The Job: Interviews With William S. Burroughs [Paperback]

Daniel Odier (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1974

William Burroughs' work was dedicated to an assault upon language, traditional values and all agents of control. Produced at a time when he was at his most extreme and messianic, "The Job" lays out his abrasive, incisive, paranoiac, maddened and maddening worldview in interviews interspersed with stories and other writing. On the Beat movement, the importance of the cut-up technique, the press, Scientology, capital punishment, drugs, good and evil, the destruction of nations, Deadly Orgone Radiation and whether violence just in words is violence enough - Burroughs' insights show why he was one of the most influential writers and one of the sharpest, most startling and strangest minds of his generation.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

William S. Burroughs was born on February 5, 1914 in St Louis. In work and in life Burroughs expressed a lifelong subversion of the morality, politics and economics of modern America. To escape those conditions, and in particular his treatment as a homosexual and a drug-user, Burroughs left his homeland in 1950, and soon after began writing. By the time of his death he was widely recognised as one of the most politically trenchant, culturally influential, and innovative artists of the twentieth century. His numerous books include Naked Lunch, Junky, Queer, Nova Express, Interzone, The Wild Boys, The Ticket That Exploded and The Soft Machine. After living in Mexico City, Tangier, Paris, and London, Burroughs finally returned to America in 1974. He died in 1997. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Grove Pr (December 1974)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 039417870X
• ISBN-13: 978-0394178707
• Product Dimensions: 1.2 x 1.2 x 0.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,783,827 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Burroughs proves that paranoia is intelligent, February 25, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Job: Interviews with William S. Burroughs (Paperback)

I read somewhere that intelligence is the ability to make connections that others don't see. By that definition, and probably by any other, Burroughs is a philosophical and literary genius. Who else could make the connection between Mayan ritual calendars and the totalian nature of modern nation-states? Who else gives detailed explanations of his proven methods for dissembling reality?? For sheer brilliance and brutal truth about modern society, only Foucault approaches Burroughs. But Foucault never went to hell and came back to write about it.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Disquietingly prescient and funny, February 27, 2001

By 

Mac Tonnies (Kansas City, MO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Job: Interviews with William S. Burroughs (Paperback)

"The Job" is a fantastic introduction to the obsessions and maverick idealism that characterize Burroughs' fiction. This is not a straight question-and-answer session; Burroughs includes liberal samples of text (his own as well as others') to illustrate his ideas. The final product is an effective, surreal manifesto urging all of us to break out of our private tunnel realities and confront social control systems with open, empowered minds. Especially fascinating are Burroughs' thoughts on language and his prescient examination of media-viruses.

"The Job" is often brutal, always controversial, and possessed by the author's inimitable knack for nailing his target. This is an unforgettable plunge into one of the 20th century's foremost countercultural intellects.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Confused about WSB? READ THIS BOOK!!!, December 20, 1997

By 

[e-mail] (Evanston, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Job: Interviews with William S. Burroughs (Paperback)

An excellent compendium of Bill Burrough's interests and obsessions. Mostly focusing on the totalitarian nature of nation-states, The Job gives you all at once Burroughs being interviewed, Burroughs straight prose and Burroughs gobbledygook. He also explains--clearly--why his books are written the way they are. I don't know if I've ever learned so much--or at the very least had so many of my perceptions radically altered--from such a thin tome. Highly recommended.