By: Greg Timton

Interzone is perhaps one of the most important short story collections ever written by an American. Written by William Burroughs, famed for such gems like Naked Lunch, Queer, Junkie, and cut-up fiction, among other writings, Interzone represents perhaps the best representation of Burroughs in whole. The reason for this is because while Interzone wasn’t published until 1989, it contains stories that span his entire literary career, from “Twilight’s Last Gleamings”, which many believe was Burroughs first attempt at writing fiction in 1938, to “The Junky’s Christmas”, which was turned into a pseudo-song recording of Burroughs reciting the story to the background of noir-gothic orchestra and chorus chanting.

Many might dispute Interzone’s true impact due to its experimental, fragmented nature, in which, because it spans the entirety of Burroughs’ career and not just a specific period, contains stories that generally don’t fit within the same context. But it works as representative of who Burroughs was throughout his life, and not merely as just one particular juncture.

And then of course there’s the unnatural amounts of profanity that Burroughs is known for, which caused a great uproar all throughout his life, and is at times impenetrable because you might find yourself wondering, ‘Do people genuinely talk like this?’ In a daily context to anyone besides Burroughs, perhaps not, but Burroughs actually went through these experiences—either physically or mentally, and they ring a profoundly harrowing yet candid note despite the reader never going through what Burroughs went through more than likely.

Burroughs is also wildly playful with language and story structure, indicative in “Lee’s Journals” when he dubbed one section ‘An Advertising Short for Television’ and goes on to explain how a candiru “is a little eel-like critter about two inches long by one-quarter inch in diameter, that darts up your prick, ass, or a woman’s cunt if he can’t do any better.”

Everything within Interzone is just a wild trip of loosely-interrelated images composed by an extremely deranged mind after years of alcohol and drug abuse, along with a radical form of solipsism, but still you feel oddly connected to Burroughs. Not in the sense that you believed he was a great, generous man, but rather that he experienced life for what it was without denial, escapism, or justification, yet still retaining his edge.

Interzone operates primarily as that unique opportunity to see a writer encompassed in a single-bound text all throughout his life. While I can’t say with absolute certainty, I’m pretty positive that you can’t read anything of Burroughs without it being completed by Interzone, since many of the stories eventually spawned into longer stories that became his most well-known novels.

So if you like Burroughs, then you’re sure to enjoy Interzone. And if you’re just looking for something to dip your toes in of Burroughs without being intimidated by his experimentation and wacky prose, then Interzone works just as well without becoming overbearing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDR9zULPcFk