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Cities of the Red Night (The Red Night Trilogy #1)

3.83 of 5 stars 3.83 · rating details · 2,321 ratings · 119 reviews

While young men wage war against an evil empire of zealous mutants, the population of this modern inferno is afflicted with the epidemic of a radioactive virus. An opium-infused apocalyptic vision from the legendary author of Naked Lunch is the first of the trilogy with The Places of the Dead Roads and his final novel, The Western Plains.

Paperback, 352 pages

Published May 4th 2001 by Picador (first published 1981)

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Jan 09, 2013 Arthur Graham rated it 5 of 5 stars

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 a bizarre hanging/sex cult. It is worth noting that hanging and the spontaneous erections/ejaculations induced by this mode of execution factor heavily into both tales, at times serving as the litera...more 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 a bizarre hanging/sex cult. It is worth noting that hanging and the spontaneous erections/ejaculations induced by this mode of execution factor heavily into both tales, at times serving as the literal and symbolic connection between the two. Looking to the invocation, we find that the book itself is dedicated (amongst many others) to:

"Ix Tab, Goddess of Ropes and Snares, patroness of those who hang themselves, to Schmuun, the Silent One, twin brother of Ix Tab, to Xolotl the Unformed, Lord of Rebirth, to Aguchi, Master of Ejaculations, to Osiris and Amen in phallic form, to Hex Chun Chan, the Dangerous One, to Ah Pook, the Destroyer, to the Great Old One and the Star Beast, to Pan, God of Panic, to the nameless gods of dispersal and emptiness, to Hassan i Sabbah, Master of Assassins, [and to] all the scribes and artists and practitioners of magic through whom these spirits have been manifested...."

This intercultural pantheon of creative and destructive deities embodies the underlying mythos of the novel, which centers on transmutation of the soul through the simultaneous experience of orgasm and bodily death. Suggested is the notion of the spirit itself erupting from the inflamed, blistering body, its distinctive musky aroma being that of the “Red Fever” (a.k.a. Virus B-23), a disease originally endemic to the ancient mythical cities for which the book is named: Tamaghis, Ba’dan, Yass-Waddah, Waghdas, Naufana, and Ghadis. In one early episode, the enigmatic Dr. Peterson explains his theory on the virus:

"Now let us consider the symptoms of Virus B-23: fever, rash, a characteristic odor, sexual frenzies, obsession with sex and death.... Is this so totally strange and alien? [...] We know that a consuming passion can produce physical symptoms ... fever ... loss of appetite ... even allergic reactions ... and few conditions are more obsessional and potentially self-destructive than love. Are not the symptoms of Virus B-23 simply the symptoms of what we are pleased to call ‘love’? Eve, we are told, was made from Adam’s rib ... so a hepatitis virus was once a healthy liver cell. If you will excuse me, ladies, nothing personal ... we are all tainted by viral origins."

This equating of human biology and behavior with that of a viral organism is perhaps nothing new, but in Cities of the Red Night it is employed as a vital first premise to the thesis postulated by the Western Lands trilogy, which this book serves to open. In the world put forth by Burroughs, it is the soul itself which is the virus, bound to spread from one corporeal form to the next, at least until it it finds a host hardy enough to transcend life as we know it.(less)

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Jun 22, 2012 Mike Kleine rated it 1 of 5 stars

There are times when you know something is probably good and you know others think its probably good and for some reason, you should probably read that something but no matter how many times you try, you just can’t ever get over the mind-fuck that ensues. And yes, there are good mind-fucks but sometimes, there are also bad mind-fucks. This one is a terrible mind-fuck.

The premise is awesome: lots of people are dying because of an epidemic/plague/what-have-you and some queer stuff takes place (it...more There are times when you know something is probably good and you know others think its probably good and for some reason, you should probably read that something but no matter how many times you try, you just can’t ever get over the mind-fuck that ensues. And yes, there are good mind-fucks but sometimes, there are also bad mind-fucks. This one is a terrible mind-fuck.

The premise is awesome: lots of people are dying because of an epidemic/plague/what-have-you and some queer stuff takes place (it is Burroughs after all) and then there aspects of time-travel and alien beings.

“Great, fantastic… I can’t wait to read this book. Sign me up!”

That’s what I thought the first time I tried to read this book, back in 2009. CITIES OF THE RED NIGHT is one of those books you really must read in spurts. It’s just so fucking dense and confusing that, I feel, it’s less confusing to take one-step at a time, or in my case, one day at a time. I tried to read it for a month. I couldn’t.

After about 200 pages, I couldn’t do it anymore. The mind-fuckery was oozing into my social life and friends said I was starting to look glum and down and sad, all for no apparent reason. That's because they didn't realize/know I was reading CITIES OF THE RED NIGHT. I was too busy thinking about the damn book and asking myself why it was so damn hard to understand.

Then I thought: is it maybe because he’s British? But then I realized that was a stupid notion since there are plenty of other British authors I know and love. So I guess I tried to read this again, this time December 2011 and yeah, I would read this during bathroom breaks over the holidays and yes, I even started from the beginning, again.

This time around though, I found myself liking the beginning a whole lot more, maybe because I already sort of knew what to expect. But yeah, I read about 10 pages a day and kept at it. Until sometime in January, where it just got to reading seeming like a chore—which is a problem really since I think reading is usually fun. But if I dread going to the bathroom (since it is in the bathroom that I forced myself to read CITIES OF THE RED NIGHT) then something is wrong.

And that’s when I decided to toss the book. Or, I guess, erm… pass it off as a present to some friends. Poor bastards.

Edit: As it turns out, Burroughs isn't even British...
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May 12, 2008 J rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: novels

Having recently read The Rolling Stone Book Of The Beats got me interested in checking out some Beat writing. It's been a long time since I read any Burroughs or Kerouac. The last thing was Burroughs' Exterminator!, which I really enjoyed, so I thought I'd have a go at Cities Of The Red Night. It's definitely getting into Burroughs with a bang. Non linear as they get, this story is impossible to explain. What would be the point? I'd say it's a metaphor for rulers and the ruled and the dream of o...more

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Nov 21, 2007 Mike rated it 3 of 5 stars

WSB doing bathhouse steampunk: a cut-up tale of boys, pirates and cowboys, queens, ejaculating weapons and wangs, private dicks and drugs all set in cities, deserts and jungles situated at various point in time and reality. There isn't much in the way of character development, most of the players are adolescent in form (as well as sexuality). Theatrical throughout to the point of sometimes becoming a gay burlesque within a gay burlesque. Regardless the chemical additives running in his veins, Mr...more

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Sep 07, 2010 Frances rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, want-to-read-again, fiction

This was my first (and so far only, although I am about to start The Place of Dead Roads) William S. Burroughs book, so I don't know how it compares to his other work. The cut-up technique makes the plot almost impossible to follow, there are naked boys everywhere, it jumps wildly back and forth in time and main character, so if you want a straightforward read choose something else.

HOWEVER, if you want something that is highly artistic, unique, and slightly shocking, go for it! This has become o...more

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Feb 28, 2009 Andy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: jazznbeats, gay-lesbian

AIDS-era Burroughs tale of a killer virus, pirate shenanigans and boys doing what boys do best(guess). The plot is a dog's breakfast but I'd read it in small spurts, yes spurts - we need to use that word in a Burroughs review.

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Oct 29, 2012 Robert Kaiser rated it 5 of 5 stars

I loved Cities of the Red Night, as well as the Red Night trilogy as a whole. I have been through the trilogy twice now, and plan on reading them all at least one more time. When discussing literature with friends, I always tell them I think Bill Burroughs should be ranked up there with the greatest of American writers and that, if it weren't for the level of homophobia in this country, he would be considered the American James Joyce. I was an honors student in a university English program, and...more

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Oct 29, 2011 Scott F rated it 5 of 5 stars

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, until eventually you have no idea what you're reading. But this is misdirection, and here lies Burroughs' genius: even as you try to make sense of the inexplicable, he is painting in your peripheral vis...more

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Feb 21, 2012 Nicholas rated it 2 of 5 stars

After previously reading " The Western Lands" which marked a move away from the sex fantasy side of the authors nature into a more Egyptian magical realm,I thought I'd try this earlier work,only to be assailed by erect penises and rectal mucus at frequent intervals.Apart from that! the two intertwining stories of a modern day private eye and a band of 18th century pirates worked well,although inevitably at the end it dissolved into an almost incomprehensible time distorted orgy of sex and viole...more

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Mar 17, 2011 James Newman rated it 5 of 5 stars

"Cities" affords a logical conclusion to the various literary techniques and experiments employed by Burroughs over three prolific if somewhat confused decades of work. The straight forward narrative style of his debut novel "Junky" is thankfully reinvented peppered with a Chandler type detective story which sets the early theme of the book. This overlaps a pirate story based on the apparently factual adventures of Captain Mission and his colony of Libertatians. The book develops to suggest an a...more

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Mar 08, 2009 Mike rated it 3 of 5 stars

Guess I needed a fix…but not sure why?

CITIES OF THE RED NIGHT is more “readable” than NAKED LUNCH…kind uh. The beginning is intriguing…then there are the cities of the red night which, I am not sure, may have been a long description of a smutty delirium. I began to merely hear the sentences, opposed to listening to them…so I may have been unable to fully appreciate its true essence. If the text contains symbolic meaning, allegory, a concrete message, a consistent character, a consistent plot, o...more

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Mar 13, 2008 Eric Phetteplace rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: prose

meh. worst Burroughs I've read. he tried too hard to make it have a plot, and it sort of revived at the end when it was more fragmented, but mostly fell flat. it has the same cool elements as all his writing: drugs, aliens, sodomy, weapons, magic. but the language just isn't nearly as potent as he is elsewhere.

also made me lose some respect for Ken Kesey, who called this "Burroughs' best work." Ouch, that was stupid.

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Jan 03, 2009 Nathaniel rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Burroughs can introduce himself:

"The usual costume is boots and chaps, bare ass and crotch. Some have tight-fitting chamois pants up to midthigh and shirts that come to the navel. Many are naked except for boots, gun belts, and hang-noose scarves. Nooses dangle every ten feet from a beam down the center of the room."

"Streaks of phosphorescent shit, a smell like rotten solder, burning shivering sick, he needs the Blue Stuff. Dry blue crystals of snow on the floor stir in an eddy of wind and a cry...more Burroughs can introduce himself:

"The usual costume is boots and chaps, bare ass and crotch. Some have tight-fitting chamois pants up to midthigh and shirts that come to the navel. Many are naked except for boots, gun belts, and hang-noose scarves. Nooses dangle every ten feet from a beam down the center of the room."

"Streaks of phosphorescent shit, a smell like rotten solder, burning shivering sick, he needs the Blue Stuff. Dry blue crystals of snow on the floor stir in an eddy of wind and a crystal spark boy takes shape, naked, radiant, his long needle fingertips dripping the deadly Joy Juice, bright red hair floating about his head, disk eyes flashing erogenous luminescence, his erect phallus smooth as seashell with a tip of pink crystal, he is like some dazzlingly beautiful undersea creature dripping deadly venom."

"Cities of the Red Night" is perpetually climaxing. Whereas, for other authors, it might prove a diverting or comical (unwritten) pastime to imagine what it might be like if all of their characters--from every time and space--were to meet over drinks, Burroughs can't seem to resist transporting his entire cast into hallucinatory, ritualistic, gay bacchanals, frequently spiced up with hangings or gun play and always featuring copious technicolor (and sometimes poisonous) ejaculations. During and in between these sensory explosions, his sex-ready, fringe-inhabiting adolescents wage war against the establishments that Burroughs doesn't like, for instance, the church, imperial forces and women.

The stories that drive the first two "books" of this novel are both gripping (and comparatively light on the orgies). A detective involves himself more and more deeply in the globe-trotting hunt for a missing rich boy and a trio of young men join a collective of revolutionaries in Central America who are fighting in the name of freedom (sexual and otherwise) to expel Spain and the Catholic church from the hemisphere.
Burroughs' prose is totally appropriate to the tough guy detective and the military strategizing of his commundards. But then, in book three, from which the novel takes its name, drugs start writing the book, which shifts into a world of five (entirely fictional) dueling cities. The anchors of the first 243 pages come loose and swirl around with fever victims, imaginary drugs, vendettas, hangings and sodomy. For a Burroughs purist, this might be quite satisfactory, since his dissociative methods and provocative subject matter trump representative story-telling. But, I was let down and disengaged.

Still, this was worth the read for the simple fact that Burroughs pulled together more than 200 consecutive pages of relatively logical and linear prose and he is a skillful, imaginative writer with an entirely decadent sense of humor. For anyone who wishes to continue from where this book leaves off, "The Place of Dead Roads" offers a sequel in the same vein that is not at all disappointing.(less)

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Mar 17, 2013 Said Bouziane rated it 5 of 5 stars

One of my favourite reads. At first I found it completely confusing and even assaulting, but once the shock faded away, I found I couldn't stop reading. Letting Burroughs direct me on a hardcore psychedelic bad trip through his subconscious was one of the best things I'd ever let a book do. It challenged so many of my notions about life, society, prejudice (race, sexuality, etc.), and ultimately story telling that I think this is one trilogy I'll be re-reading for the rest of my life.

I suppose...more

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Aug 17, 2012 Sam rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Having just finished my first reading of Cities of the Red Night i am stricken by the notion that i have completely wasted my time. The narrative of the first two acts, though apparently incomprehensible and very abstract at times, was quite fulfilling and i assumed that Burroughs would be able to bring the different narrative strands together and resolve his story. Alas, he does not do this very well or at least in any way satisfying to me.
I am perfectly willing to accept the possibility that i...more

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Feb 17, 2013 Perry Whitford rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Virus 23 is a virulent and fatal disease that causes sexual frenzies and violent death and is threatening to break out into a pandemic. The virus has been latent since pre-history, before the existence of white-skinned peoples, caused by a meteorite / black hole incident in the Gobi Desert, where peaceful townships suffered mutations when the radiation triggered the virus and turned paradise into The Cities of the Red Night.
Burroughs, in an uncharacteristically (mostly) coherent vein, adopts (mo...more Virus 23 is a virulent and fatal disease that causes sexual frenzies and violent death and is threatening to break out into a pandemic. The virus has been latent since pre-history, before the existence of white-skinned peoples, caused by a meteorite / black hole incident in the Gobi Desert, where peaceful townships suffered mutations when the radiation triggered the virus and turned paradise into The Cities of the Red Night.
Burroughs, in an uncharacteristically (mostly) coherent vein, adopts (mostly) linear twin narratives that coalesce to reveal the history and purpose of the virus, whilst explicating and indulging in his usual quack theories and illicit chemical and sexual practices at every step along the way.

In one story, a gang of libertarian pirates in the first years of the 18th century, modeled on the historical figure of Captain Mission, establish a free city in Panama and plot to offer their Articles to the whole world. In the second we get a contemporary detective story, with Clem Snide on the trail of ritualistic sex murderers with an apocalyptic agenda.
Cities of the Red Night is the first part of a trilogy. I have read the third part too, The Western Lands, so I know that it is a trilogy of beliefs and concepts rather than a fictional trilogy.
Nobody writes like Burroughs, nor about the things he writes about. I am not suggesting that anyone else should, there is something so insane and awful about what he does - "Children's books against a Bosch background" is a good self-description which appears in this novel.

But there is no question that he is an intense, powerful writer, in small doses at least. With this novel he actually has some success sustaining a comprehensive narrative for once, but in truth things somewhat implode in the last third, despite the astral projections and time traveling devices that are adopted to pull the threads together. I read it before, twenty years ago now, and before reading it again I wondered if I had only imagined that the ending was something of a mess, but no, it really is something of a mess!
Still, he almost pulls it off, and what's not to like about a writer that can come on all sensible and didactic whilst talking crap like this: "The only thing not prerecorded in a prerecorded universe are the prerecordings themselves. The copies can only repeat themselves word for word. A virus is a copy".
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May 05, 2013 James Coon rated it 4 of 5 stars

reading this book when it was first published was a stunning experience. Simply reading it, stone cold sober, was a disorienting and psychedelic experience of the first order. It caused me to see paintings come alive and hallways to tilt as if I were in the cabinet of Dr Caligari. I loaned it to several friends at the time and they all reported the same experience. Mind you, none of us used drugs or drank to excess, so it was the book having this effect. It was eerily prescient about aides and t...more

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Mar 15, 2011 Jason rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: magic-realism

Burroughs's best, with reservations. In the intriguing parts of this 'everything AND the kitchen sink thrown-in' book you get (amongst MANY varying plots and scenes) non-Disneyesque liberal-minded pirate culture, Clem Snide's 'private asshole' detection into wealthy men seeking immortality through sodomy-strangulation, and an episode of a possible black hole in China's distant past that breeds a modern 'radiation virus,' B-23. All of these are wild, but solid narratives that are ruined by Burrou...more

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Jan 06, 2010 Ryan rated it 3 of 5 stars

The book careens wildly through a pastiche of pirates, cowboys, guns, gays, black magic, scifi and guerilla tactics. There is some sort of plot but it is difficult to follow, though less cut-up than Naked Lunch. Burroughs displays a knack for imagery that hits like a punchline and a fascination with the grotesque.

The general thrust of the novel is depictions of various cities across vast time spans, some apparently satirical. Pirates capture south american cities and create a radically freethin...more

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Apr 07, 2012 Jim rated it 4 of 5 stars

It's been years since I've read Burroughs......I remember him as being brilliant.....one of those authors who becomes an obsession.....in the same way, atleast for me, that Mervyn Peake, and Samuel Beckett were obsessions, but not comparing them otherwise.)

Burroughs was brilliant. I need to re read some of him. Probably starting with this Trilogy.

(I think it's going to be the Year of the Trilogy (or greater) with me. Reading the Baroque Cycle now. (Which is another ball of wax entirely) Maybe...more

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Nov 14, 2012 Steven Shroyer rated it 5 of 5 stars

I read this book back in 2006 when I began college at a small branch of Kent State University in New Philadelphia. 6 years later and now living in a small apartment in the same town I decided to re-visit this book.

How to describe this book in terms of plot? To put it in general terms there are 2 stories, one about a young man who joins a ship's crew in 1702 and ends up becoming involved in a revolt against the Spanish in South America, and one about Clem Snide a Private Eye(or "Private Asshole"...more I read this book back in 2006 when I began college at a small branch of Kent State University in New Philadelphia. 6 years later and now living in a small apartment in the same town I decided to re-visit this book.

How to describe this book in terms of plot? To put it in general terms there are 2 stories, one about a young man who joins a ship's crew in 1702 and ends up becoming involved in a revolt against the Spanish in South America, and one about Clem Snide a Private Eye(or "Private Asshole" as he refers to himself) who is investigating the disappearance of 2 young men. This however is a loose definition of the plot as Burroughs begins going in a different direction with each subsequent part in the novel.

This book is one of the more odd and often times disturbing books I have read in my 25 years. Throughout the book there are descriptions of gay sex, auto erotic asphyxia, surreal creatures, and constant opiate use. One part in the book even goes as far to describe an orgy in vivid detail even going as far as to describe the smells and sounds of it. It is this frank description, one of many in the book, that made this novel one of the 3 books in my so called "deflowering" as a reader and a college student, the other being "The Baby Jesus Butt Plug" and "Apeshit" By Carlton Mellick III.

Is it a good book? Depends on your taste as a reader. Burroughs is often times difficult to follow in terms of plot and he tends to go all the way in terms of sexual content and boundary pushing scenarios. If you enjoy the films of David Cronenberg before he became more drama oriented, or enjoy the Japanese Cyberpunk sub genre of film, then this is your book. If you like odd ball fiction or underground genres like Bizarro, then this is your book. If you are just looking for a book for the next book club night and have only heard about Burroughs because of his book "Naked Lunch" and not much else, you're better off picking up "The Life of Pi" or some other book like "The Grapes of Wrath".

So if you're feeling daring, give this book a try, and remember "Nothing is True" and "Everything is Permitted" (less)

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Mar 04, 2012 Laurence Thompson rated it 5 of 5 stars

The start of Burroughs' final trilogy, and perhaps the best thing to come out of American literature in the last 25 years. It will ensnare you like his earlier work whilst taking you apart piece by piece more methodically but as effectively as Naked Lunch or his Nova trilogy. If his early experimental work constituted an assault on language, The Western Lands is when Burroughs begins his offensive against everything else. The result is an ontological ungrounding so fundamental it's as powerful a...more

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Mar 08, 2013 Mat rated it 4 of 5 stars

A Warning of the Faustian Decline to Come........and it has already started.

I'm not sure why but this was a really enjoyable book to read over the summer. (Read this during the summer of 2011)
Many criticisms have been levelled at this book. However, I feel the reviewer of December 2, 2005 on amazon.com in particular has hit the nail on the head. It is not easy reading and is definitely not for the faint-hearted or prudish.

As the above reviewer points out, this trilogy is for thinking people an...more A Warning of the Faustian Decline to Come........and it has already started.

I'm not sure why but this was a really enjoyable book to read over the summer. (Read this during the summer of 2011)
Many criticisms have been levelled at this book. However, I feel the reviewer of December 2, 2005 on amazon.com in particular has hit the nail on the head. It is not easy reading and is definitely not for the faint-hearted or prudish.

As the above reviewer points out, this trilogy is for thinking people and while Burroughs' devastating exposure of human lust and depravity may turn some people off his work, to my mind he is much more open and honest in his assessments of 'the human condition'. So if people are turned off by its homoerotic lewdness or find other aspects of the narrative repulsive (such as all the hanging scenes which are in fact an exaggerated indictment of capital punishment which he was avidly against!), that's fine, but to my mind they are missing out on seeing the bigger picture of Burroughs' message and warning to Manking - the real messages and themes underlying Burroughs' work.

First of all, know what an artist is trying to do! Some artists like to shock because that is the only way they will get their points across to the lay audience. This might seem like a really inappropriate example but remember the killer from Seven (played by Kevin Spacey) - he said in one of the closing scenes of the film that, "sometimes you have to hit people over the head with a sledgehammer for them to notice" or something to that effect - well Burroughs was all about doing this in a figurative sense.

At times it reads like a post-holocaust (divine?) comedy, at other times like a jump-through-time pulp novel and at other times like a moralistic diatribe. Each of the cities corresponds to one in which Burroughs was firmly ensconced for some considerable length of time. I'm pretty sure that at least two of the real cities referred to obliquely in the text are Mexico City (remember Joan Vollmer Adams, Burroughs wife, and the notorious William Tell incident?) and Tangiers (where Kerouac and Ginsy helped typed up his Naked Lunch novel). The third city could either be Paris (where he lived for a while with other beat writers like Gregory Corso in the 'Beat Hotel') or more likely New York City.

All in all though, this book, in my opinion, is pure art at its best - challenging, confrontational, notorious even! and above-all, absolutely visceral and riveting reading.
I think it may have been Burroughs himself who once said, 'it is the job of the artist to raise people's consciousness'. Burroughs obviously sees humanity heading full-speed towards a gaping abyss and seems to be warning us that we may be on auto-pilot towards our own destruction unless we dramatically change gears right now.

The final trilogy by Burroughs is excellent. The only book by Burroughs that I possibly like better than this one is the final instalment, The Western Lands, which is unbelievably good. (less)

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Jun 24, 2012 Mike Kleine rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

There are times when you know something is probably good and you know others think its probably good and for some reason, you should probably read that something but no matter how many times you try, you just can’t ever get over the mind-fuck that ensues. And yes, there are good mind-fucks but sometimes, there are also bad mind-fucks. This one is a terrible mind-fuck.

The premise is awesome: lots of people are dying because of an epidemic/plague/what-have-you and some queer stuff takes place (it...more There are times when you know something is probably good and you know others think its probably good and for some reason, you should probably read that something but no matter how many times you try, you just can’t ever get over the mind-fuck that ensues. And yes, there are good mind-fucks but sometimes, there are also bad mind-fucks. This one is a terrible mind-fuck.

The premise is awesome: lots of people are dying because of an epidemic/plague/what-have-you and some queer stuff takes place (it is Burroughs after all) and then there aspects of time-travel and alien beings.

“Great, fantastic… I can’t wait to read this book. Sign me up!”

That’s what I thought the first time I tried to read this book, back in 2009. CITIES OF THE RED NIGHT is one of those books you really must read in spurts. It’s just so fucking dense and confusing that, I feel, it’s less confusing to take one-step at a time, or in my case, one day at a time. I tried to read it for a month. I couldn’t.

After about 200 pages, I couldn’t do it anymore. The mind-fuckery was oozing into my social life and friends said I was starting to look glum and down and sad, all for no apparent reason. That's because they didn't realize/know I was reading CITIES OF THE RED NIGHT. I was too busy thinking about the damn book and asking myself why it was so damn hard to understand.

Then I thought: is it maybe because he’s British? But then I realized that was a stupid notion since there are plenty of other British authors I know and love. So I guess I tried to read this again, this time December 2011 and yeah, I would read this during bathroom breaks over the holidays and yes, I even started from the beginning, again.

This time around though, I found myself liking the beginning a whole lot more, maybe because I already sort of knew what to expect. But yeah, I read about 10 pages a day and kept at it. Until sometime in January, where it just got to reading seeming like a chore—which is a problem really since I think reading is usually fun. But if I dread going to the bathroom (since it is in the bathroom that I forced myself to read CITIES OF THE RED NIGHT) then something is wrong.

And that’s when I decided to toss the book. Or, I guess, erm… pass it off as a present to some friends.

Poor bastards. (I still think this edition has the best cover though!)
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Aug 18, 2008 Leile Brittan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Eh, definitely a great premise, but I feel like old Bill Burroughs just doesn't pull it off this time around. Really in the end, the whole thing just seems like a mess. Don't get me wrong -- I don't have a problem with the fact that there is a non-linear storyline, or that almost all of the characters are homosexual drug addicts. It's just that all of those elements are also at the forefront of the second novel of the same trilogy (Place of the Dead Roads), and that instance I feels like he succ...more

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Nov 10, 2012 Arax Miltiadous rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

το magnum Opus του Μπάροουζ λένε... το αποκορύφωμα της ταλαιπωρημένης διάνοιας του...
ναι θα συμφωνήσω παρότι για μένα το συγκεκριμένο συναγωνίζεται στήθος με στήθος με το Γυμνό Γεύμα.
τρομακτικό- ταυτόχρονα αχαλίνωτα ερωτικό, θανάσιμα εθιστικό --πολυδιάστατο.
αποτυπώνει με ακρίβεια θεωρώ το χάος της ψυχής και του μυαλού του δημιουργού του.
ένα χάος που παντρεύει επιτυχημένα θάνατο και ομορφιά...
θα έδινα 5 αστέρια μα ... τα κρατάω για πρόκληση.

" ΤΙΠΟΤΑ ΔΕΝ ΕΙΝΑΙ ΑΛΗΘΙΝΟ ΛΟΙΠΟΝ
ΟΛΑ ΕΠΙΤΡΈΠΟΝΤΑΙ!"

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Feb 27, 2008 Bradley rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: from-library

Five stars for the first two hundred pages. After that, not so good.

I really loved this book in high school. Not anymore. I cannot handle non-linear books right now.

The first two hundred pages uses a dual narrative with the occasional chapter related to a virus. One story is about a pirate utopia while the other is about a private detective. I liked them both a lot. It was nice to read Burroughs using a hardboiled style with a detective.

After about two hundred pages, the stories collapse. Burro...more

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Oct 12, 2011 Zachary Rawlins rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is one of my favorite Burroughs novels. Adhering a bit closer to a conventional novel style, its more readable than Novel Express or the other cutup novels. Combining elements of a western, occultism, and science fiction, with a healthy dose of extremely explicit gay sex and hard drug use, just so you know who wrote it. Like all of Burroughs work, it is evocative and powerful. Unlike some of his work, it is also relatively approachable.

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May 15, 2012 John Bittrich rated it 4 of 5 stars

Maybe it's because I read this book out of sequence with its follow-up The Place of Dead Roads (next up for me is the third part of this triptych, The Western Lands), but in my opinion the subject matter is more diverse in this first piece of the trilogy than it was in the Place of Dead Roads. Perhaps the references to actual, historical pirate utopia Libertatia hit home for me more than the western cowboy act of Kim Carsons and his posse, but whatever the reason I am of the mind that Cities of...more

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Feb 03, 2013 Luigi Lorato rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Forse ho letto questo libro nel modo sbagliato, cercando di trovare un filo logico nella storia quando evidentemente non c'era
Ho apprezzato tuttavia le parti in cui la narrazione era meno confusa(specialmente nella prima parte del libro, con Clem Snide e Noah Blake), poi non ci ho capito pi�� niente
Probabilmente dovr�� rileggerlo pi�� in l�� e cercare di capire quello che molti definiscono un capolavoro..

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About William S. Burroughs

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

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Quotes from Cities of the Red Night

“This book is dedicated to the Ancient Ones, to the Lord of Abominations, Humwawa, whose face is a mass of entrails, whose breath is the stench of dung and the perfume of death, Dark Angel of all that is excreted and sours, Lord of Decay, Lord of the Future, who rides on a whispering south wind, to Pazuzu, Lord of Fevers and Plagues, Dark Angel of the Four Winds with rotting genitals from which he howls through sharpened teeth over stricken cities, to Kutulu, the Sleeping Serpent who cannot be summoned, to the Akhkharu, who such the blood of men since they desire to become men, to the Lalussu, who haunt the places of men, to Gelal and Lilit, who invade the beds of men and whose children are born in secret places, to Addu, raiser of storms who can fill the night sky with brightness, to Malah, Lord of Courage and Bravery, to Zahgurim, whose number is twenty-three and who kills in an unnatural fashion, to Zahrim, a warrior among warriors, to Itzamna, Spirit of Early Mists and Showers, to Ix Chel, the Spider-Web-that-Catches-the-Dew-of-Morning, to Zuhuy Kak, Virgin Fire, to Ah Dziz, the Master of Cold, to Kak U Pacat, who works in fire, to Ix Tab, Goddess of Ropes and Snares, patroness of those who hang themselves, to Schmuun, the Silent One, twin brother of Ix Tab, to Xolotl the Unformed, Lord of Rebirth, to Aguchi, Master of Ejaculations, to Osiris and Amen in phallic form, to Hex Chun Chan, the Dangerous One, to Ah Pook, the Destroyer, to the Great Old One and the Star Beast, to Pan, God of Panic, to the nameless gods of dispersal and emptiness, to Hassan i Sabbah, Master of Assassins.

To all the scribes and artists and practitioners of magic through whom these spirits have been manifested….
NOTHING IS TRUE. EVERYTHING IS PERMITTED.” — 12 people liked it

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Cities of the Red Night (The Red Night Trilogy #1)

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