 |
 First edition | |
| Author | William S. Burroughs |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Roy Kuhlman |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Viking Press |
Publication date | 1973 |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 168 |
| ISBN | 0-14-005003-5 |
Exterminator! is a short story collection written by William S. Burroughs and first published in 1973. Early editions label the book a novel. It is not to be confused with The Exterminator, another collection of stories Burroughs published in 1960 in collaboration with Brion Gysin.
The collection contains a number of Burroughs' most popular short pieces, such as "Twilight's Last Gleamings", "The Discipline of DE", "Wind Die, You Die, We Die", "Ali's Smile", and "The Coming of the Purple Better One". The title story is about an insect exterminator, a job Burroughs himself once held. Some of the stories, such as "Ali's Smile", had previously been published in other books and magazines such as Rolling Stone, Village Voice, Evergreen Review, and Esquire.
"Ali's Smile" was also later included in Ali's Smile/Naked Scientology. A different story entitled "Twilight's Last Gleamings" appears in the later collection, Interzone.
Adaptations and homages
In the 1980s, actor Ed Asner recorded a spoken word adaptation of "Wind Die. You Die. We Die", while Burroughs and Kurt Cobain recorded a musical version of one of the stories as The "Priest" They Called Him. Certain aspects of the short story "Exterminator!" were used in the 1991 film version of Naked Lunch, with the main character William Lee (a Burroughs stand-in) holding the titular job at the film's beginning.
Al Columbia's 1994 comic book series The Biologic Show takes its title from a phrase used in the story "Short Trip Home". The passage from which the phrase originates is quoted at greater length in an eponymous short story from the comic's first issue.
Story list
Exterminator! contains the following stories:
- "Exterminator!"
- The Lemon Kid
- Short Trip Home
- Davy Jones
- The Evening News
- Astronaut's Return
- My Face
- Wind Die. You Die. We Die.
- End of the Line
- The Drums of Death
- "Johnny 23"
- The Discipline of DE
- The Perfect Servant
- Ali's Smile
- Twilight's Last Gleamings
- The Coming of the Purple Better One
- "What Washington? What Orders?"
- From Here to Eternity
- The Teacher
- They Do Not Always Remember
- Friends
- Seeing Red
- Old Movie
- Electricals
- SPUT
- Reddies
- The "Priest" They Called Him
- My Legs Señor
- The End
- Cold Lost Marbles
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