William S. Burroughs - Life

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. He saw all his writing as a single, vast book [1]. William S. Burroughs - Life. Burroughs was born to a prominent family in St. Louis, Missouri. His grandfather, also named William Seward Burroughs, founded the Burroughs Adding Machine company, which evolved into the Burroughs Corporation. Burroughs' mother, Laura Lee Bu ...

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• William S. Burroughs - Life
• William S. Burroughs - Career
• William S. Burroughs - Literary style
• William S. Burroughs - Reaction to critics and view on criticism
• William S. Burroughs - Influence
• William S. Burroughs - Bibliography

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Burroughs was born to a prominent family in St. Louis, Missouri. His grandfather, also named William Seward Burroughs, founded the Burroughs Adding Machine company, which evolved into the Burroughs Corporation. Burroughs' mother, Laura Lee Burroughs, was the daughter of a distinguished minister whose family claimed to be descendants of Robert E. Lee. Burroughs’ parents ran an antique and gift shop, fir ...

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William S. Burroughs, William S. Burroughs - Life, William S. Burroughs - Career, William S. Burroughs - Literary style, William S. Burroughs - Reaction to critics and view on criticism, William S. Burroughs - Influence, William S. Burroughs - Bibliography

Read more here: » William S. Burroughs: Encyclopedia II - William S. Burroughs - Life

Burroughs is often called one of the greatest and most influential writers of the 20th century, most notably by Norman Mailer whose quote on Burroughs, "The only American novelist living today who may be conceivably be possessed by genius", appears on many Burroughs publications. Others, however, consider him overrated. Others still consider his conceptual ideas more influential than his prose. Burroughs continues to be named as an influence by contemporary fiction writers like William Gibson. The late postmodern writer Kathy Acker of ...

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William S. Burroughs, William S. Burroughs - Life, William S. Burroughs - Career, William S. Burroughs - Literary style, William S. Burroughs - Reaction to critics and view on criticism, William S. Burroughs - Influence, William S. Burroughs - Bibliography

Read more here: » William S. Burroughs: Encyclopedia II - William S. Burroughs - Influence

The major body of Burroughs' novels can be divided into three different categories: Junkie and Queer are quite straight-forward, common novels Naked Lunch a fragmentaric collection of "routines" from The Word Hoard-manuscripts from Tangier, Paris and London, blending over into the cut-up and fold-in fiction also mainly based off The Word Hoard: The Soft Machine, Nova Express, The Ticket That Exploded, Dead Fingers Talk and the larger part of Interzone ...

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William S. Burroughs, William S. Burroughs - Life, William S. Burroughs - Career, William S. Burroughs - Literary style, William S. Burroughs - Reaction to critics and view on criticism, William S. Burroughs - Influence, William S. Burroughs - Bibliography

Read more here: » William S. Burroughs: Encyclopedia II - William S. Burroughs - Literary style

After Vollmer's death, Burroughs drifted through South America for several months, looking for a drug called Yage, which could supposedly ease opiate addiction. 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. Ace Books published his first novel, Junky, in 1953 under the pen name William Lee. The Yage Letters and Queer were ...

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William S. Burroughs, William S. Burroughs - Life, William S. Burroughs - Career, William S. Burroughs - Literary style, William S. Burroughs - Reaction to critics and view on criticism, William S. Burroughs - Influence, William S. Burroughs - Bibliography

Read more here: » William S. Burroughs: Encyclopedia II - William S. Burroughs - Career

Several literary critics treated Burroughs' work harshly. For example Anatole Broyard and Philip Toynbee wrote devastating reviews of some of his most important books. In a short essay entitled A Review of the Reviewers Burroughs answers to his critics in this way: Critics constantly complain that writers are lacking in standards, yet they themselves seem to have no standards other than personal prejudice for literary criticism. (...) such standards do exist. Matthew Arnold set up three criteria for criticism: 1. What is ...

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William S. Burroughs, William S. Burroughs - Life, William S. Burroughs - Career, William S. Burroughs - Literary style, William S. Burroughs - Reaction to critics and view on criticism, William S. Burroughs - Influence, William S. Burroughs - Bibliography

Read more here: » William S. Burroughs: Encyclopedia II - William S. Burroughs - Reaction to critics and view on criticism