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.

Texas and New Orleans

Burroughs was eventually arrested for forging a narcotics prescription and was sentenced to return to his parents' care in St. Louis. For a time he worked as a delivery driver in their shop. He then returned to New York, helped get Vollmer out of the psychiatric ward of Bellevue Hospital and moved with her and her daughter to Texas.

Related Topics:
Bellevue Hospital - Texas

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Burroughs and Vollmer grew cash crops, as well as marijuana, on a patch of ranch land in New Waverly, Texas. Vollmer soon became pregnant with Burroughs? child. According to Herbert Huncke, who visited them in Texas, Vollmer used Benzedrine throughout her pregnancy, and had no prenatal care until she went into labor. Their son, William S. Burroughs Jr. was born in 1947.

Related Topics:
Marijuana - New Waverly - Herbert Huncke - William S. Burroughs Jr - 1947

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Burroughs' parents were pleased that he started a family, visited occasionally, and began providing Burroughs an allowance once again.

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The family moved briefly to New Orleans in 1948, where Burroughs? heroin addiction intensified and he became more withdrawn from the family. A few chapters in Kerouac?s classic On the Road describe a visit from Burroughs? New York friends.

Related Topics:
New Orleans - 1948 - On the Road

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He was arrested after a brief car chase and police searched his rented home and found letters between Burroughs and Ginsberg referring to a possible delivery of marijuana. Burroughs fled to Mexico to escape possible detention in Louisiana's Angola State Prison. After Burroughs found an apartment, Vollmer and their children followed him. Burroughs planned to stay in Mexico for at least five years, the length of his charge's statute of limitations.

Related Topics:
Mexico - Angola State Prison

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Although Burroughs lived in the Southwest for only a brief period, the dialects and cowboy Americanism of the area were frequent subjects of parody in his work. Much of Naked Lunch's wry, stinging dialogue about the County Clerk may have come from Burroughs' time in Texas.

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