Customer Reviews

Interzone (Picador Books)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Burroughs has incredible insight and an unmatched knack for spotting a con. This book contains an invaluable collection of short stories and journal rants that really showcase an emerging writer exploding with ideas in the transient surroundings of Tangier, which he describes as "the listening post of the world":

"Here East meets West in a final debacle of misunderstanding, each seeking the Answer, the Secret, from the other and not finding it, because neither has the Answer to give".

You hear firsthand his ideas and theories on writing so this is probably the best introduction to William Burroughs, as you prepare with the artist himself, stranded in interzone, for the arrival of a much more fragmented and explosive Naked Lunch.

Before digesting the bulk of Burroughs' voluminous literary output, any reader so interested in Burroughs' work should read "Interzone." This text chronicles Burroughs' progressive literary development and encompasses virtually all of Burroughs' many and complex themes, character types, locales, etc. Much like his electric and mystifying prose, "Interzone" is a collection of abstract and provocative "primers" that will leave the reader hungry for Burroughs' more involved works. A great "jumping off" point

A novel of dangerous ideas, Interzone is literature at its subversive best. Like with all Burroughs' fictions, you'll never think about things the same after this.

This book is an assembling of previously unreleased short stories and essay from Burroughs between the time where he wrote Queer and Naked Lunch. The book countains The Junky Christmas and other stories ending on Word a text where the writer transforms in the radical seer of Naked Lunch. The book countains elements of writing that bad been assembled in Naked Lunch in the cut-up method. This book is enjoyable by the fact that it countains thirteen differents stories and that those essay had been unpublished with wonderful introduction by Oliver Harris giving the exact sense of the feeling of those writtings. Burroughs is always unpredictable going from stories of Tnager to crude hardcore violence and crude metaphors that complete the huge writing og one of the most important American writer of the 60's.

I know Burroughs's work. This book has one piece called 'Word' that you should read AFTER reading his experimental work.

I think his true value as an American writer lay in his experimental work, and his strong influence on the Beats. Interzone lets you see the growth of his experimental approach.

Burroughs was a fearless writer who inspired many. His subject matter and experimental technique were both significant literary developments for American Literature. This book gives insight into his earliest attempts at developing something truly novel.

The piece called 'Word' is culmination of his efforts where his unique style and approach first become apparent.

Read it after the Naked Lunch and/or The Nova Express. Once you understand that his work is not actually just total incoherent Dada, you may like to read Interzone.

Besides, even if his experimental works are totally incomprehensible due to their fragmentary, and syntactically bizarre style, his experimental works seem to teach one about how we create meaning. And they still contain all the significant and serious subjects expected of literature. In addition, thanks to the internet and non-hierarchical hyper linked documents, his technique is not so incoherent after all.

One last point about his value as a writer: he studied his own mind and behavior with some detachment. True some of his actions are moral issues for some, but he has value in that he did not try to cover up who he was and what he did, nor did he try to white wash, and avoid topics he thought others may not want to read about. This is an important quality for a great writer to exercise.

SMTECH

I think if you want to start out reading Burroughs, the best place to start out is here. In my opinion, Burroughs wrote better short stories than novels. Recommendations are Sapre A** Annie (that's only the please the censors), Twilight's Last Gleamings, A Junky's Christmas and Word. Overall an excellent documentation of the twisted mind of one of the most celebreated authors of the last century.

I must not be cool or smart (or high) enough. I tried hard to like this book but just couldn't follow it. I get that he is deconstructing language and all that but... Meh.

Burroughs takes the essence of Naked Lunch, and this time divivdes it into somewhat a short-story form. The way Burroughs mashes a million different idea into one sentence really makes you feel like you are in the mind of a junkie.

There are several brilliantly subversive ideas here, but this book suffers from two things that make Burroughs' writing in general frustrating:

The first is lack of coherence. If Burroughs had had the discipline to take an idea like he introduced in the "assassinating the holy man" piece and turn it into a full blown novel his observations might have reached a larger audience. I understand the argument that Burroughs was creating a new impressionistic writing style where the logic of time and continuity is upended to make some transcendent statement, but I don't buy it. To me, this is rationalizing a wilful failure to connect; and I suspect it reveals a strong tendency to indolence and/or self-sabotage.

The second frustration I have with this book is Burroughs' insistence on long sexual and scatological rants. Now I realize he may have been desperately horny, and writing these sections may have felt enormously liberating; but reading them is decidedly uninteresting. I love crude humour. Jokes combining religion and profanity are my particular favourite; but while this technique can be used effectively to subvert stale attitudes, the sex and filth in "Word" serve no such purpose. It can't even be appreciated as "Caligula" where I remember basking in the lustful heat as over half the audience walked out during the first extended sex scene. "Caligula" was genuinely erotic, and this blended well with the story of Roman power and madness. In "Word" one feels stuck in a dirty old man's wet dream of phoney-homosexuality-as-a-panic-reaction-to-a-deep-seated-fear-of-vaginas. Maybe being gay is necessary to enjoy this, but these sections feel contrived to me.

People are so charmed by Burroughs and his intelligence (the man could certainly write a mean routine) that they forgive his lack of discipline too easily. Reviewers say that "Word" marked an important stylistic transition, and that it is purposefully offensive. Well, this all may be true, but what does it mean as far as enjoying the book as literature? I really believe I could produce the same effect by smoking a lot of pot and writing the most disgusting things imaginable. I surely wouldn't expect anyone to respond positively to such a product.