After finishing a couple chapters I set the book down and tried to remember what I had just read. I knew that the content of what I absorbed had to do with ejaculation, sperm, gilled frog boys, anal penetration, touch and sensations and a few other keywords, but past those I had come out of it with no cohesive story line or content that was relevant or meant anything to me. At that point I read the reviews on the back of the book to try and figure out why this book is required for english 238 or even regarded as worthwhile. Many of the reviews on the back cover of the book praise William S. Burroughs for his writing and his cut-up style, but one review stuck out to me. It reads, "Burroughs seems to revel in a new medium...a medium totally fantastic, spaceless, timeless, in which the normal sentence is fractured, the cosmic tries to push its way through the bawdry, and the author shakes the reader as a dog shakes a rat," -Anthony Burgess. This review makes a lot of sense to me as it is essentially saying because Burroughs style is new (cut-up), the reader is forced to push themselves through the reading that is often obscene. After all is said and done Burroughs is in control of the reader like a dog who holds a rat in its mouth; there is no hope for the reader, except for the possibility that Burroughs will let us live through this horrible experience only to be left on the ground battered with images of anal penetration filling our heads.
Perhaps suggesting there is no hope for the reader to understand is taking it too far, but I believe that Burroughs' intention, to some degree, is to turn the reader away from his subject matter so the reader can only focus on his 'brilliant' writing style. Burroughs accomplishes the distraction away from the story line in many ways, one of which is writing more of odd sexual situations, such as anally inserted eggs that ejaculate frog tadpoles, than anything else. By writing of subjects that turn most people away in disgust Burroughs develops a fear, or in some cases a hate of the subject matter in the reader. If a reader develops this disgust in comprehending what Burroughs is writing, they will be turned off to his content and focus more on his unique writing style. Another way in which Burroughs turns his reader away from comprehension and towards paying attention to the way he writes is through writing chapters that do not seem to connect to each other. It is difficult to read different sections of the book that do not relate and try to tie them together on ones own. After reading three sections that do not relate it is easier for the reader to change the focus of their reading away from comprehension and towards William S. Burroughs writing style. If the difficulty in connecting ideas and sections can only be achieved by few, the rest of the readers are left with a concentration on his writing style. If this is what Burroughs hoped for and accomplished than I accept that this idea is truly brilliant.
Again I do not consider myself very good at reading comprehension so perhaps there is a cohesive set of ideas that tie together to make a story. Even if there is a story and a meaning, the difficulty in achieving comprehension of this book leaves me focused on Burroughs writing style, be it brilliant and innovative or not.
My other thought is that Burroughs wanted to push the boundaries of what could be published. Maybe he got his kicks through having publishers read and publish his grotesque ideas about sex and men.
By looking from a different vantage point you come to some interesting realizations. But if you are bodily disgusted by the reading then perhaps it is influencing you too much. Where does the bodily disgust come from?
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