Talk:Cities of the Red Night

Accuracy?

Does the following phrase, revolutionary homosexual drug addicts, found in this article really sound accurate? I think some kind of rephrasing is necessary. ---Charles 17:54, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

It sounds right for Burroughs, but since I haven't read this book in 20 years I'm afraid my memory of the plot is rather hazy. (Actually I find it near impossible to describe most WSB plotlines!) 23skidoo 18:08, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Well, you have a point as far as describing his plotlines is concerned. But, I still think that a rephrasing of that line is in order. ---Charles 04:37, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

I'm in agreement there. The article could stand quite a bit of expansion too. 23skidoo 16:10, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

One of the projects I have set for myself (before I take a long Wiki-break sometime in August) is to expand all the articles on Burroughs final trilogy Cities of the Red Night, The Place of Dead Roads, and The Western Lands, all of which are currently just stubs. I am, of course, very interested in receiving assistance. ---Charles 16:55, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

I'd certainly like to lend a hand with that. It's been years since I read Cities or Dead Roads, but I'm reading Western Lands at the moment. Unfortunately, I have not idea how to do it - as you mentioned, simply describing the plotline is a bit useless. Maybe discussing general themes and techniques? Deleuze 08:46, 13 July 2006 (UTC)

Yes, I think that would be a good start. ---Charles 18:48, 13 July 2006 (UTC)

disease

Is the disease AIDS or an allution to it? --euyyn 11:57, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

There is no evidence to support that the disease in the story is intentionally an allusion to any real disease or virus, and the AIDS epidemic didn't take off until long after the book was actually written as far as I know. Oddity- 14:20, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

It is a prophetic allusion, which is one of Burroughs' spookier literary tricks. Magic is a theme in his work, and the man at least believed himself to practice it. I might add something to the author's page if I can find precedent on, say, William Butler Yeats' page for discussing an author's spiritual ideosyncracies, as well as external sources on Burroughs referencing this. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.213.144.148 (talk) 10:23, 17 March 2008 (UTC)

Regardless of the above musings, I've removed the text that seemed to state that the disease in the story was a metaphor or presagement of AIDS; the 'citation' only showed that AIDS was not identified until after the novel's publication and in no way supported the claim that WSB intended any allusion or reference (how could he have? the disease was unknown at the time of writing.) BrideOfKripkenstein (talk) 01:43, 16 April 2011 (UTC)

Realize that while HIV/AIDS was not recognized by medical authorities at the time of writing, Burroughs was very much moving in a social milieu of gay sex workers and intravenous drug users in the years immediately prior, and anecdotal accounts indicate that vulnerable individuals were already getting mysteriously sick well before what later epidemiologists would hazard to denominate the originating case of the pandemic. So Burroughs wasn't referencing AIDS specifically, because that designation did not yet exist. But his notion of a great plague wreaking incomprehensible transformation was based upon real observations of current events at the time of writing, and genuinely prophetic. I can't substantiate this with published sources - it's anecdotal and hence Talk Page fodder. But Burroughs was devastatingly insightful, and occasionally genuinely spooky. This is one such case. 2600:2B00:9214:4800:C4AF:2826:36A:EB05 (talk) 15:55, 11 December 2022 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:CitiesRedNight.jpg

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BetacommandBot (talk) 20:54, 13 February 2008 (UTC)

Plot summary

I have just read the novel, the first of Burrough's books I have come across, and have written a much broader plot outline. I must admit that Book three totally bewilders me! Ivankinsman (talk) 18:02, 12 November 2009 (UTC)

I know that your edits are well-intended, but your expansion of the plot was too-expansive, and I removed it. The plot summary section should be cleaned up and expanded, but I think it is best that we take it slowly. Summarizing any of Burroughs' fiction can be very difficult, because of the complexity of his plots. So, to start, how about if you lay out what you see as the most important plot points here on the talk page, and we will see if we can hammer something out. I will also look for reliable sources that offer some sort of discussion of the plot. What do you think? ---RepublicanJacobite_{The'FortyFive'} 04:06, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

I'm sorry but I don't really see what you want here. The plots of WB's novels are very difficult and I have determined the main plot points in the plot summary that I wrote - there is a lot of extra stuff which I did not include. How long or how short a plot summary is is highly subjective. I have written several other plot summaries - as you can see from my account - and feel that this one is not too expansive. If you want to look for reliable sources, fell free to do this and I would also like to see what you can write ... in the meantime please leave this in until you come up with something better or I'm afraid we will have to dispute it and let other editors decide Ivankinsman (talk) 09:47, 13 November 2009 (UTC)