William S Burroughs
(1914 - 1997)Father of William S Burroughs Jr
aka William Lee
William Seward Burroughs Jnr. always looked like the straight man among the Beat Generation, but his writing - violent, satirical, scatological, pornographic - makes the others look tame.Burroughs was born into middle-class respectability and after studying English at Harvard and medicine in Vienna, trained as a glider pilot with the American military but was discharged as unfit for service in 1942. While working in the New York shipyards he became addicted to heroin.His first book Junkie: confessions of an unredeemed drug addict was published under the pseudonym William Lee in 1953. His next novel Naked Lunch, 1959, was banned in the USA and first published by Maurice Girodias in Paris. It eventually came out in Britain in 1964. His later work became less outlandish.
Series
Cities of the Night
1. Cities of the Red Night (1981)
2. The Place of Dead Roads (1984)
3. The Western Lands (1987)
1. Cities of the Red Night (1981)
2. The Place of Dead Roads (1984)
3. The Western Lands (1987)
Novels
Junkie (1953) (as by William Lee)
aka Junky
Naked Lunch (1959)
Exterminator! (1960) (with Brion Gysin)
Minutes To Go (1960) (with Sinclair Beilles, Gregory Corso and Brion Gysin)
Dead Fingers Talk (1963)
The Last Words of Dutch Schultz (1970)
The Wild Boys (1971)
Port of Saints (1975)
The Book of Breathing (1980)
aka Ah Pook is Here
Queer (1985)
And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks (2008) (with Jack Kerouac)
Rules of Duel (2010) (with Graham Masterton)
aka Junky
Naked Lunch (1959)
Exterminator! (1960) (with Brion Gysin)
Minutes To Go (1960) (with Sinclair Beilles, Gregory Corso and Brion Gysin)
Dead Fingers Talk (1963)
The Last Words of Dutch Schultz (1970)
The Wild Boys (1971)
Port of Saints (1975)
The Book of Breathing (1980)
aka Ah Pook is Here
Queer (1985)
And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks (2008) (with Jack Kerouac)
Rules of Duel (2010) (with Graham Masterton)
Collections
The Third Mind (1978) (with Brion Gysin)
Ali's Smile / Naked Scientology (1978)
A William Burroughs Reader (1982)
Word Virus (1984)
The Burroughs File (1984)
The Adding Machine (1985)
Interzone (1989)
Ali's Smile / Naked Scientology (1978)
A William Burroughs Reader (1982)
Word Virus (1984)
The Burroughs File (1984)
The Adding Machine (1985)
Interzone (1989)
Novellas
Short Stories
Non fiction
The Yage Letters (1963) (with Allen Ginsberg)
Snack (1975) (with Eric Mottram)
Burroughs Live (1977)
Letters to Allen Ginsberg, 1953-1957 (1981)
The Job (1982)
Burroughs (1988)
My Education (1989)
Last Words (1990)
With William Burroughs (1991)
Collected Interviews of William S. Burroughs (1993)
The Letters of William S. Burroughs (1993)
Conversations with William Burroughs (1995)
A Burroughs Compendium (1998)
Call Me Burroughs (1998)
Evil River (2007)
Everything Lost (2007)
Rub Out the Words (2012)
Snack (1975) (with Eric Mottram)
Burroughs Live (1977)
Letters to Allen Ginsberg, 1953-1957 (1981)
The Job (1982)
Burroughs (1988)
My Education (1989)
Last Words (1990)
With William Burroughs (1991)
Collected Interviews of William S. Burroughs (1993)
The Letters of William S. Burroughs (1993)
Conversations with William Burroughs (1995)
A Burroughs Compendium (1998)
Call Me Burroughs (1998)
Evil River (2007)
Everything Lost (2007)
Rub Out the Words (2012)
Anthologies containing stories by William S Burroughs
Short stories
| The Ghost Lemurs of Madagascar (1987) | |||
| Ruski (1988) | |||
| Death Fiend Guerillas (1993) | Bram Stoker (nominee) |
Awards
|
William S Burroughs recommends
Young Adam (1957) Alexander Trocchi "Alex Trocchi has the courage so essential to a writer. He writes about spirit, flesh, and death and the vision that comes through the flesh . . . he has been there and brought it back." | Raga Six (1972) (Dr. Owen Orient, book 2) Frank Lauria "Hypnotically readable ... Frank Lauria has written the most believable vampire and werewolf stories I have ever read." |  Great Expectations (1982) Kathy Acker "Acker is a postmodern Colette with echoes of Cleland's Fanny Hill." |
 Horse Crazy (1989) Gary Indiana "An archetypical story, expertly told, fascinating to everyman, no matter what his sexual tastes." |  The Slave and the Free (1999) (Holdfast) Suzy McKee Charnas "Only one science fiction book in hundreds manages to convince the reader that it ever could have happened anywhere, and at least that few are worth reading at all. . . . [Charnas has] created a future that is at once believable and fascinating." | Zoning (2011) Spencer Kansa "Zoning reads like an urban Céline." |
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