Burroughs, William S.

The Soft Machine

ISBN: 0714507326
London England: Calder & Boyars LTD, 1968. First UK Softcover Edition Thus. Softcover. “I was working the hole with the Sailor and we did not bad fifteen cents on average night boosting the afternoons and short timing the dawn we made out from the land of the free for another cup of coffee…in Joe’s Lunch Room drinking coffee with a napkin under the cup which is said to be the mark of someone who does a lot of sitting in cafeterias and lunch rooms…waiting on the Man… ‘What can we do?’ Nick said to me once in his dead junky whisper ‘They know we’ll wait…’ Yes, they know we’ll wait…There is a boy sitting at the counter thin-faced kid his eyes all pupil…I see he is hooked and sick familiar face maybe from the pool hall where I scored for tea sometime somewhere in grey strata of subways all night cafeterias rooming house flesh. His eyes flickered the question. I nodded toward my booth. He carried his coffee over and sat down opposite me.”--William S. Burroughs, The Soft Machine, pg. 5. The first masterpiece in the cut-up trilogy by William S. Burroughs (1914-1997), Founding Father of the Beat Generation-&-Beyond, among the Greatest & most influential literary & cultural figures of all time, the very Patron-Icon of our enterprise. First published in 1961, The Soft Machine has been issued in altogether no less than four versions, culminating with The Restored Text of 2014 edited & with a super-scholarly Introduction by Dr. Oliver Harris, the foremost Burroughsian authority & our mentor-colleague at the European Beat Studies Network (ebsn.eu). Offered today is the 1968 first UK softcover edition of The Soft Machine published by Calder & Boyars LTD. The first in the Cut-Ups Trilogy, The Soft Machine “cuts up" the narrative of addiction to subvert the shared symbolic and cultural codes of communal structures, notably the manipulative and coercive power of language. Cut-up narrative denies even the possibility of shared meanings. The novel's main theme is how to subvert the invading control mechanisms by annihilating the shared common language. Per the back of this edition: “In this novel, the immediate successor to The Naked Lunch, Mr Burroughs’ principal preoccupations are still the juxtaposition of good and evil, of human passion and sensuality and the power of the machine, the struggle of conflicting forces to control the human environment, and the awareness that nightmares have their counterpoints in real life. But here the use of the author’s now famous fold-in technique has developed into a complex new style which combines fact, fantasy and experience on many levels into one constant stream of prose which brings together human and mechanical elements to form a new reality, one might almost say a new world, which has hitherto only existed in the depths of the human subconscious.” Then speaking to this edition specifically, continues: “The first version of The Soft Machine was published in Paris in 1961 and rapidly established itself as one of the key books of post-war literature. This final, definitive version, which has been considerably revised by the author, exhibits a technical mastery, a courage with experimentation and a scientific eye for new literary research that is unparalleled in modern writing.” With all points in Maynard & Miles, A5e, pg. 28; Schottlander (new 5.0 edition!), A5d, pg. 5; and Shoaf, 5e, pg. 26. An incredibly rare and interesting first edition of one of WSB’s masterworks! From the collection of Richard Cupidi (b. 1945), our esteemed mate in the UK who managed the fabled Unicorn Bookshop in Brighton, England with Bill Butler (1934-1977, the famed American-expatriate bookseller & publisher). From the late 1960s through the early 1970s, Unicorn proffered & published many outstanding productions by WSB, J.G. Ballard et al., some of which have become the scarcest, all-but-unobtainable Beat-&-Beyond collectibles (see an example with our item no. 8217). After prevailing against censorious harassment efforts, Unicorn closed & Butler died in short order. Cupidi went on to found the Public House Bookshop in Brighton, which had a long & successful run but is also now closed, & he still resides there. We have been honored to obtain what Cupidi has termed "The Last Hurrah," all the remaining treasures of Unicorn & Public House, some of which have become the stuff of myth. First UK softcover edition thus. In relatively fine condition with moderate wear to fine edges, slight smudging/scratching to front and back covers, and light discoloration due to age-toning. Interior very fine with virtually no perceptible wear. Very Fine. [Item #8302]

Price: $60.00