William S Burroughs

Introduction by Oliver Harris

In this trenchant science-fiction screen treatment written in the mid-1970s, William S. Burroughs outlines the coming medical-care apocalypse: a Dante-esque horror show brought to a boil by a mutated virus and right-wing politics, set in a future all too near.

"The fascination of  William Burroughs’ Blade Runner doesn’t end with the mystery of its title, but it certainly begins there. What crucial word is missing, and why did he give it the subtitle “a movie”? And which came first, Burroughs’ book or Ridley Scott’s more famous film? The answer to that one, of course, is neither."