#nova express

"Nova Expert Hits Town"

It's going to be a fun one lads

[Nova Express. William Burroughs [aka William S. Burroughs]. 1968. Panther Science Fiction, Granada Publishing Limited, reprinted 1969, 1972. paperback. 157 pages. First published in Great Britain by Jonathan Cape Limited 1966. (c) William Burroughs 1964]

If new to William Burroughs, prepare to be faced with

Mrs. J. L. Bradshinkel, thrown out of bed by the explosion, sat up screaming: “I’m going right back to The Sheraton Carlton Hotel and call the Milwaukee Braves” -

preceded by

“Sew her up,” he ordered - “I can’t be expected to work under such conditions” - He swept up instruments cocaine and morphine into his satchel an tilted out of The Operating Room -

and followed by

Two Philippine maids hoisted her up - “Fetch my wig, Zalameda,” she ordered. “I’m going straight to the captain - “ [p 106]

In a Foreword Note William Burroughs explains about a part of Nova Express, and the book in general

The section called “This Horrible Case” was written in collaboration with Mr. Ian Sommerville, a mathematician—Mr. Sommerville also contributed the technical notes in the section called “Chinese Laundry”—An extension of Brion Gysin’s cut-up method which I call the fold-in method has been used in this book which is consequently a composite of many writers living and dead. [Foreword Note]

Tackling a William Burroughs novel may call for stamina unless the boot camp preparation course included intensive reading of James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake and - if adventurous - Ulysses.

Also helpful may be a quick flirtation with Andy Warhol and anyone at his great creation The Factory. And a quick skim through Anthony Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange. Also Smallcreep's Day by Peter Currell Brown, though that does contain a trace of plot.

Nova Express is one of The Nova Trilogy written between 1961-1967 [The Soft Machine, The Ticket That Exploded, Nova Express]. It’s perhaps not possible to provide a summary (some have tried) and in any case that would spoil the fun. It’s often called science fiction and it probably takes place in space. That’s more or less all it’s safe to say other than that topics included cover a wide range, and there is a quote in it from The Trial by Franz Kafka. It’s easiest (stretching the word ‘easy’) just to read it :

The knife fell - The Clerk in the bunk next to his bled blue silence - Put on a clean shirt and Martin’s pants - telling stories and exchanging smiles - dusty motors - The crop and fish talk muttering American dawn words - Sad rooming house - Picture wan light on suburban ponds and brown hair - Grey photo pools and springs over brass bed - Stale morning streets - sifting clouds and sky on my face - crosscrossed with city houses - [p 111]

or rather not to read it, at least not sitting down and silently. It’s much easier to stand up (when there’s no-one else there) and speak it aloud. When the words are spoken, suddenly it can become poetry.

And perhaps - (though no-one will ever know)  - that’s what William Burroughs intended.

[Cover © Panther Science Fiction 1968, 1969, 1972. Portrait of William S Burroughs © photographer]

John Park

Words Across Time

23 September 2021