The Soft Machine
Encyclopedia
The Soft Machine is a novel
by William S. Burroughs
, first published in 1961, two years after his groundbreaking Naked Lunch
. It was originally composed using the cut-up and fold-in techniques
from manuscripts belonging to The Word Hoard
. It is part of The Nova Trilogy
.
, and the main theme of the book (as explicitly written in an appendix) concerns how control mechanisms invade the body.
The book is written in a style close to that of Naked Lunch, though now using the cut-up method.
After the main material follow three appendices, the first explaining the title (as mentioned above) and two accounts of Burroughs' own drug abuse and treatment using apomorphine
. Here Burroughs clearly states that he considers drug abuse a metabolic disease and writes about how he finally escaped it.
machine and takes on a gang of Mayan
priests who use the Mayan calendar
to control the minds of slave laborers used for planting maize
. The calendar images are written in books and placed on a magnetic tape and transmitted as sounds to control the slaves. The agent manages to infiltrate the slaves and replace the magnetic tape with a totally different message: "burn the books, kill the priests" which cause the downfall of their regime.
Burroughs himself was very displeased with the first edition and this was the main reason for rewriting it so thoroughly: in 1961 he wrote to his friend Allen Ginsberg
that he rewrote it extensively while he was working on Dead Fingers Talk
, mostly because he was displeased with bad cut-ups and introduced linear material to replace it.
". British progressive rock
band Soft Machine
took their name from the novel.
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
by William S. Burroughs
William S. Burroughs
William Seward Burroughs II was an American novelist, poet, essayist and spoken word performer. A primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodernist author, he is considered to be "one of the most politically trenchant, culturally influential, and innovative artists of the 20th...
, first published in 1961, two years after his groundbreaking Naked Lunch
Naked Lunch
Naked Lunch is a novel by William S. Burroughs originally published in 1959. The book is structured as a series of loosely-connected vignettes. Burroughs stated that the chapters are intended to be read in any order...
. It was originally composed using the cut-up and fold-in techniques
Cut-up technique
The cut-up technique is an aleatory literary technique in which a text is cut up and rearranged to create a new text. Most commonly, cut-ups are used to offer a non-linear alternative to traditional reading and writing....
from manuscripts belonging to The Word Hoard
The Word Hoard
The Word Hoard also known as the trunk manuscripts was a large body of text produced by author William S. Burroughs between roughly 1953 and 1958...
. It is part of The Nova Trilogy
The Nova Trilogy
The Nova Trilogy, The Nova Epic or The Cut-up Trilogy is a name commonly given by critics to a series of three experimental prose novels by William S. Burroughs...
.
Title and structure
The title The Soft Machine is a name for the human bodyHuman anatomy
Human anatomy is primarily the scientific study of the morphology of the human body. Anatomy is subdivided into gross anatomy and microscopic anatomy. Gross anatomy is the study of anatomical structures that can be seen by the naked eye...
, and the main theme of the book (as explicitly written in an appendix) concerns how control mechanisms invade the body.
The book is written in a style close to that of Naked Lunch, though now using the cut-up method.
After the main material follow three appendices, the first explaining the title (as mentioned above) and two accounts of Burroughs' own drug abuse and treatment using apomorphine
Apomorphine
Apomorphine is a non-selective dopamine agonist which activates both D1-like and D2-like receptors, with some preference for the latter subtypes. It is historically a morphine decomposition product by boiling with concentrated acid, hence the -morphine suffix...
. Here Burroughs clearly states that he considers drug abuse a metabolic disease and writes about how he finally escaped it.
Plot summary
The main plot appears in linear prose in chapter VII, The Mayan Caper. This chapter portrays a secret agent who has the ability to change bodies or metamorphose his own body using "U.T." (undifferentiated tissue). As such an agent he makes a time travelTime travel
Time travel is the concept of moving between different points in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space. Time travel could hypothetically involve moving backward in time to a moment earlier than the starting point, or forward to the future of that point without the...
machine and takes on a gang of Mayan
Maya civilization
The Maya is a Mesoamerican civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as for its art, architecture, and mathematical and astronomical systems. Initially established during the Pre-Classic period The Maya is a Mesoamerican...
priests who use the Mayan calendar
Maya calendar
The Maya calendar is a system of calendars and almanacs used in the Maya civilization of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, and in many modern Maya communities in highland Guatemala. and in Chiapas....
to control the minds of slave laborers used for planting maize
Maize
Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
. The calendar images are written in books and placed on a magnetic tape and transmitted as sounds to control the slaves. The agent manages to infiltrate the slaves and replace the magnetic tape with a totally different message: "burn the books, kill the priests" which cause the downfall of their regime.
Characters
The characters of The Soft Machine fall into three categories:- Characters from the previous novel Naked Lunch: Dr Benway, Clem Snide, Sailor, Bill Gains, and Kiki.
- Characters associated with the Nova Trilogy:
- The Nova Mob: Mr Bradley Mr Martin, Johnny Yen, Sammy The Butcher, Green Tony, Izzy the Push
- The Nova Police: Inspector Lee, Hassan i Sabbah, agent K9, The Subliminal Kid, Technical Tilly
- Characters recycled from the work of other authors:
- Jimmy Sheffields from the novel Fury by Henry KuttnerHenry KuttnerHenry Kuttner was an American author of science fiction, fantasy and horror.-Early life:Henry Kuttner was born in Los Angeles, California in 1915...
- Salt Chunk Mary from the novel You Can't Win by Jack BlackJack Black (author)Jack Black, born 1871 in Vancouver but raised from infancy in Missouri, was a late 19th century/early 20th century hobo and professional burglar, living out the dying age of the Wild West. He wrote You Can't Win a memoir or sketched autobiography describing his days on the road and life as an...
- Danny Deaver from poem with the same title by Rudyard KiplingRudyard KiplingJoseph Rudyard Kipling was an English poet, short-story writer, and novelist chiefly remembered for his celebration of British imperialism, tales and poems of British soldiers in India, and his tales for children. Kipling received the 1907 Nobel Prize for Literature...
- Billy Budd and Captain Verre comes from the short-story Billy Budd by Herman MelvilleHerman MelvilleHerman Melville was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet. He is best known for his novel Moby-Dick and the posthumous novella Billy Budd....
- Jimmy Sheffields from the novel Fury by Henry Kuttner
Editions
The Soft Machine has been printed in no fewer than three different editions, each time revised by the author.- The first edition was printed by Olympia PressOlympia PressOlympia Press was a Paris-based publisher, launched in 1953 by Maurice Girodias as a rebranded version of the Obelisk Press he inherited from his father Jack Kahane...
in Paris, in 1961, as number 88 in the Traveller Companion Series and featured 182 pages arranged in 50 chapters of about 8 pages each. This edition was colour coded into four different chunks and very fragmented. - The second edition was printed by Grove PressGrove PressGrove Press is an American publishing imprint that was founded in 1951. Imprints include: Black Cat, Evergreen, Venus Library, Zebra. Barney Rosset purchased the company in 1951 and turned it into an alternative book press in the United States. The Atlantic Monthly Press, under the aegis of its...
in the United States, in 1966. In this edition, Burroughs removed 82 pages and inserted 82 new pages, and the remaining 100 pages were rearranged and restructured using further cut-upsCut-up techniqueThe cut-up technique is an aleatory literary technique in which a text is cut up and rearranged to create a new text. Most commonly, cut-ups are used to offer a non-linear alternative to traditional reading and writing....
. Much of the added material was linear, narrative prose, which is arguably easier to read than the disorganized first edition. Many chapters were renamed and rearranged in this edition, and the colour code from the first edition was removed. - The third edition was printed by John CalderJohn CalderJohn Mackenzie Calder is a Canadian and Scottish publisher who founded Calder Publishing in 1949.-Biography:John Calder was a friend of Samuel Beckett, becoming the main publisher of his prose-texts in Britain after the success of Waiting for Godot on the London stage in 1955-56...
in Great Britain, 1968. This time most chapter titles were intact from the second edition, but began at more natural places in the text, whereas the second edition could place them in the middle of a sentence. The chapter 1920ies War Movies was renamed The Streets of Chance. Twenty pages of new material had been added, plus circa 8 pages from the first edition which had been removed in the second edition. About 5 pages of material which was present in both the first and second edition was removed. This edition also included an "AppendixAddendumAn addendum, in general, is an addition required to be made to a document by its reader subsequent to its printing or publication. It comes from the Latin verbal phrase addendum est, being the gerundive form of the verb addo, addere, addidi, additum, "to give to, add to", meaning " must be added"...
" and "Afterword".
Burroughs himself was very displeased with the first edition and this was the main reason for rewriting it so thoroughly: in 1961 he wrote to his friend Allen Ginsberg
Allen Ginsberg
Irwin Allen Ginsberg was an American poet and one of the leading figures of the Beat Generation in the 1950s. He vigorously opposed militarism, materialism and sexual repression...
that he rewrote it extensively while he was working on Dead Fingers Talk
Dead Fingers Talk
Dead Fingers Talk, first published in 1963, was the fifth novel published by Beat Generation author William S. Burroughs. The book was originally published by Olympia Press....
, mostly because he was displeased with bad cut-ups and introduced linear material to replace it.
Cultural references
The novel coined the musical term "heavy metalHeavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
". British progressive rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
band Soft Machine
Soft Machine
Soft Machine were an English rock band from Canterbury, named after the book The Soft Machine by William S. Burroughs. They were one of the central bands in the Canterbury scene, and helped pioneer the progressive rock genre...
took their name from the novel.