The Job

The Job – William Burroughs

This is neither a straightforward book nor a straightforward set of interviews. Burroughs like Ginsberg is a member of the Beat Generation whose primary objective was to defy the idea of the normative or popular convention through free expression and unrestricted language. The book sheds a light on a variety of areas which Burroughs, like other members of the radical Beat Generation, is interested in; drugs, sex etc. But it also covers Burroughs’ unique style and play on words (a montage of texts by cutting and pasting) and often development of theories by well structured and organised thought.

Burroughs’ explanations of his methods of the montage of selected texts (and tape recordings) and responses to the resulting topics, is both an unusual and interesting approach but with the advent of computers, which allow more variations in less time, this part of the process is now superseded. This topic was brought up by the interviewer but to be fair to Burroughs, doing things on the computers of that time would have been very complicated and cumbersome.    

We get an insight into his opinions on writing and pushing the boundaries of language to which he is not convinced is always helpful and warns might be dangerous if it becomes purely experimental. Often, some of his answers to the questions posed to him are surprisingly serious and rational although one might be doubtful of the reasons he gives for them. An example of this is his view on why the use of controlled drugs is illegal, to which he postulates an interesting theory (as is most of his outbursts against the government) but he is equally aware of the dangers of addiction and the individual.

All through the book, one is aware of Burroughs’ contempt for the government and the idea of nationhood and he puts forward some very reasonable explanations for these but some of his explanations were way over the top. 

His interest in science is apparent and some of his ‘science’ is very interesting. His theory of the word-virus; ‘I suggest that the spoken word as we know it came after the written word.’ ‘My basic theory is that the written word was actually a virus that made the spoken word possible.’ This is a very clever idea and he gives a logical explanation of this and the consequences of this disposition.

The short introductory piece is beautifully metaphorical. It confronts us with the significance of travel (meaning freedom), deeming it more important than living itself. Space is a metaphor for complete freedom, freedom from the restrictive past conditioning of religion, nationalism, politics and emotions. ‘Anyone who prays in space is not there’! He warns that freedom is gradually being ostracised from youth however, all hope is not lost. There are ways to rediscover complete freedom and The Job offers some of them.

In his answers to questions on the variety of topical issues discussed in The Job, one gets a very good sense of Burroughs approach to writing and insight to the workings of his thoughtful mind. Above all for me though, a sense of Burroughs’ absolute virtue!