Interzone

William S. Burroughs Interzone (approx. 1958)
Interzone comprises material written after Queer but prior to publication of The Naked Lunch, for which it is proposed to have been something along the lines of a dry run. Although Burroughs' refers to his attempts to write a novel called Interzone in various letters, whether this is really that book seems debatable given its having been reconstructed around 1989 from fragments found in unexpected places, also incorporating excerpts from letters to Ginsberg, and the lengthy WORD which was excised from Naked Lunch. Seemingly true to its notional constitution, I've had Interzone sat on my bookshelf for many years before realising that I'd never actually bothered to read the thing. I'm not even sure where my copy came from.

So, we're pre-cut-up, but getting there given the non-linear thrust of the narrative which may not be entirely due to Interzone comprising off cuts and notes left out for the milkman. Themes seem to emerge, mostly driving towards the international zone of Tangier from which the title derives; and this weaves in quite nicely with Burroughs' notes to Ginsberg concerning his attempts to write a novel as he claws his way gradually towards the sort of process from which Naked Lunch resulted. It's insightful, mostly fascinating, up until we come to WORD, which is sixty pages of undifferentiated non-linear narrative - the usual stuff about cocks and prehensile piles - which at least proves that the apparent chaos of later novels isn't just some random flow turned on and off with the twist of a spigot, and it proves this because WORD is tedious and a slog to get though. I guess what Burroughs learned from WORD may have been that you have to carve the material into some coherent shape if you want it to work rather than simply drowning whatever it may have to say in a deluge of arbitrary scat.