William Burroughs's Mexican Adventure: A Look Back at The Soft Machine by Ted Gioia

Early on in The Soft Machine, our narrator embarks on a sweet vacation. But he could never fit all the sights and scenes on a postcard for the folks back home.

Let’s see, he puts on an old Civil War uniform in Monterrey, captures some prisoners and executes one for kicks. Then he requisitions a ranch house and holds an orgy (but never explains how they d…