| The Electronic Revolution | |
|---|---|
 1971 Blackmoor Press paperback edition. |
|
| Author | William S. Burroughs |
| Country | United Kingdom, West Germany |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Essay collection |
| Publisher | Expanded Media Editions |
| Publication date | 1970 |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
The Electronic Revolution is an essay collection by William
S. Burroughs that was first published in 1970 by Expanded Media
Editions in West
Germany. A second edition, published in 1971 in Cambridge, England, contained additional French
translation by Jean Chopin.
The entirety of The Electronic Revolution is available in later
editions of The Job, a book of interviews conducted by Daniel Odier that
elaborate on the topics contained therein.
Contents |
The book is divided into two parts.
1] Part one, entitled "The Feedback from Watergate to the Garden of Eden"[1] invokes Alfred Korzybski’s views characterising man as "the time binding machine" due to his ability to write. Burroughs sees the significance of a written word as a distinguishing feature of human beings which enables them to transform and convey information to future generations. He proposes the theory of "the unrecognised virus" present in the language, suggesting that, "the word has not been recognised as a virus because it has achieved a state of stable symbiosis with the host."
2] The second part, "Electronic Revolution"[2] concerns the power of alphabetic non-pictorial languages to control people. It draws attention to the subversive influence of the word virus on human beings and dangerous possibilities of using human voice as a weapon. Recording words on tape recorders and employing the Cut-up technique (a form of writing frequently employed by Burroughs) can easily lead to the false news broadcasts or garbled political speeches causing confusion and psychic control over individuals.
The Electronic Revolution influenced various musicians in the 1970s such as the industrial band Cabaret Voltaire. Richard H. Kirk, a member of a group who excelled in electronic music, employed many ideas and methods from the book in the creation of his music. He described it as "a handbook of how to use tape recorders in a crowd … to promote a sense of unease or unrest by playback of riot noises cut in with random recordings of the crowd itself."
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