Cities of the Red Night, William S. Burroughs
Cities of the Red Night, William S. Burroughs
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Cities of the Red Night

Author: William S. Burroughs

Narrator: Ray Porter

Unabridged: 9 hr 33 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/15/2016

Synopsis

From one of the founders of the beat generation and the 1960s counterculture comes this opening novel of a series available now in audio for the first time.An opium addict is lost in the jungle; young men wage war against an empire of mutants; a handsome young pirate faces his execution; and the world’s population is infected with a radioactive epidemic. These stories are woven together in a single tale of mayhem and chaos. In the first novel of the trilogy continued in The Place of Dead Roads and The Western Lands, William Burroughs sharply satirizes modern society in a poetic and shocking story of sex, drugs, disease, and adventure.

About William S. Burroughs

William S. Burroughs (1914–1997) was an American author, painter, and spoken-word performer who has had a wide-ranging influence on American culture. Jack Kerouac called him the “greatest satirical writer since Jonathan Swift.” Norman Mailer declared him “the only American writer who may be conceivably possessed by genius.” A postmodernist and a key figure of the beat generation, he focused his art on a relentless subversion of the moral, political, and economic conventions of modern American society, as reflected in his often darkly humorous and sardonic satire. He wrote eighteen novels and novellas, six short-story collections, and four collections of essays. No fewer than five books of his interviews and correspondence have been published. He also collaborated on projects and recordings with numerous performers and musicians and made many appearances in films. He was elected to the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters in 1983 and in the following year was appointed to the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government.

About Ray Porter

Ray Porter is an AudioFile Earphones Award–winning narrator and fifteen-year veteran of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. He has appeared in numerous films and television shows, including Almost Famous, ER, and Frasier.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Arthur on October 10, 2023

Cities of the Red Night follows a dual narrative, slipping fluidly between the early 18th century exploits of a libertarian pirate crew, led by gunsmith Noah Blake, and the late 20th century “private asshole”, Clem Snide, hired to find the decapitated remains of one Jerry Green -- victim apparent of......more

Goodreads review by J.L. on December 08, 2020

"To all the scribes and artists and practitioners of magic through whom these spirits have been manifested…. NOTHING IS TRUE. EVERYTHING IS PERMITTED.” Reading William S. Burroughs' Cities of the Red Night is like experiencing a fevered dream or trance where one event runs into the next without rhyme......more

Goodreads review by Scott on October 29, 2011

An amazing roller-coaster ride through the unconscious. The main plot lines (a pirate story, a detective story, a sci fi/fantasy story) run parallel at first, but frustrate any hopes of proceeding in a straightforward fashion - they get more and more confused, hazy, and collapse into one another, un......more

Goodreads review by Kuszma on January 05, 2023

"A halál a testtől való kényszerű elszakadás. Az orgazmus a testtel való azonosulás. Tehát az orgazmus pillanatában bekövetkező halál maga a testet öltött halál." Picassóról hallottam az anekdotát, miszerint valaki a szemére vetette, nem tud rajzolni, mire rittyentett róla egy olyan élethű portrét, h......more

Goodreads review by Andy on April 27, 2014

AIDS-era Burroughs tale of a killer virus, pirate shenanigans and boys doing what boys do best(guess). After re-reading it I kicked it up one star to four because it reminded me of Alejandro Jodorowsky and Dusan Makavejev movies from the early Seventies. If you liked Holy Mountain or Sweet Movie you......more

Quotes

“Cities of the Red Night is not only Burroughs’ best work but a logical and ripening extension of all of Burroughs’ great work.” Ken Kesey, author of One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest

“Cities of the Red Night is Burroughs’ masterpiece. In it, the world ends with a bang—and a barely perceived whimper, disguised by the wicked smile of one of the most dazzling magicians of our time.” Los Angeles Times Book Review

“One should approach Cities of the Red Night as the Wagneresque capper of all the five or six homosexual planet-operas Burroughs has scripted since he found a genuine new style in Naked Lunch…It’s as if we had gotten hold of a black ticket to his unconscious, and anyone who makes the trip will see sights and feel feelings that are unique and mind-bending beyond anyone else’s description.” Washington Post Book World

“Cities of the Red Night is the most complete and most devastatingly sardonic statement of William Burroughs’ apocalyptic vision. Through his mordant satire of cultural aspirations, homosexual eroticism, and political power, he focuses our gaze into the abyss. His cold, surgical language creates beauty through a terror that we are just able to bear…A modern Inferno.” Newsday (Long Island, NY)

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