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The Letters, Vol. 1: 1945-1959
Guru of the Beat generation, controversial eminence grise of the international avant-garde, dark prophet and blackest of black-humor satirists, William S. Burroughs has had a range of influence rivalled by few living writers. This meticulously assembled volume of his correspondence vividly documents the personal and cultural history through which Burroughs developed, revea...more
Paperback, 512 pages
Published
June 1st 1994
by Penguin (Non-Classics)
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The birth of a writer. Burroughs tests out various voices and then seems seized by Swift. Most of his mid to late 50's letters are hilarious, but they're borne out of tremendous suffering and exhausting bouts of creativity. It's amazing to see how Burroughs used letters as palimpsests on which to create, graft and rebuild significant portions of his early fiction (Junky, Queer, and the great anti-novel, Naked Lunch). This collection is essential reading for any WSB fan.
This book, like "Literary Outlaw: The Life and Times of Williams S. Burroughs" (by Ted Morgan)--which I read shortly after "The Letters"--was inspiring, enlightening, and often disturbing (as would be expected with Burroughs). These letters are often businesslike--IE Allen Ginsberg was Burroughs' agent in the 50's and was responsible for the publishing of "Junky" in 1953. I'd recommend reading "The Letters" after "Literary Outlaw", as "Liter...more
i'm rereading this. i need it after the dan brown.
it's so refreshing to know there are folks like wsb out there. reading the letters he sent to various others, primarily allen ginsbergh, gives a safe glimpse into an adventurous spirit unlike most. he was interested in exploring in every sense of the word. none of it was safe. i've always thought it was impressive wsb lived as long as he did. this collection is insightful for those that have read NAKED LUNCH and would like a pee...more
it's so refreshing to know there are folks like wsb out there. reading the letters he sent to various others, primarily allen ginsbergh, gives a safe glimpse into an adventurous spirit unlike most. he was interested in exploring in every sense of the word. none of it was safe. i've always thought it was impressive wsb lived as long as he did. this collection is insightful for those that have read NAKED LUNCH and would like a pee...more
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This is Burroughs with none of the literary experimentalism and artifice and he is one hard-boiled dude. I think that current day libertarians would take to this writing like ducks to duckponds! The grit builds, letter by letter as the Burroughs arc progresses. Man! What a crazy life - and all in there and between the lines to his pals, Allen and Jack. Too cool for school.
This book is great if you want to get to know the "real" William S. Burroughs or at least what was going on his mind from 1945-1959. This book even gives you a better understanding of WSB than the excellent Burroughs biography Literary Outlaw. I hope Penguin releases the second volume of letters sometime soon.
Burroughs was one hell of a letter writer. In fact his correspondence served as a rough draft to his fictional work like "Naked Lunch." Very impressive.
It's interesting that Burroughs appealed to my teenage years for some reason. I think due to his whole visual sense. The man who looked like a banker that was a perv. It made sense to me as a teenie.
It's interesting that Burroughs appealed to my teenage years for some reason. I think due to his whole visual sense. The man who looked like a banker that was a perv. It made sense to me as a teenie.
The cut-and-paste method of his better known novels isn't very evident in these dark and witty correspondences. What you will find instead are the weird, vaudevillian shtick of one of America's great satirists. Burroughs was probably one of the most cosmopolitan Ugly Americans you'll ever read. Bet you can't read just one!
there is something cathartic for me about writing letters, thanks be to burroughs who started me on the kick-although his are far more amusing
Corso, Ginsberg, Kerouac...by far Burroughs is the best letter writer.
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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 194...more
More about William S. Burroughs...
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 194...more
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