William S. Burroughs, "Crab Nebula," from Nova Express
1. Burroughs has asserted that the cut-up technique is "closer to the actual facts of perception. . . . I'm talking about how things are actually perceived by the brain." Describe some of the various moments of "cut-up" in the excerpt, distinguishing among shifts in narrator, shifts in time, shifts in scene, and other fragments. What does Burroughs mean by actual perception? What are the advantages of the cut-up technique? What are its limitations?
2. Examine the four subheads in the excerpt. In what ways do they function to attach an order to the fiction? In what ways do they fragment it further?
3. At one point, a narrator notes that "it's all around you the invisible hail of bring down word and image"; at another moment a form of language is referred to as "blue words of all the poets." Describe the voice's attitude (noting that there are many levels of voice) toward language throughout the piece. How is language embraced? How is it rejected?