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Ghost of Chance
Ghost of Chance is an adventure story set in the jungle of Madagascar and filled with the obsessions that mark the work of the man who Norman Mailer once called, ‘the only American writer possessed by genius.’ While tripping through the author's trademark concerns—drugs, paranoia, and lemurs, this short novel tells an important story about environmental devastation in a wa...more
Paperback, 96 pages
Published
September 1st 2002
by Serpent's Tail
(first published 1991)
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Nel suo
Critica della democrazia occidentale
, l’antropologo anarchico David Graeber ricorda che le comunità dei pirati atlantici nel XVIII secolo furono per certi versi una formulazione precoce di quelle che oggi ci piace definire, a volte solo formalmente, come democrazie occidentali: “Era lo spazio perfetto per un esperimento interculturale. Di fatto, non c’era a quel tempo in tutto l’Atlantico un terreno più adatto per impiantare nuove istituzioni democratiche” (ed. elèuthera 2012, p. 81). N...more
Nov 23, 2008
tENTATIVELY, cONVENIENCE
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
literature
I was somewhat reluctant to read yet-another Burroughs bk given that I've already read so many & that there're so many other writers out there to read.. BUT, it was worth it! Burroughs' incisive, acerbic imagination held my attn once more. The bk's plentifully interspersed w/ black & white repors of paintings wch I reckon must be by Burroughs - since they're not credited otherwise. These are mostly busy energy patterns, semi-abstract-expressionist, probably more than a little influenced...more
Interesting but undeveloped morality tale of Swift-style nastiness from literary outlaw Burroughs, like a tasty but thin slice of his typical concoction.
Inspired by a French frigate captain turned pirate who founded a utopian society named Libertatia in Madagascar, around 1700, many of the writers usual obsessions get a brief airing, supplemented with idiosyncratic, always didactic footnotes.
A curse leads to diseases both destructive and darkly comic, humanity suffers the vengeance it deserves...more
Inspired by a French frigate captain turned pirate who founded a utopian society named Libertatia in Madagascar, around 1700, many of the writers usual obsessions get a brief airing, supplemented with idiosyncratic, always didactic footnotes.
A curse leads to diseases both destructive and darkly comic, humanity suffers the vengeance it deserves...more
I can always remember when I was a teenager and I had to drag over chairs to get to the very top of my father's bookshelf to drag down the (then complete) collected works of William S. Burroughs. As a teen full of rage I had a strong stomach and devoured his works, careful not to crack the spines because of my fear of getting caught; now I cannot even pick them up. Still, I think the least-horrifying of his books would be this one. Diseases, lemurs, and the most amazing use of footnotes in all o...more
Ghost of Chance commences with the story of Captain Mission, a pirate who established a utopian settlement in Madagascar. Mission is obsessed with lemurs and proscribes their killing. An event occurs that devastates Mission, who calls down a curse on all involved.
Burroughs develops this story into a tirade against mankind's devastation of the environment, the stifling effect that religion has had on our sensibilities and the disease-like nature of our civilisation. This novella is one very angry...more
Burroughs develops this story into a tirade against mankind's devastation of the environment, the stifling effect that religion has had on our sensibilities and the disease-like nature of our civilisation. This novella is one very angry...more
This was the first Burroughs I read, and I loved it. It's a short novella about a pirate captain and lemurs and Burroughs' cranky, yet beautiful, musings on society. There were passages that made me sigh they were so beautiful, and that surprised me because I didn't expect that kind of lyricism from Burroughs. But there's a sublime grotesqueness to the latter passages that seems more in line with what I knew of him. Altogether a brilliant, engaging novella that earned its five stars from me for...more
Ghost of Chance is a scathing lambastic indictment of the madness of mankind and a dire warning that we are all heading towards our own destruction.
With this in mind, i want you all to know that I'm giving this 5 stars because of the importance of Burroughs' message in this book. If I were to rate it purely on narrative structure, I would probably only give it 3 stars but it's really really important for people to read this.
Everyone is familiar with Burroughs' acidic sardonic sense of humour an...more
With this in mind, i want you all to know that I'm giving this 5 stars because of the importance of Burroughs' message in this book. If I were to rate it purely on narrative structure, I would probably only give it 3 stars but it's really really important for people to read this.
Everyone is familiar with Burroughs' acidic sardonic sense of humour an...more
Technically his final novel, this is far from Burroughs' best text, although I read it a second time (it's short). The reason for a fan or interested reader to see this is for its black and white reproductions of his abstract paintings (the hardcover was first published by the Library Fellows of the Whitney Museum of American Art). Burroughs began knocking out oils in his golden years, and they're remarkable for their structural balance, hypnotic lines and depth (like his best writing: see Naked...more
In queste densissime pagine Burroughs non risparmia niente e nessuno: i cristianesimi e i capitalismi ne escono fuori malconci. L'operetta, nel suo complesso, è però un peana per la fragilità degli esperimenti libertari, le modalità di espressione sono a volte un po' beat, ma le osservazioni illuminanti e i passaggi lirici si sprecano.
This is a story about a man named Mission who loves his little lemur and will go great lengths to protect him from the big bad world with big bad evil people who will destroy Cap's lemur and everything else by mass consumption and .., I get it, Billy, I do. I love me some pirates and little furry friends and hate when people are unnecessarily cruel. I don't know whether he should've been told to stop the drug use or get into even heavier stuff..?
there are two things that really intrigued me about this book. first was the pirate captain mission who set up a free colony on madagascar with many of the same values that the french and american revolutions would emphasize nearly a century later. second was the mention of a lemur/octopus. what would this creature look like? i'm picturing an octopus with big beautiful lemur eyes, and i like it.
altogether a good book, although a bit too much rambling for me, and also i would say that burroughs f...more
altogether a good book, although a bit too much rambling for me, and also i would say that burroughs f...more
"Народ Лемуров старше, чем Homo Sap, намного старше. Их возраст насчитывает сто шестьдесят миллионов лет, время, когда Мадагаскар отделился от африканского континента. Их способ думать и чувствовать принципиально отличается от нашего, он не ориентирован во времени, они не имеют представления о последовательности и случайности, эти категории для них противоречивы и непонятны."
Лучшая вещь у Берроуза.
Лучшая вещь у Берроуза.
One of my favorite books from Uncle Bill. Comedian Bill Hicks called the human race "a virus with shoes". Burroughs has expanded that thought into an entire novella. Ghost Of Chance is a quick read which is not typical of Burroughs' work (for me anyway). It is thought provoking and the language is incredibly poetic. For those who are new to Bill Burroughs this may be a safe place to start. If you are intrigued by Ghost Of Chance you can explore the more adventurous (drug addled?) side of Burroug...more
Slight and heartbreaking. Burroughs was always more sci-fi and futurist than Beat. A late-life work. As such, it tends a bit more toward the nostalgic.
Feb 10, 2011
Geitwn
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Everyone who is into beats
Shelves:
contemporary,
favourites
Ok, I have no words for this. A full frontal attack at religion, modern society and the human factor itself. Absolutely brilliant.
It was my first Burroughs book. Strong thoughts and words. Interesting development of story.
I don't remember what it's about. I just remember it was easy to read and I enjoyed it.
Bizarre, but fascinating... made me laugh, too!
An unusual tale. Short, and worth pondering.
easy read looking forward to more from him
Burroughs has done so much better...
Starts out with a retired pirate captain studying lemurs and fifty pages later mankind is wiped out.
Lots of of interesting ideas and images that just kind of stumble around, pretending to be a story. It sort of all comes together at the end, but I think that's more a happy accident than anything planned by Burroughs. He just happened to stop typing there.
Despite that, it was all fairly entertaining and got me thinking.
Mostly about how a man goes from being a drug addict to obsessing over lemurs...more
Lots of of interesting ideas and images that just kind of stumble around, pretending to be a story. It sort of all comes together at the end, but I think that's more a happy accident than anything planned by Burroughs. He just happened to stop typing there.
Despite that, it was all fairly entertaining and got me thinking.
Mostly about how a man goes from being a drug addict to obsessing over lemurs...more
This was my first experience in reading William S. Burroughs, and of course I start with one of his more obscure works. Having read this, I'll definitely have to read his more well-known stuff.
If you are a fan of Mr. Burroughs already and have not read Ghost of Chance, treat yourself to it. It's short - 58 small, lightly typeset pages - and can be read entirely in one relatively quick sitting. And I think it is best read all at once, the better to appreciate the links between each section.
If you are a fan of Mr. Burroughs already and have not read Ghost of Chance, treat yourself to it. It's short - 58 small, lightly typeset pages - and can be read entirely in one relatively quick sitting. And I think it is best read all at once, the better to appreciate the links between each section.
Excellent. An allegory for environmental destruction, Ghost Of Chance is short and anything but sweet. We get a fairly well focused William with very little of the wild language and concepts I’m used to from Burroughs. It’s like he was a man on a mission. Hard to believe Burroughs passed away fourteen years ago.
One of Burroughs' last works written when he discovered his love of animals, about the lemurs in Madagascar: “The ears were large, flaring forward, the eyes limpid amber, in which the pupil floated like a glittering jewel, changing color with shifts of the light: obsidian, emerald, ruby, opal, amethyst, diamond.”
Strange rambling sludge, like most of Burroughs's work, but not as interesting. The only part that sticks in my memory was something about strange cave paintings, but even that I'm not sure of anymore.
Exploring Burroughs is an adventure -- and I've barely scratched the surface.
Creepy and cool. Just like the man himself. Not long but not easy. Enjoy!
I am generally not a big fan of Burroughs, however this book is fantastic.
End of the world!
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William Seward Burroughs Jnr. always looked like the straight man among the Beat Generation, but his writing - violent, satirical, scatological, pornographic - makes the others look tame.
Burroughs was born into middle-class respectability and after studying English at Harvard and medicine in Vienna, trained as a glider pilot with the American military but was discharged as unfit for service in 194...more
More about William S. Burroughs...
Burroughs was born into middle-class respectability and after studying English at Harvard and medicine in Vienna, trained as a glider pilot with the American military but was discharged as unfit for service in 194...more
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“Panic is the sudden realization that everything around you is alive.”
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“The ears were large, flaring forward, the eyes limpid amber, in which the pupil floated like a glittering jewel, changing color with shifts of the light: obsidian, emerald, ruby, opal, amethyst, diamond.”
—
3 people liked it
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