The Ticket That Exploded

William Burroughs

About this Item

** INSCRIBED, ONLY COPY THAT I COULD FIND, 1ST EDITION, 1ST PRINTING **
Octavo, original green wrappers. Near fine copy. Inscibed by William Burroughs. The image features a page from William S. Burroughs' 1964 novel, Nova Express. The text represents a pivotal scene titled "The Last Words of Hassan i Sabbah," which utilizes Burroughs' signature "cut-up" technique to dismantle linguistic control.
Summary of the Text:
The passage serves as a "manifesto for global resistance" against "Nova Criminals" and systems of control. It portrays a transition from the physical world to a state of silence, stripping away "flesh identity".
Finality and Transition: The text begins with "Last round over," signaling an end to the "ship" of the physical body and its associated identities.
The Power of Silence: It emphasizes that silence is the only way to say "good-bye" to the word-and-image machines that Burroughs believed program human thought.
Asemic Illustration: Below the typewritten text is a handwritten section by artist Brion Gysin. It mirrors the typed words "To say good silence by." but gradually devolves into asemic writing?symbols that look like text but carry no specific linguistic meaning. This visual "cut-up" reinforces the theme of "rubbing out the word" to achieve liberation. A superior example. â It is in books like The Ticket that Exploded that Burroughs seems to revel in a new medium for its own sakeâ "a medium totally fantastic, spaceless, timeless, in which the normal sentence is fractured, the cosmic tries to push its way through bawdry, and the author shakes the reader as a dog shakes a rat" (Anthony Burgess).

Seller Inventory # 268

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Ticket That Exploded
• Language: English
• Binding: Soft cover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Printing: 1st Printing
• Condition: Near Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine
• Signed: Inscribed by Author(s)