-to-do" neighbourhood, it instead developed into a white working ...

, then a bohemian neighbourhood of artists, filmmakers and writers.The Rockey road to freedom: An oasis in the madness
''Mail & Guardian''. 24 December 2023Sinclair Beiles
Rhodes University. June 2007 He died in Johannesburg General Hospital on 3 November 2000 at the age of 70.The passing of a poet
''Mail & Guardian''. 10 November 2000 He was buried at West Park Cemetery on 7 November.

References

External links

*Beat Bits

*The Beat Hotel, Barry Miles, *Beat Hotel Tribute

*Beiles article at Empty Mirror- ¨Sinclair Beiles: A Man Apart¨

* Harold Chapman Beat Hotel photos

*James de Villiers & Gallery II

*Photo Of Gallery II

*Poetry Links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beiles, Sinclair 1930 births 2000 deaths South African male poets Beat Generation writers People from Kampala People from Johannesburg People with bipolar disorder 20th-century South African poets South African expatriates in France 20th-century South African male writers South African people of Russian-Jewish descent South African Jews Jewish poets University of the Witwatersrand alumni Burials at Westpark Cemetery