The Soft Machine (1961)

by William S. Burroughs

Other authors: See the other authors section.

Series: The Nova Trilogy (book 1)

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1,198	11	10,078	(3.39)	18

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Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs (alexjparton)

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Showing 1-5 of 11 (next | show all)

Randomness personified. (

)

encephalical | Dec 17, 2017 |

Not an easy read, but worth persevering if you can take it! (

)

NaggedMan | Aug 22, 2016 |

Hard work. (

)

ColinThompson | Oct 18, 2015 |

Lo leì a los catorce y no entendì un carajo .
Tendrè que leerlo nuevamente .

LaMala | Jun 7, 2015 |

I won't lie--I don't always understand Burroughs. However, I don't think understanding is always the point with his work. In fact, in this novel I think the entire point is to break and rebreak the reader's expectation of narrative again and again as an extension of the battle cry of the characters. Narratives lead to control lead to systems of control lead to systematic narrative systems of control. If we have any hope of solving and beating the Mayan Caper, giving up our need for narrative is the only hope. For that thought, and the twisting of the term "heavy metal" to mean something outside of metallurgy alone, this novel is a must read...encounter...experience... (

)

JWarren42 | Oct 10, 2013 |

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Author name	Role	Type of author	Work?	Status
William S. Burroughs	—	primary author	all editions	calculated
Harris, Oliver	Editor	secondary author	some editions	confirmed

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Is contained in

Three Novels: The Soft Machine, Nova Express, the Wild Boys by William S. Burroughs

La Machine molle - Le Ticket qui explosa - Nova Express by William S. Burroughs

The Wild Boys; The Soft Machine by William S. Burroughs

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Series (with order)

The Nova Trilogy (book 1)

Canonical title

The Soft Machine

Original title

The Soft Machine

Alternative titles

Original publication date

1961

People/Characters

Dr. Benway

Important places

Important events

Related movies

Awards and honors

Larry McCaffery's 20th Century Greatest Hits (8.1)

Epigraph

Dedication

First words

I was working the hole with the Sailor and we did not bad fifteen cents on average night boosting the afternoons and short timing the dawn we made out from the land of the free but I was running out of veins . . .

Quotations

Last words

(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

Disambiguation notice

Publisher's editors

Blurbers

Self, Will

Didion, Joan

Publisher series

Traveller's Companion Series (88)

Grove Press Evergreen

Original language

Canonical DDC/MDS

▾References

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Wikipedia in English (1)

William S. Burroughs bibliography

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Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0802133290, Paperback)

In Naked Lunch, William S. Burroughs revealed his genius. In The Soft Machine he begins an adventure that will take us even further into the dark recesses of his imagination, a region where nothing is sacred, nothing taboo. Continuing his ferocious verbal assault on hatred, hype, poverty, war, bureaucracy, and addiction in all its forms, Burroughs gives us a surreal space odyssey through the wounded galaxies in a book only he could create.

(retrieved from Amazon Thu, 12 Mar 2015 18:03:56 -0400)

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▾Library descriptions

In The Soft Machine, William S. Burroughs begins an adventure that will take us into the dark recesses of his imagination, a region where nothing is sacred, nothing taboo. Continuing his ferocious verbal assault on hatred, hype, poverty, war, bureaucracy, and addiction in all its forms, Burroughs gives us a surreal space odyssey through the wounded galaxies in a book only he could create.A total assault on the powers that turn humans into machines by writing and fixing our life scripts, Burroughs' original "cut-up" book was itself rewritten in three different forms. This new edition of The Soft Machine clarifies for the first time the extraordinary history of its writing and rewriting, demolishes the myths of his chance-based writing methods, and demonstrates for a new generation the significance of Burroughs' greatest experiment.… (more)