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    William Burroughs’s The Electronic Revolution: The Evolution of the Cut-Up Technique as a Political Weapon


    Carmody, Alan (2018) William Burroughs’s The Electronic Revolution: The Evolution of the Cut-Up Technique as a Political Weapon. NPPSH Reflections, 2. pp. 65-79. ISSN 2565-6031

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    Abstract

    In a letter to Allen Ginsberg sent in 1955, William Burroughs claims that his novel Naked Lunch sketches ‘the sick soul, sick unto death, of the atomic age’ (Burroughs, 1994b, 255). In response to the discontent of the ‘atomic age’ Burroughs forges his own aesthetic arsenal that he will later claim supersedes the power of nuclear weapons. By using literature as a means to ‘change fact’ (Burroughs, 2010, 55), alter consciousness and ‘make things happen’ (Burroughs, 1994a, 32), Burroughs will, in 1970, come to realise techniques for attacking political opponents, creating ‘fake news’ and altering the course of the Cold War (Burroughs, 2005, 17). William Burroughs moves from forging aesthetic techniques aimed at carving out a niche for authentic subjectivity in the modern age to suggesting guerrilla methods for mass media control.

    Item Type: Article
    Keywords: NPPSH; William Burroughs; The Electronic Revolution; The Evolution; Cut-Up Technique; Political Weapon;
    Academic Unit: Faculty of Arts,Celtic Studies and Philosophy > Research Institutes > An Foras Feasa
    Item ID: 10828
    Depositing User: NPPSH Editor
    Date Deposited: 05 Jun 2019 14:20
    Journal or Publication Title: NPPSH Reflections
    Publisher: Maynooth Academic Publishing
    Refereed: Yes
    URI:
      Use Licence: This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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