William S. Burroughs

William Seward Burroughs (February 5, 1914 – August 2, 1997) was an American novelist, essayist, social critic and spoken word performer. Much of Burroughs' work is semi-autobiographical, drawn from his experiences as an opiate addict, which he often distored using surreal or graphic imagery, experimental structures, and a strong satirical voice. Burroughs stated that he saw all his writing as a single, vast book; indeed, the same characters and themes often reappear intermittently throughout his oeuvre.

Beginnings as a writer in Mexico City

In 1951, Burroughs accidentally shot and killed Vollmer in a drunken game of 'William Tell' (shooting an object on someone else's head) at a party above an American-owned bar in Mexico City. He spent 13 days in jail before the killing was ruled accidental. Vollmer?s daughter, Julie Adams went to live with her grandmother, and William S. Burroughs, Jr. went to St. Louis to live with his grandparents.

Related Topics:
1951 - William Tell - Mexico City

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In an introduction to the novel Queer, written shortly after Vollmer's death, Burroughs admits that "I am forced to the appalling conclusion that I would never have become a writer but for Joan's death." Burroughs would remain haunted by his wife's death for the rest of his life, referring to it directly or subtly in many of his writings.

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After Vollmer's death, Burroughs drifted through South America for several months, looking for a drug called Yage (sometimes described by Burroughs as Telepathine), which could supposedly ease opiate addiction. http://www.lucaspickford.com/burrletters.htm Burroughs maintained contact with Kerouac and Ginsberg during this time (Ginsberg also visited Burroughs? son in the U.S.). The two encouraged Burroughs to write a fictionalized memoir about his experiences as a heroin addict. As a teenager, Burroughs had ambitions to be a writer and he half-heartedly agreed to begin.

Related Topics:
South America - Yage - Telepathine

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He produced two novels during this time, Junky, exploring his heroin addiction, and Queer exploring his homosexuality. He also compiled correspondence with Allen Ginsberg about his search for and experiences with Yage as The Yage Letters. Pre-dating Burroughs' literary experiments, these works are fairly straightforward narratives, but are unusual for their dark humor, keen social cynicism, and upfront descriptions of homoerotic longing.

Related Topics:
Junky - Queer - Yage - The Yage Letters

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The Yage Letters and Queer were not published until 1963 and 1985 respectively, although a segment of Yage Letters, a savage short story entitled "Roosevelt After Inauguration", was censored from the original release. Junky was published by Ace Paperbacks in 1953 under the pen name William Lee, who was also the name of the protagonist. Marketed as a lurid account of crime, it did not reach a large audience immediately (Burroughs was the last of the Beat Generation authors to be published).

Related Topics:
1963 - 1985 - Ace Paperbacks - 1953 - Beat Generation

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