Curt's William S. Burroughs Page
"You come with me, Meester, to greet the garbage man and the dawn?" The Soft Machine

this page was last updated on Tuesday, January 23, 2001
I love Burroughs because he makes me laugh.

I have now finished Cities of the Red Night - it was a lot of fun - but I liked it better before it got "artistic". So of course I am now reading The Place of Dead Roads - and I plan to move right on from there to The Western Lands.

This just in: for those of you who really need it special, you can find lots of recordings of William S. Burroughs reading his work on CD's at Borders!

If you are not familiar with Burroughs' work, an excellent way to get started is to watch David Cronenberg's movie Naked Lunch. This is not a film adaptation of Burroughs' novel, rather it is an exploration of the consciousness out of which that novel arose. So there. If you find Cronenberg's movie disgusting (in a bad way, that is) then, well, never mind. But do try to remember to take a broad general view of things, won't you?

But, on the other hand, if you do like Cronenberg's movie, you shouldn't necessarily run out and buy the book. At least not that book (Naked Lunch) - at least not right away. Try "Junkie" or "The Adding Machine" first - they are much more readable. That is to say, they are less "artistic" - Burroughs more "artistic" prose tends to obscure, in my opinion, his true genius as a writer. Also, you might try Burrough's little "sketch for a film script" entitled The Last Words of Dutch Schultz.

And here is an interview with Cabell McLean who met Burroughs at the Naropa Institute and ended up living with Burroughs for five years.

I highly recommend the CD "Spare Ass Annie" - this is Burroughs at his best, reading his own work. Burroughs was a real performer. The accompanying music by the Disposable Heroes of Hipoprisy is quite nice. If "Junkie's Christmas" makes you cry, and "Advice for Young People" makes you laugh, then you are hooked.

There's all kinds of cool stuff in the InterWebZone. I haven't yet had time to investigate it very much but The William S. Burroughs Browser looks very promising. And there is some very good stuff, and even more good links, about Burrough's (etc.) at The Beat Generation

"The whole Christian Religion, Catholic and Protestant, is a Venusian ploy." The Place of the Dead Roads

back to Curt's more interesting page