Burroughs, William S.

Dead Fingers Talk: The Restored Text

Surrey, UK: Calder Publications / Alma Books, 2020. First Edition Thus. Softcover. “First published in 1963 and representing Burroughs’ literary breakthrough in the UK, Dead Fingers Talk is, in the words of Burroughs scholar Oliver Harris, ‘a prophetic work of haunting power,’ a unique experiment in writing that has for too long been overlooked. Combining new material with rearranged selections from Naked Lunch and his cut-up novels The Soft Machine and The Ticket That Exploded, this newly restored edition of Dead Fingers Talk will delight all Burroughsians; offering new insight into the artistic process of one of the most original and influential writers of the twentieth century” (Abridged Qtn. from Front Cover flap). Dead Fingers Talk is, as the above-quoted blurb copy suggests, frequently overlooked, — a comparative afterthought in the Burroughs oeuvre. For the great sin of having published it, John Calder was lambasted from all sides — critically drawn-&-quartered by a snooty Establishment, and ungrateful Counterculture. As our dear friend-&-colleague at the European Beat Studies Network (ebsn.eu), Oliver Harris notes in his introduction, “In a hilarious preview for ‘Books and Bookmen’ in March 1963, Calder was dubbed a ‘creep’ who had ‘seduced’ Burroughs into Dead Fingers Talk, turning the hip Beat writer into a ‘square’ who had ‘capitulated’ by letting the publisher assemble ‘those bits he thought the delicate English might be allowed to read.’ Compromised, sanitized, cynically cut, the book could only be much less than the sum of its parts. Nowadays, nobody wants fat-free slices of a vegan Naked Lunch: if you’re going to read Burroughs, you want the whole blood-soaked tamale.” The general atmosphere of dissatisfaction permeates more than the work as assembled, however, as Burroughs himself learned firsthand. Despite assignations to the contrary (e.g., that it is “the coolest first edition hardcover”), the cover design of Dead Fingers Talk is a creation of WSB’s intimate friend-&-key associate, Ian Somerville (1940-1976), who was equally angered by the production, writing to Burroughs that it was a botch job and nearly demanding it be altered forthwith. What is lost in all of this is that it’s actually a great book—and this Merciless Contrarian, for one considers it a favorite. I prefer framing what some claim its ‘watered down’ nature alternately; rethinking it as “Exposure Therapy for Prospective Burroughsians”; a sort of programmatic initiation to horrors elsewhere housed—as Boot Camp, if you will. The fact remains, however that it still serves a purpose outside of this one; it is also just a fun read, — and not a single reader of Burroughs should be devalued for indulging. Buy it and see for yourself! [ISBN: 978-0-7145-5001-5]. Trade-format softcover in stiff-wrappers: the First Edition (of the Restored Text) as published in 2020 by Alma Books. In very fine condition, essentially as new with only slightest shelf-wear to fine-edges & corners of front & back covers, else pristine. Very Fine. [Item #5552]

Price: $30.00 save 10% $27.00