The Soft Machine, William S. Burroughs
The Soft Machine, William S. Burroughs
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The Soft Machine
The Restored Text

Author: William S. Burroughs, Oliver Harris

Narrator: Ramiz Monsef

Unabridged: 6 hr 18 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/10/2016

Synopsis

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.

About William S. Burroughs

William S. Burroughs (1914–1997) was an American author, painter, and spoken-word performer who has had a wide-ranging influence on American culture. Jack Kerouac called him the “greatest satirical writer since Jonathan Swift.” Norman Mailer declared him “the only American writer who may be conceivably possessed by genius.” A postmodernist and a key figure of the beat generation, he focused his art on a relentless subversion of the moral, political, and economic conventions of modern American society, as reflected in his often darkly humorous and sardonic satire. He wrote eighteen novels and novellas, six short-story collections, and four collections of essays. No fewer than five books of his interviews and correspondence have been published. He also collaborated on projects and recordings with numerous performers and musicians and made many appearances in films. He was elected to the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters in 1983 and in the following year was appointed to the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government.

About Oliver Harris

Oliver Harris, a British academic and professor of American literature at Keele University in Staffordshire, England, is the author and editor of numerous books, including works by William S. Burroughs and two series, the D. C. Belsey and the Elliot Kane mysteries.

About Ramiz Monsef

Ramiz Monsef has spent several seasons as a member of Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s acting company, and he is the playwright of OSF’s 2013 production The Unfortunates. He has also appeared onstage in New York and in numerous regional productions.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Vit on March 01, 2020

The Soft Machine is like a travelogue concocted by a perverted and drugged space traveler… I had this special Green Boy I was making it with who knew the ropes you might say and he told me we have to tune the heat wave out with music – So we get all the Indians and all the Green Boys with drums and f......more

Goodreads review by David on August 06, 2015

I've seen a lot of comments about how this book of experimental fiction is "unreadable", which I did not find to be the case at all. In fact I enjoyed reading it immensely - the repetition of the cut-up material gives it a sort of surreal hypnotic quality. The writing is occasionally straight up bri......more

Goodreads review by Tosh on April 16, 2008

The one book by Burroughs that separates the fans from the curious. The curious usually think 'no, I am not going there.' Relentless sexual assault mixed with very experimental writing makes this book... Charming! I love Burroughs' voice. I also think he's one of the great satire writers of all time......more

Goodreads review by João on April 15, 2019

Pure dissonance, attrition and aggression over the Mayan battleships that distillate phosphorescent obsidians into rains of junk. It ends with a dose of apomorphine though.......more

Goodreads review by francesca on June 29, 2007

This book forever burned the words "rectal mucus" into my psyche. Carbolic acid and rectal mucus. Thanks BB!......more

Quotes

“Burroughs is the greatest satirical writer since Jonathan Swift.” Jack Kerouac

“The voice in The Soft Machine is talking about time…[It] slips deliberately and frequently, sometimes ironically and sometimes not…rattles off elliptical allusions, throws away joke after outrageous joke, shifts gear in mid-sentence, never falters. It is precisely this voice—complex, subtle, allusive—that is the fine thing about The Soft Machine and about Burroughs.” Joan Didion, New York Times bestselling author

“One of the most interesting pieces of radical fiction we have.” Nation

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