Билет, который взорвался: Роман Уильяма С. Берроуза

Novel by William S. Burroughs

The Ticket That Exploded is a 1962 novel by American author William S. Burroughs, published by Olympia Press and later by Grove Press in 1967. Together with The Soft Machine and Nova Express it is part of a trilogy, referred to as The Nova Trilogy, created using the cut up technique, although for this book Burroughs used a variant called 'the fold in' method. The novel is an anarchic tale concerning mind control by psychic, electronic, sexual, pharmaceutical, subliminal, and other means. Passages from the other two books and even from this book show up in rearranged form and are often repeated. This work is significant for fans of Burroughs, in that it describes his idea of language as a virus and his philosophy of the cut up technique. It also features the cut up technique being used by characters within the story. The Ticket That Exploded lays the groundwork for Burroughs' ideas of social revolution through technology, which he would later detail in his book length essay The Electronic Revolution. The revised edition published in 1967 was 50% longer than the original, as Burroughs added more material and an appendix. In 2014, a 'Restored' edition was published by Grove Press, edited by Oliver Harris, which made a number of corrections and added an introduction and extensive notes. Establishing the text's manuscript history, the introduction showed that Burroughs wrote The Ticket after The Soft Machine and before Nova Express, and argued that the Trilogy defied any fixed sequence.

A phrase in the book, "Language is a virus from outer space" was the inspiration for the Laurie Anderson song, "Language is a Virus from Outer Space William S. Burroughs", originally composed for her performance work, United States. Under the shortened title, "Language is a Virus", the song was performed in her 1986 concert film, Home of the Brave, in which Burroughs also appeared. The band Miranda Sex Garden takes its name from the novel.