“…Doc Benway assessed the situation…” #1961Club #thesoftmachine

I’ve been gradually making my way through the books of William S. Burroughs, starting with “Junky” back in 2024; so when I realised that the next book chronologically was “The Soft Machine” from 1961 it was inevitable that I would save this for our club week! “Soft…” is the first book in what is called Burroughs’ ‘Cut-Up Trilogy’ and interestingly I didn’t have a copy of this one on my shelves; so I can’t be sure when/if I read it, and indeed, if I did, which version it was. Let me say a little more on that… The pre-loved copy I picked up is described as the restored text (as are many of the current edition of the author’s work) and as with previous titles I’ve read, it’s been edited by Oliver Harris. “Soft…” has a chequered history; first issued in 1961 by the Olympia Press, Paris, it was then published in a different form in 1966 by Grove Press in the US. Finally, a 1968 edition was released by John Calder in the UK. All these editions varied, some more considerably than other, so…