Nova Express

Nova Express
Nova Express  
NovaExpress.jpg
1st edition
Author(s) William S. Burroughs
Country United States
Language English
Series The Nova Trilogy
Genre(s) Science fiction novel
Publisher Grove Press
Publication date 1964
Media type Print (Hardcover and Paperback)
ISBN NA
LC Classification 64-10597
Preceded by 'The Ticket That Exploded'

Nova Express is a 1964 novel by William S. Burroughs. It was written using the cut-up method, developed by Burroughs with Brion Gysin, of enfolding snippets of different texts into the novel. It is the third book in The Nova Trilogy, preceded by The Soft Machine and The Ticket That Exploded. Burroughs considered the trilogy a "sequel" or "mathematical" continuation of Naked Lunch.

Nova Express was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1965.

Contents

Summary

Nova Express is a social commentary on human and machine control of life. The Nova Mob—Sammy the Butcher, Izzy the Push, The Subliminal Kid, and others—are viruses, "defined as the three-dimensional coordinate point of a controller."[1] "which invade the human body and in the process produce language."[2] These Nova Criminals represent society, culture, and government, and have taken control. Inspector Lee and the rest of the Nova Police are left fighting for the rest of humanity in the power struggle. "The Nova Police can be compared to apomorphine, a regulating instance that need not continue and has no intention of continuing after its work is done."[3] The police are focused on "first-order addictions of junkies, homosexuals, dissidents, and criminals; if these criminals vanish, the police must create more in order to justify their own survival."[4] The Nova Police depend upon the Nova Criminals for existence; if the criminals cease to exist, so do the police. "They act like apomorphine, the nonaddictive cure for morphine addiction that Burroughs used and then promoted for many years."[5]

Burroughs not only uses the Nova Police as a function for catching the Nova Criminals, he also adds satire about his own life and addictions. Control is the main theme of the novel, and Burroughs attempts to use language to break down the walls of culture, the biggest control machine. He uses inspector Lee to express his own thoughts about the world. "The purpose of my writing is to expose and arrest Nova Criminals. In Naked Lunch, Soft Machine and Nova Express I show who they are and what they are doing and what they will do if they are not arrested. [...] With your help we can occupy The Reality Studio and retake their universe of Fear Death and Monopoly."[6] As Burroughs battles with the self and what is human, he finds that language is the only way to maintain dominance over the "powerful instruments of control," which are the most prevalent enemies of human society.

Criticism

While Naked Lunch was an initial shock to the literary community, Nova Express was considered the end of Burroughs’s stylistic experiment and of the Nova Trilogy. The novel received more praise on its own, as it was often compared to the other books in the trilogy and Naked Lunch. Eric Mottram stated that although "Burroughs’s repetitive narcotic and homoerotic fantasies become tedious in sections of his third novel ... it is from these obsessions that his most powerful work develops."[7]

Reviewing the novel for a genre audience, Judith Merril compared Nova Express to "the surreality of certain dreams, or the intense fascination of of a confusion of new impressions in real life."[8]

Cultural references

  • The left-wing magazine in Watchmen is named "The Nova Express".
  • At least two bands have used the name Nova Mob: an unrecorded Liverpool group featuring the young Julian Cope and Pete Wylie; and a 90s grunge rock group led by Grant Hart[9].

References

  1. ^ Burroughs, William S. Nova Express. New York: Grove, 1992. p. 68
  2. ^ Murphy, Timothy S. Wising Up the Marks: The Amodern William Burroughs. New York: University of California, 1998. p. 110
  3. ^ Burroughs. Nova Express. p. 51
  4. ^ Murphy. p. 131
  5. ^ Murphy, ibid
  6. ^ Burroughs. Nova Express. p. 14
  7. ^ Hibbard, Allen, ed. Conversations with William S. Burroughs. Jackson: University of Mississippi, 1999. p. 12
  8. ^ "Books", F&SF, May 1965, p.74
  9. ^ http://www.oldies.com/artist-biography/Grant-Hart-Rock.html

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Nova Express — Logo du label Nova Express Nova Express est un label discographique indépendant Français basé à Chagny, en Saône et Loire. La structure offre des possibilités d enregistrement et de postproduction ainsi que de graphisme pour l élaboration des… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Nova Express (fanzine) — Nova Express is a Hugo nominated science fiction fanzine edited by Lawrence Person. Nova Express is a sercon fanzine with a focus on written science fiction, featuring interviews, reviews and critical articles. Many professional science fiction… …   Wikipedia

  • Nova Express (disambiguation) — Nova Express can mean: Nova Express, a novel by William S. Burroughs Nova Express (fanzine), a Hugo Award nominated science fiction fanzine edited by Lawrence Person Nova Express, a fictional left wing magazine in Watchmen, a 1986 graphic novel… …   Wikipedia

  • Nova Express (album) — Nova Express Album par John Zorn Sortie Avril 2011 Enregistrement Ortobre 2010 Durée 46:20 Compositeur John Zorn Producteur John Zorn …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Nova Express Café — Opened in June 1993, Nova Express cafe was the creation of conceptual artist and sculptor Cary Lewis Long and actress Judith Adji Keter. Located in Los Angeles, California, the cafe was in existence from 1993 to 2008. Interior of Nova Express… …   Wikipedia

  • Nova express — by William S. Burroughs (1964)    This third book in William S. Burroughs’s cut up trilogy of science fiction was written in the 1960s. In the first section, “Last Words,” the last words are ascribed by Burroughs to Hassan i Sabbah, the eighth… …   Encyclopedia of Beat Literature

  • Nova Express — …   Википедия

  • Hotel Nova Express — (Санта Крус Хуатулко,Мексика) Категория отеля: 3 звездочный отель Адрес: Guarumbo …   Каталог отелей

  • Nova express off the Road: My Years with Cassady, Kerouac, and Ginsberg — by Carolyn Cassady (1990)    Though Carolyn Cassady does not consider herself a Beat, this is one of the most important memoirs that was written about the Beat era. Carolyn was commissioned by a publisher to write her memoirs in 1970, but she was …   Encyclopedia of Beat Literature

  • Express (homonymie) — Cette page d’homonymie répertorie les différents sujets et articles partageant un même nom. Sur les autres projets Wikimedia : « Express », sur le Wiktionnaire (dictionnaire universel) Le terme Express peut faire référence, selon… …   Wikipédia en Français

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”