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 John Calder in association with Olympia Press.
The book combines sections from Burroughs' earlier novels, Naked Lunch, The Soft Machine and The Ticket That Exploded, in an attempt to create a new narrative. It is sometimes referred to as a compilation, but this is technically incorrect. Its plot cannot be easily described, although it can be said to focus upon conspiracy and the hero getting away from the police. Although the publisher claimed that it contained previously unpublished material, this was not identified until the Restored edition of 2020, edited by Burroughs scholar Oliver Harris, who argued that the text's novelty in any case depended on recognising it as an early experimental remix or mash-up.
Dead Fingers Talk, like many of Burroughs' works, was controversial upon its release. It was the subject of a scathing review in the Times Literary Supplement that resulted in a war of words between supporters and detractors of the novel (and Burroughs in general) that played out in the magazine's letters page for months.
Never published outside the UK or translated, the book itself is considered one of the rarer of Burroughs' novels, and was out of print for almost 50 years before the 2020 Restored edition.
References
External links
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- And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks
- Junkie
- Queer
- Naked Lunch
- The Soft Machine
- The Ticket That Exploded
- Dead Fingers Talk
- Nova Express
- The Last Words of Dutch Schultz
- The Wild Boys
- Port of Saints
- Blade Runner (a movie)
- Cities of the Red Night
- Ghost of Chance
- The Place of Dead Roads
- The Western Lands
- My Education: A Book of Dreams
- The Cat Inside
- Interzone
- Exterminator!
- Ah Pook Is Here
- Tornado Alley
- The Third Mind
- The Electronic Revolution
- The Third Mind
- Ali's Smile: Naked Scientology
- The Adding Machine: Collected Essays
- The Yage Letters
- The Job: Interviews with William S. Burroughs
- Last Words: The Final Journals of William S. Burroughs
- Beat Generation
- Beat Hotel
- Cut-up technique
- The Black Rider
- Burroughs (film)
- Naked Lunch (film)
- Queer (film)
- The Junky's Christmas
- Beat
- Words of Advice: William S. Burroughs on the Road
- Corso: The Last Beat
- William S. Burroughs: A Man Within
- Kill Your Darlings
- 23 enigma
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