Nova Express

by William S. Burroughs

  Gave Proof Through the Night

  GAVE PROOF THROUGH THE NIGHT

  The note Burroughs pasted onto the galleys in July 1964 explains the origins of this material as “first written in 1938” in collaboration with his boyhood friend Kells Elvins. He would recall this scenario elsewhere (in The Third Mind and The Adding Machine), but the most vivid account is in the unpublished draft of a longer autobiographical sketch: “A hard boiled detective story bogged down when we read The Left Handed Passenger and got all the references on the Titanic and started something called Twilight’s Last Gleamings which I used recently in Nova Express re-written from memory the manuscript is lost long ago. We acted out the parts giggling in delight over such lines as ‘His revolver swung free of his brassiere and he fired twice.’ ‘I don’t know I feel sorta bad about this old finger.’ The innocence of young writers” (ASU 7).

  Burroughs not only produced several versions of this section, he experimented with numerous different layouts. The earliest, an eight-page typescript he identified as first draft for “Chapter VI” of his March 1962 MS (OSU 2.3), has a running banner at the top and foot of every page in block capitals using cut-up lyrics from The Star-Spangled Banner. The page format is a direct echo of The Exterminator, and indeed this typescript has many lines of material from that text, even though Burroughs’ note refers to using the “first cut-ups” from Minutes to Go. This typescript is also distinctive for dividing the page into sections by hand-ruled horizontal lines and for using forward slashes throughout and no em dashes. None of these features appear in Burroughs’ second version, a four-page typescript that is close to the published text (OSU 2.3). The version in Evergreen Review 7.29 (March 1963) is identical except for minor differences.

  While most of the first version overlaps the published text, it also includes long passages that seem independent of it, and Burroughs wrote other versions that incorporate anomalous-seeming material. That he produced extensive alternative drafts does not suggest he had any reservations about this section, but apparently Brion Gysin did, and when Burroughs had corrected the galleys he wrote to his editor, Richard Seaver: “Mr Gysin felt that the ship wreck chapter (Gave Proof Through The Night [galley] page 37) was not in keeping with the rest of the book and should be omitted. I am undecided on this point and would be interested to hear your opinion” (Burroughs to Seaver, July 21, 1964; SU). Even though it was precisely interrelated to other parts of the novel—the central image of a man boarding the first lifeboat in drag recurs in three other sections—Burroughs was quite prepared to drop it and offer Seaver “something I think is quite appropriate to substitute”; but, fortunately, “Gave Proof Through the Night” remained in Nova Express.

  126“He jerked the handle”: a full rough typescript (ASU 7) continues: “Yage Pintar Yage pintar/” For the use of this phrase, see The Yage Letters (26, 95).

  126“appendectomy in 1910 at Harvard”: the earliest typescript (and, near verbatim, ASU 7), continues; “I Sekuin perfected this art along the Chang Dynasty/ Vegetarian Walkers are not subject to appendicitis/ Vestige Organ/ Before White Time/ Dead Hand Stretching The Vegetable People/ Rabbits have Over large appendixes/” (OSU 2.3).

  127“Mrs. J. L. Bradshinkel”: in earlier drafts this is “Mrs Bryan, Ship Owner” (Berg 11.24). Lucy Bradshinkel appears in Naked Lunch and Billy Bradshinkel in The Yage Letters.

  127“Mike B. Dweyer, Politician from Clayton Missouri”: in the first version, where the politician is “Mike Brown” and he doesn’t come from Missouri, this line is preceded by a page of quite distinct material, beginning: “‘Do you think The Captain controls this ship Mr Bane? Unions! Unions! Brown Deal/ Foe Deal/ The West Side Push I told” (OSU 2.3).

  128“screaming for help like everyone else”: in the four-page second draft this is a line of speech: “—Go on scream like everyone else on the boat—” (OSU 2.3).

  129“The Captain stiff-armed an old lady”: the four-page second draft has “Captain Norman” (OSU 2.3).

  129“Perkins brought down his knife”: the first version continues: “Swift Sword/ Switch Blade Preferred/” (OSU 2.3).

  130“her souvenirs of the disaster”: characteristically, the first version interpolates cut-up lines, continuing here: “Will Hollywood never learn? Unimaginable Disaster Ten Age Future Time / A Life Belt autographed by The Crew and a Severed Human Finger / Remember my medium of distant fingers?/ Talk in flak braille” (OSU 2.3). The typescript continues with another 150 words before concluding: “From the First/Raise Out Time Position/ Before Terminal Time/ From The First IN THEE WORD WAS THEE BEGINNING/”

  SOS

  Identified by Burroughs as “Chapter 13,” the earliest draft of this section appeared in the March 1962 MS under the title “Blue Junction.” This seven-page typescript is, in Burroughs’ description, mostly “source material” (OSU 2.4) and only about one page (250 words) would remain in the published text. Burroughs produced at least one more version (Berg 48.19) before completing a revised three-page typescript included in the October 1962 MS. This typescript, which has the new title “SOS” (with “SOLID BLUE SILENCE” added in autograph and then canceled), retained a little more from the original draft and included another full page of new cut-up material, but all of this, over 400 words, would be cut at the final galley stage. In July 1964 Burroughs also added almost 100 words of new material to the galleys to give the section a different ending.

  130“The cold heavy fluid settled in a mountain village”: Burroughs’ redaction at the galley stage started with the opening line, which originally read: “The cold heavy fluid settled in his spine—He moved slow hydraulic motion to a mountain village of slate houses where time stops in blue twilight—” (OSU 5.11).

  130“Heavy con men selling issues”: one draft has: “con men who sell whole universes issues of fraudulent universe stock, real estate on Novia Ground and all the money goes back into their Silence habit” (Berg 48.19).

  131“Martin came to Blue Junction”: with minor differences, this is where the first draft (OSU 2.4) begins.

  132“a silent blue twilight”: the first draft continues with a canceled line: “Martin could see the entire ranch and all the workers on his blue view screen of photo collage” (OSU 2.4).

  132“poker play and flesh trade”: the first draft continues with a new paragraph that further clarifies the location (“ranch”) and genre (Western) Burroughs had in mind: “The blues clashed with the Yellows who lived in the next ranch a dry hot desert place of crab men with white hot insect eyes” (OSU 2.4).

  132“Empty picture”: from here to “flapping gunsmoke” was an insert pasted onto the final long galleys (OSU 5.12).

  SHORT COUNT

  The manuscript history of this section is itself short: just the final four-page typescript in the October 1962 MS, which shows a small number of minor differences and a few lines of unused text. Burroughs would cancel almost 60 words at the galley stage.

  134“Heavy Metal People of Uranus”: the October 1962 MS continues with a longer version that indicates how Burroughs redacted the section on the galleys: “wrapped in orange flesh robes that grow on them, the little high fi junk note tinkling through cool nerves remote mineral calm entered in a heavy blue mist of vaporized bank notes.”

  TWILIGHT’S LAST GLEAMING

  This was one of the earliest written sections and Burroughs identified its first version, a three-page typescript, as “Chapter IV” of his March 1962 MS (OSU 2.3), so that it was shifted from near the beginning toward the end for his final manuscript. He reworked this draft at least once more (Berg 11.23) before submitting a revised draft in late 1961 to Evergreen Review, where, with very minor differences, it appeared in the January 1962 issue under the title “TWILIGHT’S LAST GLEAMINGS” (Burroughs always used the incorrect plural, which is reproduced in “Gave Proof Through the Night”). The final two-page typescript is
verbatim except for punctuation and capitalization changes (OSU 4.9).

  136“The Gods of Time-Money-Junk”: the earliest draft has a quintet of evil deities rather than a trinity (here and in the three later instances in this section): “The Gods of Time Junk Money Body Death” (OSU 2.3).

  137“all I said a million silver bullets”: the earliest draft has: “all i sed waiting hole in pain funnel a million silver bullets—” (OSU 2.3). Significantly, even when this line was edited on both later drafts and for Evergreen Review, the spelling “sed” was retained (Berg 11.27 and OSU 4.9); it was changed by the copyeditor on OSU 4.9. Burroughs also used “sed” elsewhere in his manuscripts.

  139“In sun I held the stale overcoat”: in a handwritten note beside this line on Burroughs’ manuscript, Gysin asked: “Do you really want the lower case ‘I’?” (Berg 11.27). Burroughs’ answer at the time (fall 1961) seems to have been, “Yes,” since the change to upper case “I” was almost certainly not made until the galley stage in July 1964. This whole paragraph and the next reproduce verbatim the ending of the revised Soft Machine (which used two-thirds of the final three paragraphs of the original 1961 Soft Machine).

  This Horrible Case

  THIS HORRIBLE CASE

  According to the book’s “Foreword Note,” Burroughs wrote this section in collaboration with Ian Sommerville, although there is no obvious difference in the writing. However, by “section,” Burroughs meant not the four-part chapter but the specific section “Two Tape Recorder Mutations,” and it is logical that Sommerville, with his technical expertise, was responsible for this material. Burroughs’ first draft was a five-page typescript identified as “Chapter 14” and entitled “The Biologic Police and Courts” (OSU 2.4). Since its first page appears in the “Coordinate Points” section, Burroughs must have returned to this draft and split it up, as well as cutting over 200 words and adding 300 more by the time of the final near-verbatim version (OSU 4.9). This four-page typescript, dating from pre-October 1962, has the canceled original title, “THE BIOLOGIC COURTS AND COUNSELLORS,” with “This Horrible Case” added by Burroughs in autograph (and also canceled, as he tried to avoid duplicating section and chapter titles).

  142“mental and physical cruelty”: corrects NEX 134 (“metal”); the typo, which is made by Burroughs on OSU 2.4 and corrected by him in autograph, did not appear on OSU 4.9 or on the galleys.

  143“invasion and manipulation”: the first draft continues with a canceled paragraph beginning: “‘Better forget those lines altogether’ said Uranian U sharply ‘Your detestation for the life form you invaded is not regarded as an extenuating circumstance in The Biologic Courts—’” (OSU 2.4).

  144“Alternative Word Island”: NEX 136 follows the galleys, but OSU 2.4 and OSU 4.9 both have “Ward Island,” a location that also appears in The Ticket That Exploded. It is impossible to say whether the “Alternative Word” was a typo, a transcription error or a self-reflexive revision on Burroughs’ part.

  BRIEF FOR THE FIRST HEARING

  The first draft of this material comprises the first two pages of an eight-page typescript entitled “The Biologic Courts and Counsellors” (OSU 2.2), and Burroughs made only relatively light revisions to it for the section’s final draft (OSU 4.9). He added the section title in autograph, replacing “THE BIOLOGIC COURTS AND COUNCELLORS (CONTINUED).”

  146“to open biologic potentials for his client”: the first draft has a different version: “to represent a client in a favorable light biologically speaking signalling out aspects of beauty or function tending to survival—” (OSU 2.2).

  BRIEF FOR FIRST HEARING / / CASE OF LIFE FORM A

  The published section shows few changes from the last six pages of an eight-page typescript entitled “The Biologic Courts and Counsellors” (OSU 2.2). The verbatim final draft dates from pre-October 1962 (using the spelling “novia”). In first draft there was no subdivision of material to separate it from the previous section, whereas the final typescript includes the title.

  150“Coughing enemy pulled in and replaced”: the first draft continues: “dirty pictures—reverse instructions—Iron claws of pain and pleasure stylishly dressed—” (OSU 2.2).

  152“suspended pending mutation proceedings”: the final phrase is one of the few not to appear on OSU 2.2.

  TWO TAPE RECORDER MUTATIONS

  The first draft of this section, an untitled three-page sequence, is a continuation of “The Biologic Courts and Counsellors” (OSU 2.2). As with drafts for most cut-up sections, the very rough typescript shows a good deal of unused material from which Burroughs made selections (marked by underlining blocks of text in hand, although this was not always applied). The verbatim three-page final draft (OSU 4.9) has the section title added by Burroughs in autograph. The title phrase appears in his correspondence in early April 1962, referring to “some interesting experiments” carried out with Michael Portman and Ian Sommerville (ROW, 103).

  152“message from stairway of slime”: the first draft continues with a line referencing either the American military medal or the amphetamine of choice for British Mods (Drinamyl, which came in blue triangular tablets): “Voice fading into advocate—Not that a client ever gets The Purple Heart—” (OSU 2.2).

  152“civilization and personal habits”: the first draft continues with lines that include a reference to Burroughs’ publisher at Olympia Press, Maurice Girodias, and the philosopher and writer Gerald Heard, whose work Burroughs had long known and whom he met with Timothy Leary in September 1961: “With the Leica first pressure—Instructions to stay away from my supply—Flesh froze to supply Girodias—Amino acid directs all movement to “” that is—A book by Heard leapt into my hand to be read telepathic misdirection—” (OSU 2.2).

  153“c-Sequential choice”: from here to “That is a ‘book’” is one of the few lines not present in OSU 2.2.

  Pay Color

  PAY COLOR

  Under its original title, “Photo Falling—Word Falling,” the section appeared as “Chapter V” in the March 1962 MS (OSU 2.3), so that Burroughs moved it from near one end to near the other of his manuscript. He produced two three-page typescripts which he redacted, and the text was printed under the same title, almost verbatim, in the January 1962 issue of Evergreen Review. Only on the final draft (OSU 4.9) is this title canceled and “Pay Color” added in autograph. The new title emphasized this section’s return to the “Pay it all back” call in the opening section, and Burroughs wrote numerous variants on this theme, including at least one directly related to Nova Express that he typed in blue ink to materialize on his page the color he associated with apomorphine (Berg 6.9). The origins of the section go back to summer 1961 in Tangier, when Burroughs gave himself a “brief rest from writing” to make color photo-collages (including one entitled “Word Falling—Photo Falling”), and came up with the “Pay Color” refrain that would conclude the section (ROW, 76, 82). In 1965, Charles Plymell literalized the color calls in the second issue of his Now magazine by printing the section’s last paragraphs in red, blue and green ink.

  Only mentioned in previous sections, The Subliminal Kid is here fully introduced, joining the ranks of Burroughs’ other Western-style characters (The Intolerable Kid, The Carbonic Kid, The Heavy Metal Kid, etc.). The Kid uses the latest technological weaponry, and Burroughs saw the section as not just a fictionalization but a lesson, “suggesting some extended use of tape recorders” (ROW, 97). The Kid also appears in the revised Soft Machine as “Technical Tilly,” and in The Ticket That Exploded he’s identified as a “technical sergeant” and “charter defector from the Nova Mob.” The character was based on Ian Sommerville, and Burroughs paid tribute to the name by signing one 1965 text (in My Own Mag 15) “for the subliminal kid.”

  157“the river of all language”: the first draft has a longer paragraph here and continues: “So that people could not control their
words or accents and no one knew what he was going to say” (OSU 2.3, first version).

  158“watching a gangster movie”: early drafts continue: “whether he was man woman beast or monster from outer space” (OSU 2.3, both versions).

  159“Pay Red”: typed in blue and including four lines of text spaced out on the page, one typescript page overlaps and extends the color theme: “Marx Freud colors you stole PAY RED pay back the red you stole for your Einstein decade—apomorphine in the beginning was the word Coca Cola signs and your lying flags pay back that red to penis and apomorphine pay blue pay back the only begetter the blue you stole for your police—” (Berg 6.9).

  PAY OFF THE MARKS?

  The manuscript history of this section comprises only a few variant cut-up passages (OSU 2.2) and Burroughs’ pre-October 1962 draft (with its spelling “novia”). He cut almost a third of this draft at the final galley stage in July 1964. At the same time, he made two short inserts, so that the section lost over 400 words and gained just over 100 (distinguished by their telltale use of ellipses).

  163“Comte Wladmir Sollohub”: from here to “exploded star). . . .” is an insert made on the galleys in July 1964.

  163“I watched the torn sky bend”: the phrase recurs in several texts, including “St. Louis Return” (1965), where Burroughs identifies it with a massive tornado that hit his hometown in 1927 (although he misdates it as 1929).

  163“white white white as far as the eye can see ahead”: in his essay “Hemingway,” Burroughs cites this as “the last line” of “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” (Adding Machine, 68). Neither the last line nor an accurate quotation from the short story, Burroughs’ words rewrote the original: “and there, ahead, all he could see, as wide as all the world, great, high, and unbelievably white in the sun, was the square top of Kilimanjaro. And then he knew that there was where he was going” (Hemingway, The Snows of Kilimanjaro and Other Stories [New York: Scribner’s, 1961], 27). The phrase “where he was going” in turn gave Burroughs the title for a short text in Tornado Alley (1989) beautifully read by Burroughs on the 1990 album Dead City Radio.