Sinclair Beiles (b. Kampala, Uganda, 1930 - 2000, Johannesburg) was a South African beat poet and editor for Maurice Girodias at the Olympia Press in Paris. He developed along with William S. Burroughs and

Brion Gysin Brion Gysin (19 January 1916 – 13 July 1986) was a British-Canadian painter, writer, sound poet, performance artist and inventor of experimental devices. He is best known for his use of the cut-up technique, alongside his close friend, the ...

the

cut-up technique The cut-up technique (or ''découpé'' in French) is an aleatory literary technique in which a written text is cut up and rearranged to create a new text. The concept can be traced to the Dadaists of the 1920s, but it was developed and popularized ...

of writing poetry and literature. Beiles was involved with American beat poets Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso and Brion Gysin, and Burroughs at the legendary

Beat Hotel The Beat Hotel was a small, run-down hotel of 42 rooms at 9 Rue Gît-le-Cœur in the Latin Quarter of Paris, notable chiefly as a residence for members of the Beat poetry movement of the mid-20th century. Overview It was a "class 13" hotel, mean ...

in Paris. The photographer

Harold Chapman Harold Stephen Chapman (26 March 1927 – 19 August 2022) was a British photographer noted for chronicling the 1950s in Paris. Biography Chapman was born in Deal, Kent on 26 March 1927. He produced a large body of work over many years, with ...

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''. 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 * T ...

and read his magnetic manifesto -- "I am a sculpture... I would like to see all nuclear bombs on Earth turned into sculptures"—in 1962 in Paris at the Iris Clert Gallery. 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. He was married to the South African poet and artist Marta Proctor. 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 and lived in the central and artistic district of Yeoville. He and the South African columnist and 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 Gary Cummiskey (born 1963) is a South African poet and publisher. Life Cummiskey was born in England and moved to South Africa in 1969 with his family for a few years and he returned in 1983 as an adult. He is the founder and editor of Dye Hard ...

and Eva Kowalska.

Works by Sinclair Beiles

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

External links

*Beat Bits

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

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

*

Beat Hotel photos

*James de Villiers & Gallery II

*Photo Of Gallery II

*Poetry Links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beiles, Sinclair 1930 births 2002 deaths South African male poets Beat Generation writers People from Kampala People from Johannesburg 20th-century South African poets South African expatriates in France 20th-century South African male writers