A surreal space age odyssey through the wounded galaxies, and the first book in Burroughs's ?cut-up trilogy", The Soft Machine begins an adventure that takes the reader into the dark recesses of Burroughs's imagination, a place where nothing is sacred, nothing is taboo. The Soft Machine is a verbal assault on hatred, hype, poverty, war, bureaucracy, and addiction in all its forms, and a surreal space odyssey through the wounded galaxies?a book that only Burroughs could create. This revised and rationalized edition, edited by renowned Burroughs scholar Oliver Harris, incorporates a new introduction and appendices, which make it the definitive edition of the text.
Industry Reviews
"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 "One of the most interesting pieces of radical fiction we have."--The Nation
"[Burroughs's] great fictions [show] his superb, hard-edged satirical visions of cancerous and addictive consumerism; his elegiac and poetic invocations of sadness and dislocation; his enormous fertility of ideas and imagery." --Will Self
"Out of the dirt, the excrement, the couplings, Burroughs makes a disgusting, exciting poetry."--Sunday Times
"The author, no longer raging in obscurity with his devils, has devised a technique, the Cut Up and Pemutation. . . . Burroughs writes, and cuts, and pastes, and adds, and recuts, repastes, rearranges by hazard."--The New York Times Book Review
"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 voicecomplex, subtle, allusivethat is the fine thing about "The Soft Machine" and about Burroughs. Joan Didion
One of the most interesting pieces of radical fiction we have. "The Nation"
[Burroughs s] great fictions [show] his superb, hard-edged satirical visions of cancerous and addictive consumerism; his elegiac and poetic invocations of sadness and dislocation; his enormous fertility of ideas and imagery. Will Self
Out of the dirt, the excrement, the couplings, Burroughs makes a disgusting, exciting poetry. "Sunday Times"
The author, no longer raging in obscurity with his devils, has devised a technique, the Cut Up and Pemutation. . . . Burroughs writes, and cuts, and pastes, and adds, and recuts, repastes, rearranges by hazard. "The New York Times Book Review"
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
"One of the most interesting pieces of radical fiction we have."--"The Nation"
"[Burroughs's] great fictions [show] his superb, hard-edged satirical visions of cancerous and addictive consumerism; his elegiac and poetic invocations of sadness and dislocation; his enormous fertility of ideas and imagery." --Will Self
"Out of the dirt, the excrement, the couplings, Burroughs makes a disgusting, exciting poetry."--"Sunday Times"
"The author, no longer raging in obscurity with his devils, has devised a technique, the Cut Up and Pemutation. . . . Burroughs writes, and cuts, and pastes, and adds, and recuts, repastes, rearranges by hazard."--"The New York Times Book Review"
"Burroughs is the greatest satirical writer since Jonathan Swift."--Jack Kerouac
