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Blade Runner: A Movie
(The movie got its title from this earlier book)
"In this futuristic screenplay vision of a strife-and-disease-plagued America in 1999, Burroughs finds the cure for a decaying civilization in the medicine practiced by underground physicians and surgeons. These heroic healers, in turn, are aided by 'blade runners,' teenagers who smuggle banned surgical instruments past the watchful eyes of fascistic police. The novel-cum-screenplay follows one of these runners during the course of a race riot and the transfer of instruments between embattled doctors. Above the drama in the streets of New York is a world 'taken over by hang-glider and autogyro gangs, mountaineers and steeplejacks. A sky boy steps off his penthouse into a parachute on guide wires that drop him to a street-level landing... Meanwhile, released animals and reptiles from the zoo and freed fish from the aquarium have control of the rovers and subways. The prose flashes with Burrough's own brand of outrageousness and fantasy." —L.A. Herald Examiner, July 29. 1979
"In this futuristic screenplay vision of a strife-and-disease-plagued America in 1999, Burroughs finds the cure for a decaying civilization in the medicine practiced by underground physicians and surgeons. These heroic healers, in turn, are aided by 'blade runners,' teenagers who smuggle banned surgical instruments past the watchful eyes of fascistic police. The novel-cum-screenplay follows one of these runners during the course of a race riot and the transfer of instruments between embattled doctors. Above the drama in the streets of New York is a world 'taken over by hang-glider and autogyro gangs, mountaineers and steeplejacks. A sky boy steps off his penthouse into a parachute on guide wires that drop him to a street-level landing... Meanwhile, released animals and reptiles from the zoo and freed fish from the aquarium have control of the rovers and subways. The prose flashes with Burrough's own brand of outrageousness and fantasy." —L.A. Herald Examiner, July 29. 1979
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First published January 1, 1979
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About the author
William S. Burroughs
448 books7,038 followersWilliam Seward Burroughs II, (also known by his pen name William Lee) was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, painter, and spoken word performer.
A primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodernist author, he is considered to be "one of the most politically trenchant, culturally influential, and innovative artists of the 20th century".
His influence is considered to have affected a range of popular culture as well as literature. Burroughs wrote 18 novels and novellas, six collections of short stories and four collections of essays.
Five books have been published of his interviews and correspondences. He also collaborated on projects and recordings with numerous performers and musicians, and made many appearances in films.
He was born to a wealthy family in St. Louis, Missouri, grandson of the inventor and founder of the Burroughs Corporation, William Seward Burroughs I, and nephew of public relations manager Ivy Lee. Burroughs began writing essays and journals in early adolescence. He left home in 1932 to attend Harvard University, studied English, and anthropology as a postgraduate, and later attended medical school in Vienna. After being turned down by the Office of Strategic Services and U.S. Navy in 1942 to serve in World War II, he dropped out and became afflicted with the drug addiction that affected him for the rest of his life, while working a variety of jobs. In 1943 while living in New York City, he befriended Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac, the mutually influential foundation of what became the countercultural movement of the Beat Generation.
Much of Burroughs's work is semi-autobiographical, primarily drawn from his experiences as a heroin addict, as he lived throughout Mexico City, London, Paris, Berlin, the South American Amazon and Tangier in Morocco. Finding success with his confessional first novel, Junkie (1953), Burroughs is perhaps best known for his third novel Naked Lunch (1959), a controversy-fraught work that underwent a court case under the U.S. sodomy laws. With Brion Gysin, he also popularized the literary cut-up technique in works such as The Nova Trilogy (1961–64). In 1983, Burroughs was elected to the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, and in 1984 was awarded the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by France. Jack Kerouac called Burroughs the "greatest satirical writer since Jonathan Swift", a reputation he owes to his "lifelong subversion" of the moral, political and economic systems of modern American society, articulated in often darkly humorous sardonicism. J. G. Ballard considered Burroughs to be "the most important writer to emerge since the Second World War", while Norman Mailer declared him "the only American writer who may be conceivably possessed by genius".
Burroughs had one child, William Seward Burroughs III (1947-1981), with his second wife Joan Vollmer. Vollmer died in 1951 in Mexico City. Burroughs was convicted of manslaughter in Vollmer's death, an event that deeply permeated all of his writings. Burroughs died at his home in Lawrence, Kansas, after suffering a heart attack in 1997.
A primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodernist author, he is considered to be "one of the most politically trenchant, culturally influential, and innovative artists of the 20th century".
His influence is considered to have affected a range of popular culture as well as literature. Burroughs wrote 18 novels and novellas, six collections of short stories and four collections of essays.
Five books have been published of his interviews and correspondences. He also collaborated on projects and recordings with numerous performers and musicians, and made many appearances in films.
He was born to a wealthy family in St. Louis, Missouri, grandson of the inventor and founder of the Burroughs Corporation, William Seward Burroughs I, and nephew of public relations manager Ivy Lee. Burroughs began writing essays and journals in early adolescence. He left home in 1932 to attend Harvard University, studied English, and anthropology as a postgraduate, and later attended medical school in Vienna. After being turned down by the Office of Strategic Services and U.S. Navy in 1942 to serve in World War II, he dropped out and became afflicted with the drug addiction that affected him for the rest of his life, while working a variety of jobs. In 1943 while living in New York City, he befriended Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac, the mutually influential foundation of what became the countercultural movement of the Beat Generation.
Much of Burroughs's work is semi-autobiographical, primarily drawn from his experiences as a heroin addict, as he lived throughout Mexico City, London, Paris, Berlin, the South American Amazon and Tangier in Morocco. Finding success with his confessional first novel, Junkie (1953), Burroughs is perhaps best known for his third novel Naked Lunch (1959), a controversy-fraught work that underwent a court case under the U.S. sodomy laws. With Brion Gysin, he also popularized the literary cut-up technique in works such as The Nova Trilogy (1961–64). In 1983, Burroughs was elected to the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, and in 1984 was awarded the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by France. Jack Kerouac called Burroughs the "greatest satirical writer since Jonathan Swift", a reputation he owes to his "lifelong subversion" of the moral, political and economic systems of modern American society, articulated in often darkly humorous sardonicism. J. G. Ballard considered Burroughs to be "the most important writer to emerge since the Second World War", while Norman Mailer declared him "the only American writer who may be conceivably possessed by genius".
Burroughs had one child, William Seward Burroughs III (1947-1981), with his second wife Joan Vollmer. Vollmer died in 1951 in Mexico City. Burroughs was convicted of manslaughter in Vollmer's death, an event that deeply permeated all of his writings. Burroughs died at his home in Lawrence, Kansas, after suffering a heart attack in 1997.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews
February 16, 2016
This is not about the movie starring Harrison Ford. That movie, as you probably know, was based on the classic Philip K. Dick novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?.
This book does contain many of the typical Burroughsian themes - underground drugs, dystopian cityscapes and of course a small dose of homoerotic sex. However, this book has a great story - it imagines a future time, or should I actually say THE PRESENT, in which antibiotics are no longer effective and in which medicine has advanced so much that overpopulation has become a very serious problem. During such dark times, medicine goes underground. You want to get an operation or some special pharmaceuticals that are not available on the market? You can find both in the underground medicine and surgery market. And the fate of many seem to lie in the hands of the bladerunners, the 'messenger boys' essentially, who are commissioned to run very dangerous missions in which they must deliver badly-needed medicines or surgical implements (such as blades/scalpels) into the hands of underground practitioners.
Even though this is a short book, written in the format of a serious of movies shots, it features some of Burroughs' best humor and well-written sentences. The only reason I docked it one star is that Burroughs recycles and rehashes many of the same themes that you can see in his other books. But overall, this is a really entertaining and quick read from El Hombre Invisible. Highly recommended for Burroughs fans or fans of dark sci-fi.
This book does contain many of the typical Burroughsian themes - underground drugs, dystopian cityscapes and of course a small dose of homoerotic sex. However, this book has a great story - it imagines a future time, or should I actually say THE PRESENT, in which antibiotics are no longer effective and in which medicine has advanced so much that overpopulation has become a very serious problem. During such dark times, medicine goes underground. You want to get an operation or some special pharmaceuticals that are not available on the market? You can find both in the underground medicine and surgery market. And the fate of many seem to lie in the hands of the bladerunners, the 'messenger boys' essentially, who are commissioned to run very dangerous missions in which they must deliver badly-needed medicines or surgical implements (such as blades/scalpels) into the hands of underground practitioners.
Even though this is a short book, written in the format of a serious of movies shots, it features some of Burroughs' best humor and well-written sentences. The only reason I docked it one star is that Burroughs recycles and rehashes many of the same themes that you can see in his other books. But overall, this is a really entertaining and quick read from El Hombre Invisible. Highly recommended for Burroughs fans or fans of dark sci-fi.
July 12, 2009
Pretty much totally incoherent in narrative terms, like some notes toward an apocalypse written on the back of a cocktail napkin. But has lots of utterly cool images. This began as a treatment of a screenplay based on a novel of similar name by Alan E. Nourse, but the only resemblance born to that earlier work is the sense of a medical apocalypse with its commensurate medico-criminal underground. Ample stuff to be ripped off by later writers. Some of Burroughs' humor shows throughout, making it entertaining even though it doesn't develop a narrative thread, really.
As essentially a series of images and summaries, it is far from a novel or even a novella, but is way cool nonetheless.
As essentially a series of images and summaries, it is far from a novel or even a novella, but is way cool nonetheless.
March 6, 2008
Why the film based on the P. K. Dick story bore this title has always mystified me. This is one of Burroughs' simpler bks but I'll always love it for one scene: a group of freaks are walking down the street minding their own business when some intolerant bullies start bearing down on them in their car, harrassing them. The freaks see that if the car keeps speeding toward them it'll intersect w/ an oncoming truck that the car-driver can't see. It does & the car's annihilated. How many hundreds (or thousands) of times have I been harrassed on the street where having some poetic justice like this wd've come in handy?
March 2, 2016
dear god it's me jenni, why did i waste my time reading burroughs again
February 4, 2025
3.5/5
To vivlio periexei polla apo ta typika themata tou Burroughs.
Ypogeia narkwtika,skoteina topia kai fysika,mia mikri dosi omoerwtikou sex. Wstoso sto vivlio parousiazetai mia mellontiki epoxi pou afenos ta antiviotika den einai pleon apotelesmatika kai afeterou h iatriki exei proxorisei toso poly me apotelesma o yperplithismos na exei ginei ena poly sovaro provlima.Kata tin diarkeia tetoiwn dyskolwn kairon,h iatriki phgainei ypogeia.H moira pollwn fainetai na vrisketai sta xeria twn Bladerunners,twn aggelioforwn ousiastika,stous opoious exei anatethei h ektelesi poly epikindynwn apostolwn, na paradidoun farmaka kai xeirourgika ergaleia sta xeria ypogeiwn therapeftwn.Me afton ton tropo eksasfalizoun douleia stous paranomous giatrous tin idia stigmh pou to kratos exei xasei ton elegxo tou kosmou.
Parolo pou einai sintomo kai grammeno me tin morfi kinimatografikou planou,diathetei xioumor kai kalogrammenes protaseis.Sinistatai stous opadous tou siggrafea kai stous latreis tis skoteinis epistimonikis fantasias
To vivlio periexei polla apo ta typika themata tou Burroughs.
Ypogeia narkwtika,skoteina topia kai fysika,mia mikri dosi omoerwtikou sex. Wstoso sto vivlio parousiazetai mia mellontiki epoxi pou afenos ta antiviotika den einai pleon apotelesmatika kai afeterou h iatriki exei proxorisei toso poly me apotelesma o yperplithismos na exei ginei ena poly sovaro provlima.Kata tin diarkeia tetoiwn dyskolwn kairon,h iatriki phgainei ypogeia.H moira pollwn fainetai na vrisketai sta xeria twn Bladerunners,twn aggelioforwn ousiastika,stous opoious exei anatethei h ektelesi poly epikindynwn apostolwn, na paradidoun farmaka kai xeirourgika ergaleia sta xeria ypogeiwn therapeftwn.Me afton ton tropo eksasfalizoun douleia stous paranomous giatrous tin idia stigmh pou to kratos exei xasei ton elegxo tou kosmou.
Parolo pou einai sintomo kai grammeno me tin morfi kinimatografikou planou,diathetei xioumor kai kalogrammenes protaseis.Sinistatai stous opadous tou siggrafea kai stous latreis tis skoteinis epistimonikis fantasias
January 9, 2020
As you might know, this is not that Blade Runner movie, but a Burroughs novella that started as a treatment for a film adaptation of Alan E Nourse's medical-dystopia novel The Bladerunner but then mutated into something more Burroughs-ish. In that sense, it's pretty standard Burroughs stuff, with Big Pharma conspiracies and horrible mutating viruses, but it also explores the question of national healthcare, making it strikingly contemporary for something written in the late 70s.
April 9, 2020
Certainly not Burroughs' best book, this screenplay-turned-novella is especially interesting in these days, with talks about a pandemic disease and a collapsed US medical care system. All with the trademark offensive and challenging Burroughs prose.
Would probably deserve a 3,5/5 stars, the additional half star is awarded purely on the basis of this book influencing Ridley Scott's movie title. Also, I'm posting this review at 23:23. Uncle Bill Lee would be proud of me.
Would probably deserve a 3,5/5 stars, the additional half star is awarded purely on the basis of this book influencing Ridley Scott's movie title. Also, I'm posting this review at 23:23. Uncle Bill Lee would be proud of me.
November 19, 2012
Vedere accostato un titolo come Blade runner, che immediatamente folgora la mente con le immagini del film cult, a un autore come William Burroughs fa un certo effetto. Una miscela esplosiva dagli effetti devastanti, che non può non avere una curiosa storia alle sue spalle. Così è: forse non tutti sanno che il titolo è al centro di un singolare insieme di legami, poiché Fancher, il primo sceneggiatore dell'adattamento cinematografico del romanzo di Dick lo prese in prestito da questo libro di Burroughs, che a sua volta è il progetto di un (mancato) adattamento del romanzo fantascientifico e distopico Bladerunner di Alan E. Nourse.
Se il legame con il cult si esaurisce nel prestito del titolo, più significativa è la dipendenza di questo libro da quello di Nourse, prosaiolo fantascientifico che ebbe la fortuna di capitare tra le mani di Burroughs: di qui l'idea di trarne un adattamento, che però non venne mai realizzato. Questo libro di Burroughs è in effetti un non-libro, un progetto incompleto, più che una sceneggiatura è il progetto di una sceneggiatura, che a sequenze propriamente sceneggiate mescola considerazioni in prima persona di Burroughs, disquisizioni puramente tecniche e sequenze riassuntive. Il romanzo originale è una distopia: un America futura in cui è stato messo in piedi un sistema sanitario nazionale che richiede un pagamento non convenzionale - che il paziente si sottoponga alla sterilizzazione. Il sovrappopolamento, il controllo delle masse e l'eugenetica si intrecciano in questa scelta, che porta lo Stato a prendere il controllo della selezione altrimenti naturale della specie umana in suolo statunitense. Contro questo sistema agiscono i bladerunner, giovani corrieri che riforniscono i medici clandestini. Un tema molto ghiotto per uno scrittore come Burroughs, che pur apportando lievi alterazioni alla storia riesce a portarla in direzioni a lui più consone. Sono i tipici motivi burroughsiani: il controllo mentale della specie umana (ad opera dello Stato, di un'autorità superiore più o meno occulta, persino, a volte, di un'intelligenza aliena), lo sterminio delle minoranze (afroamericani, ispanici, omosessuali e tossicodipendenti), la denuncia delle lobby farmaceutiche (che Burroughs attacca a più riprese, soprattutto sul tema della tossicodipendenza) e la contrapposizione di un sistema medico alternativo (la cura con l'apomorfina, gli orgoni di Wilhelm Reich).
Questo testo spezzato, frammentato, racchiude a ben vedere molto più delle parole scritte, lasciando intravedere negli spazi vuoti infinite possibilità da indagare. Risulta essere, soprattutto, centro focale dell'intera produzione di Burroughs, un punto fisso per il quale passano tutte le fasi letterarie e tutti i grandi temi dello scrittore: dalle suggestioni fantascientiche d'avanguardia della Trilogia Nova alla cultura underground giovanile, di contestazione, dei romanzi degli anni Sessanta e Settanta (Ragazzi selvaggi su tutti), con forme narrative che si avvicinano alla sua ultima trilogia (la Città rossa).
Se il legame con il cult si esaurisce nel prestito del titolo, più significativa è la dipendenza di questo libro da quello di Nourse, prosaiolo fantascientifico che ebbe la fortuna di capitare tra le mani di Burroughs: di qui l'idea di trarne un adattamento, che però non venne mai realizzato. Questo libro di Burroughs è in effetti un non-libro, un progetto incompleto, più che una sceneggiatura è il progetto di una sceneggiatura, che a sequenze propriamente sceneggiate mescola considerazioni in prima persona di Burroughs, disquisizioni puramente tecniche e sequenze riassuntive. Il romanzo originale è una distopia: un America futura in cui è stato messo in piedi un sistema sanitario nazionale che richiede un pagamento non convenzionale - che il paziente si sottoponga alla sterilizzazione. Il sovrappopolamento, il controllo delle masse e l'eugenetica si intrecciano in questa scelta, che porta lo Stato a prendere il controllo della selezione altrimenti naturale della specie umana in suolo statunitense. Contro questo sistema agiscono i bladerunner, giovani corrieri che riforniscono i medici clandestini. Un tema molto ghiotto per uno scrittore come Burroughs, che pur apportando lievi alterazioni alla storia riesce a portarla in direzioni a lui più consone. Sono i tipici motivi burroughsiani: il controllo mentale della specie umana (ad opera dello Stato, di un'autorità superiore più o meno occulta, persino, a volte, di un'intelligenza aliena), lo sterminio delle minoranze (afroamericani, ispanici, omosessuali e tossicodipendenti), la denuncia delle lobby farmaceutiche (che Burroughs attacca a più riprese, soprattutto sul tema della tossicodipendenza) e la contrapposizione di un sistema medico alternativo (la cura con l'apomorfina, gli orgoni di Wilhelm Reich).
Questo testo spezzato, frammentato, racchiude a ben vedere molto più delle parole scritte, lasciando intravedere negli spazi vuoti infinite possibilità da indagare. Risulta essere, soprattutto, centro focale dell'intera produzione di Burroughs, un punto fisso per il quale passano tutte le fasi letterarie e tutti i grandi temi dello scrittore: dalle suggestioni fantascientiche d'avanguardia della Trilogia Nova alla cultura underground giovanile, di contestazione, dei romanzi degli anni Sessanta e Settanta (Ragazzi selvaggi su tutti), con forme narrative che si avvicinano alla sua ultima trilogia (la Città rossa).
June 27, 2016
Imagine that you have just finished reading Alan E. Nourse's novel The Bladerunner; as you were finishing it, you were just starting to come down with a bad case of the flu. You go immediately to bed, and suffer through a night of bad sleep punctuated by fevered dreams in which you are watching a very bizarre film adaptation of The Bladerunner. If these things were to happen to you, the experience might not be unlike reading William S. Burroughs deranged adaptation, Blade Runner: A Movie.
October 9, 2017
Uno de sus grandes delirios, esta novela corta de William S. Burroughs, que es la historia de una revolución provocada por el seguro médico estadounidense. La clase media, encargada de pagar el gasto, toma las armas para acabar con “minorías étnicas, los beatniks, yonkis, maricones y melenudos“.
*[El libro fue comprado por los productores de la película de Ridley Scott aunque creo que sólo aprovecharon el título].
*[El libro fue comprado por los productores de la película de Ridley Scott aunque creo que sólo aprovecharon el título].
January 5, 2020
Its been a few years since I read any WSB prose but this lovely Tangerine Press edition of a piece I hadn't previously read seemed too good to miss.
Blade Runner is not the Ridley Scott movie but is partly based on a book 'The Bladerunner' by Alan E. Nourse. Confused? An interesting (very detailed) essay by Oliver Harris explains all. There are a lot of odd 'co-incidences' (co-incidences don't exist in the WSB world) between all three elements.
Subtitling the book ':A Movie' you might expect it to be quite cut up and impenetrable but it actually has a narrative of sorts within its 60 odd pages. It concerns a health care system in which the poor/non-white/deviant are effectively cut out of a medical system, big-Pharma wield power, anti-biotics are largely ineffective and New York a semi-wilderness. A Blade Runner is a carrier of medical supplies for the underground network of doctors and surgeons. Sounds familiar? Seem topical? The book was first published in 1979.
The book describes the circumstances leading to the current state, the life of the Blade Runner and the emergence from the underground of a new cancer cure, with its own side effects. I especially liked the broken down New York with its lack of electricity, flooded subways and packs of animals (and humans) vying for their place. Some people find Burroughs funny, and a wry black humour is present, but Burroughs has always seemed to the me to be the near future and that's not so jolly.
There are the usual Burroughsian tropes, time jumps, drugs, boys, dogs, gangs, improvised weapons, hard boiled dialogue etc and the reader is able to spot elements from previous works especially with regard to the doctors themselves, but the books brevity and 'scenic' structure means that the reader is not bogged down in lengthy 'routines'. This is a far more 'straightforward narrative and it rattles along very nicely.
Harris says that this has been seen as a minor work. Be that as it may, converts will enjoy it and for those unfamiliar with 'The Gray Man' its a good introduction his world. A solid three stars, a forth if we include the lovely presentation, as (in the h/b edition at least) its a handsome object. Tangerine Press are an interesting publisher.
Blade Runner is not the Ridley Scott movie but is partly based on a book 'The Bladerunner' by Alan E. Nourse. Confused? An interesting (very detailed) essay by Oliver Harris explains all. There are a lot of odd 'co-incidences' (co-incidences don't exist in the WSB world) between all three elements.
Subtitling the book ':A Movie' you might expect it to be quite cut up and impenetrable but it actually has a narrative of sorts within its 60 odd pages. It concerns a health care system in which the poor/non-white/deviant are effectively cut out of a medical system, big-Pharma wield power, anti-biotics are largely ineffective and New York a semi-wilderness. A Blade Runner is a carrier of medical supplies for the underground network of doctors and surgeons. Sounds familiar? Seem topical? The book was first published in 1979.
The book describes the circumstances leading to the current state, the life of the Blade Runner and the emergence from the underground of a new cancer cure, with its own side effects. I especially liked the broken down New York with its lack of electricity, flooded subways and packs of animals (and humans) vying for their place. Some people find Burroughs funny, and a wry black humour is present, but Burroughs has always seemed to the me to be the near future and that's not so jolly.
There are the usual Burroughsian tropes, time jumps, drugs, boys, dogs, gangs, improvised weapons, hard boiled dialogue etc and the reader is able to spot elements from previous works especially with regard to the doctors themselves, but the books brevity and 'scenic' structure means that the reader is not bogged down in lengthy 'routines'. This is a far more 'straightforward narrative and it rattles along very nicely.
Harris says that this has been seen as a minor work. Be that as it may, converts will enjoy it and for those unfamiliar with 'The Gray Man' its a good introduction his world. A solid three stars, a forth if we include the lovely presentation, as (in the h/b edition at least) its a handsome object. Tangerine Press are an interesting publisher.
August 30, 2022
I picked this one up when I wanted to trace the origins of Ridley Scott's film "Blade Runner." According to the introduction, Scott picked up the title from someone else working on a script based on Burroughs's book, which itself poses as a script based on Alan Nourse's earlier novel "The Bladerunner" (which I of course also had to read; it's out of print, but available secondhand). Very confusing, I know.
Both Blade Runner books are about a society where health care is only available if patients agree to get sterilised—a policy to combat overpopulation. The unwanted consequence: underground medicine relying on moonlighting doctors and juveniles transporting medical supplies because they can't be punished as severly. Indeed, the blade runners reminded me of hoppers—children carrying drug resupplies for dealers who don't want to be caught with a big stash.
I liked Nourse's novel better than Burroughs's weird text. However, Burroughs makes much more out of their shared dystopian setting by mixing in the heroin epidemic, extreme income inequality, and disappearing natural immunities due to vaccines etc. (the latter a nightmare whose premise feels rather too timely in 2022 as a misguided argument of some antivaxxers).
To wrap up the literaty history, Ridley Scott (again according to this book's introduction) merely picked up the term because it reminded him of bounty hunters (who might or might not have knives and swords in his imagined future, I suppose). Somehow I still think it's a fitting title for an adaptation of yet another book—Philip K. Dick's "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?"—that strays very far from the original.
To recap: the "Blade Runner" films are loosely based on Dick's book, with the title taken from Burroughs, who in turn had taken it from Nourse. Disappointingly after this weird literaty journey, the most enjoyable of all of these were still the films.
Both Blade Runner books are about a society where health care is only available if patients agree to get sterilised—a policy to combat overpopulation. The unwanted consequence: underground medicine relying on moonlighting doctors and juveniles transporting medical supplies because they can't be punished as severly. Indeed, the blade runners reminded me of hoppers—children carrying drug resupplies for dealers who don't want to be caught with a big stash.
I liked Nourse's novel better than Burroughs's weird text. However, Burroughs makes much more out of their shared dystopian setting by mixing in the heroin epidemic, extreme income inequality, and disappearing natural immunities due to vaccines etc. (the latter a nightmare whose premise feels rather too timely in 2022 as a misguided argument of some antivaxxers).
To wrap up the literaty history, Ridley Scott (again according to this book's introduction) merely picked up the term because it reminded him of bounty hunters (who might or might not have knives and swords in his imagined future, I suppose). Somehow I still think it's a fitting title for an adaptation of yet another book—Philip K. Dick's "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?"—that strays very far from the original.
To recap: the "Blade Runner" films are loosely based on Dick's book, with the title taken from Burroughs, who in turn had taken it from Nourse. Disappointingly after this weird literaty journey, the most enjoyable of all of these were still the films.
November 17, 2022
"[Blade Runner: A Movie] is set in a near-future dystopian US, where free healthcare is available to all provided they undergo sterilisation and forego various other genetic liberties..."
—Guardian
"Reading Blade Runner: A Movie four decades on from its original 1979 publication, certain themes from Burroughs’ vision appear to be eerily prescient, with a government concerned about overpopulation and gaining control over the private citizen. This is achieved through the ability to withhold essential services including work, credit, housing, retirement benefits and medical care through computerisation..."
—Quietus
"[Blade Runner: A Movie is set in] a future where the only way to receive medical treatment is to be sterilized to stop any further progeny polluting the world. This draconian bargain leads to a blackmarket of doctors operating on patients who refuse to be sterilized."
—Dangerous Minds
"[The title of the film 'Blade Runner'] brings along with it a weird backstory that tells us something about how the Burroughs virus spreads around, infecting nearly everything science fictional and countercultural over the past half-century or so. That’s William S. Burroughs, of course, author of — among a few other things — a 1979 novelistic film treatment called Blade Runner: A Movie."
—Open Culture
Original review:
“Like The Wild Boys, Blade Runner: A Movie is a story of youthful discontent in a world gone insane, told in quick, razor-sharp scenes and snatches of dialogue, like bits of film found littering the floor of some hallucinatory projection booth. Burroughs’ near-future satire is fast, funny and inspired.”
—Mac Tonnies (1979)
—Guardian
"Reading Blade Runner: A Movie four decades on from its original 1979 publication, certain themes from Burroughs’ vision appear to be eerily prescient, with a government concerned about overpopulation and gaining control over the private citizen. This is achieved through the ability to withhold essential services including work, credit, housing, retirement benefits and medical care through computerisation..."
—Quietus
"[Blade Runner: A Movie is set in] a future where the only way to receive medical treatment is to be sterilized to stop any further progeny polluting the world. This draconian bargain leads to a blackmarket of doctors operating on patients who refuse to be sterilized."
—Dangerous Minds
"[The title of the film 'Blade Runner'] brings along with it a weird backstory that tells us something about how the Burroughs virus spreads around, infecting nearly everything science fictional and countercultural over the past half-century or so. That’s William S. Burroughs, of course, author of — among a few other things — a 1979 novelistic film treatment called Blade Runner: A Movie."
—Open Culture
Original review:
“Like The Wild Boys, Blade Runner: A Movie is a story of youthful discontent in a world gone insane, told in quick, razor-sharp scenes and snatches of dialogue, like bits of film found littering the floor of some hallucinatory projection booth. Burroughs’ near-future satire is fast, funny and inspired.”
—Mac Tonnies (1979)
January 29, 2020
Nemrég arról beszélgettünk páran, miért pont a Blade Runner címet kapta a legendás, 1982-ben megjelent sci-fi film. A Digging Into the Odd History of Blade Runner’s Title című Vulture-cikk (köszi, Tomi :-)) egész jól összefoglalja a lényeget, és ad is két támpontot, az egyik The Bladerunner, a másik, a sokkal érdekesebbnek hangzó pedig ez itt. Úgyhogy gyorsan meg is vettem mindkettőt.
Burroughs műve nem igazán regény, inkább egy leendő film kivonata, amivel a producerek a stúdióknál házalnak (azt hiszem, "film treatment"-nek hívják az ilyesmit). Eléggé elvarázsolt írás, vannak benne karakterek meg cselekményszálak, de a lényeg inkább az, amilyen durván szembemegy a nagy gyógyszergyártókkal és az egészségpolitikával. Nem is lett belőle film (pontosabban nem ebből lett a Blade Runner, Ridley Scott csak a címet használta fel belőle). Inkább érdekesség, mint értékes irodalom.
Ja, és a magyar címet (Szárnyas fejvadász) sajnos Burroughs sem magyarázza meg... :-)
Burroughs műve nem igazán regény, inkább egy leendő film kivonata, amivel a producerek a stúdióknál házalnak (azt hiszem, "film treatment"-nek hívják az ilyesmit). Eléggé elvarázsolt írás, vannak benne karakterek meg cselekményszálak, de a lényeg inkább az, amilyen durván szembemegy a nagy gyógyszergyártókkal és az egészségpolitikával. Nem is lett belőle film (pontosabban nem ebből lett a Blade Runner, Ridley Scott csak a címet használta fel belőle). Inkább érdekesség, mint értékes irodalom.
Ja, és a magyar címet (Szárnyas fejvadász) sajnos Burroughs sem magyarázza meg... :-)
May 5, 2018
This "film treatment" is kind of a clusterfuck of dreamlike images and vignettes of scenes. Spatterings of narrative devices surrounding art-house style indie film weirdness.
As an actual film, this could never have been made how it stands in this form...
But as a short book by Burroughs, it was a fun strange read that is easy to plough through in one sitting.
Strange, but surprising amount of humor as well. In my head, at times (particularly in the first half that describes the social situation, before the whole "blade runners" narrative) it had me thinking "this kind of reminds me of Vonnegut in a way... If Vonnegut was a depraved, cynical, nihilistic dope fiend..." Lol!
A fun quick read.
As an actual film, this could never have been made how it stands in this form...
But as a short book by Burroughs, it was a fun strange read that is easy to plough through in one sitting.
Strange, but surprising amount of humor as well. In my head, at times (particularly in the first half that describes the social situation, before the whole "blade runners" narrative) it had me thinking "this kind of reminds me of Vonnegut in a way... If Vonnegut was a depraved, cynical, nihilistic dope fiend..." Lol!
A fun quick read.
March 7, 2018
This is some of the world building that you'd see in Blade Runner (the film) but without any of the plot. There's no connection largely other than the name.
It's about a world in decay--ironically a slow medical apocalypse. I don't know if Burroughs is taking the piss or not, but caused largely by a hodgepodge of corporations and "socialized" medicine. It's an interesting framing device--and the story, which largely takes place in the present, would devolve into the nightmarish hellscape of the more popular "Blade Runner".
A short and interesting read, even if totally unnecessary.
It's about a world in decay--ironically a slow medical apocalypse. I don't know if Burroughs is taking the piss or not, but caused largely by a hodgepodge of corporations and "socialized" medicine. It's an interesting framing device--and the story, which largely takes place in the present, would devolve into the nightmarish hellscape of the more popular "Blade Runner".
A short and interesting read, even if totally unnecessary.
December 13, 2023
First Burroughs, so I am ill-ill & ill-equipped and glad I decided against The Soft Machine. From the first page, it's unclear where the commitments of the author or narrator point or if they have them at all; By the end, the enforced confusion of "back in the other story line" becomes a time loop on the author's birth, a diseased century all that we can imagine? If there's any affection, it's not directed at Billy or America or even, surprisingly, the drugs; Rather at the vulnerability of the reader to the cackling, seething city.
April 15, 2025
La técnica de cut out me cuesta y en Expresso Nova me quedé por el camino. Acá, que es mucho más breve y está un poco más contenida creo, anduve mejor -o será que estoy entendiendo que no hay que entender? . El universo que construye es igual de fascinante pero acá siento que se hilvana una narración y que no es todo como un viaje de tripa. igual la narrativa se va deshaciendo y lo único que queda es dejarse llevar por el fluir de las palabras, el ritmo y las sensaciones medio sueltas que provoca con ideas , escenarios y guiños.
May 27, 2019
I'm curious to know how much of this book was the original Nourse novel and how much was contributed by Burroughs. It certainly feels like Burroughs with familiar Burroughsian themes and imagery like operations performed by people on drugs in unsanitary conditions, and naked boys with throbbing erections. I doubt the boners were Nourse's idea and I'd bet money that's why this movie never got made.
January 16, 2026
Oliver Harris has been allowing me to revisit Burroughs with new eyes.
His ability to add context through topics like publication history is fascinating and adds a deeper level to everything read.
The themes in Blade Runner (note, the only thing similar to the movie is the name) feel extremely timely and prescient today - health care, over-population, and control through the denial of essential services all hit home.
A short work but one well worth reading if you are a Burroughs fan.
His ability to add context through topics like publication history is fascinating and adds a deeper level to everything read.
The themes in Blade Runner (note, the only thing similar to the movie is the name) feel extremely timely and prescient today - health care, over-population, and control through the denial of essential services all hit home.
A short work but one well worth reading if you are a Burroughs fan.
December 15, 2019
Read a different edition than the one listed here for what it's worth and also did not read the novel that inspired this. That said this is an interesting collection of images and scenarios set in a well imagined post apocalyptic NYC. Doesn't take long to read and puts your mind in a odd suspended state for a bit upon completion.
May 4, 2020
A treatment for a possible film, more filled with descriptive vignettes than narrative driven. It's post-Vietnam War Burroughs dreaming up America a few decades in the future - broken health care, class war with a whole class underbelly living in what is a parallel society, race war, virus pandemic. Interest premise but he doesn't really do much with it. A lightweight work.
April 2, 2022
Read the novel The Bladerunner (not the movie Blade Runner or Dick's Electric Sheep) before taking this on as this is a thrown-together Screenplay regarding that book (The Bladerunner by Alan E. Nourse).
Enjoyed both!
Enjoyed both!
July 8, 2021
William S Burroughs takes on a grotesque view of healthcare that’s not too far off from what we’ve seen during this pandemic. Beautifully written.
September 30, 2021
absolute trash
July 2, 2022
A somewhat dreamlike but oddly prescient read. Barely a novella, more like preliminary notes for an unwritten screenplay, but interesting nevertheless.
Read
July 14, 2022"For man has no future unless he can throw off the dead past and absorb the underground of his own being."
December 21, 2025
A cool little oddity that plays like a history lesson and a meta-textual pitch session. The only Burroughs where I love the science fiction aspect more than the weird sex stuff.
May 16, 2019
This being a treatment for a movie, I tried to imagine it realized as such. Take the doctor scene from 89 Batman, in an Escape from New York setting, populated Mad Max characters, in a grand over ambitious Jodorowsky adaptation with alligators.
It also reads like an Onion article of what the GOP believes Obamacare would do to America.
It also reads like an Onion article of what the GOP believes Obamacare would do to America.
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