William S. Burroughs
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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William Burroughs (February 5 1914 - August 2, 1997), also known as William S. Burroughs, was an American novelist, essayist, social critic, painter and spoken word performer. Much of Burroughs' work is semi-autobiographical, drawn from his experiences as an heroin addict, a condition that marked the last fifty years of his life. He was a primary member of the Beat Generation, an avant-garde author who affected popular culture as well as literature.
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Bibliography
Novels and other long fiction
- Junkie (1953) (ISBN 0-14-200316-6)
- Queer (written 1951-3; published 1985) (ISBN 0-14-008389-8)
- Naked Lunch (1959) (ISBN 0-8021-3295-2)
- The Soft Machine (1961) (ISBN 0-8021-3329-0)
- The Ticket That Exploded (1962) (ISBN 0-8021-5150-7)
- Dead Fingers Talk (1963) - excerpts from Naked Lunch, The Soft Machine and The Ticket That Exploded combined together to create a new narrative
- Nova Express (1964) (ISBN 0-8021-3330-4)
- The Last Words of Dutch Schultz (1969) (ISBN 1-55970-211-7)
- The Wild Boys: A Book Of The Dead (1971) (ISBN 0-8021-3331-2)
- Port of Saints (1973) (ISBN 0-912652-64-0)
- Cities of the Red Night (1981) (ISBN 0-03-053976-5)
- The Place of Dead Roads (1983) (ISBN 0-312-27865-9)
- The Western Lands (1987) (ISBN 0-14-009456-3)
- My Education: A Book of Dreams (1995) (ISBN 0-14-009454-7)
Non-fiction
- The Job: Interviews with William S. Burroughs (1969) (ISBN 0-14-011882-9) (with Daniel Odier)
- Jack Kerouac (1970) (with Claude Pelieu)
- The Electronic Revolution (1971)
- The Retreat Diaries (1976) - later included in The Burroughs File
- Letters to Allen Ginsberg 1953-1957 (1976)
- Last Words: The Final Journals of William S. Burroughs (2000; ISBN 0-8021-3778-4)
- Everything Lost: The Latin American Notebook of William S. Burroughs (2007; ISBN 978-0814210802)
Stories and novellas
- Valentine's Day Reading (1965)
- Time (1965)
- APO-33 (1966)
- So Who Owns Death TV? (1967)
- The Dead Star (1969)
- Ali's Smile (1971)
- Mayfair Academy Series More or Less (1973)
- White Subway (1973) - later included in The Burroughs File
- Exterminator! (1973) (ISBN 0-14-005003-5) (a different book from the 1960 collaboration with Brion Gysin)
- The Book of Breething (aka "Ah Pook Is Here") (1974)
- Snack... (ISBN 0-85652-014-4) (1975)
- Cobble Stone Gardens (1976) - later included in The Burroughs File
- Blade Runner (a movie) (1979) (ISBN 0-912652-46-2)
- Dr. Benway (1979)
- Die Alten Filme (The Old Movies) (1979) - later included in The Burroughs File
- Streets of Chance (1981)
- Early Routines (1981)
- Sinki's Sauna (1982)
- Ruski (1984)
- The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1984)
- The Cat Inside (1986)
- The Whole Tamale (c.1987-88)
- Interzone (1987) (ISBN 0-14-009451-2)
- Tornado Alley (1989)
- Ghost of Chance (1991) (ISBN 1-85242-457-5)
- Seven Deadly Sins (1992)
- Paper Cloud; Thick Pages (1992)
Collections
- Roosevelt After Inauguration and Other Atrocities (1965)
- Ali's Smile/Naked Scientology (1978)
- Ah Pook is Here, Nova Express, Cities of the Red Night (1981) (ISBN 0-312-27846-2)
- The Burroughs File (1984)
- The Adding Machine: Collected Essays (1985) (ISBN 1-55970-210-9)
- Uncommon Quotes Vol. 1 (1989)
- Selected Letters (1993)
- Burroughs Live : The Collected Interviews of William S. Burroughs, 1960-1997 (2000) (ISBN 1-58435-010-5)
- The Letters of William S. Burroughs 1945-1959
- Word Virus : The William Burroughs Reader (1998) (ISBN 0-00-655214-5)
Collaborations
- And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks (1945 - scheduled for publication November 2008) (with Jack Kerouac)
- Minutes To Go (1960) (with Sinclair Beilles, Gregory Corso and Brion Gysin)
- The Exterminator (1960) (with Brion Gysin)
- The Yage Letters (1963) (with Allen Ginsberg)
- Brion Gysin Let the Mice In (1973) (with Brion Gysin)
- Sidetripping (1975) (with Charles Gatewood)
- Colloque de Tangier (1976) (with Brion Gysin)
- The Third Mind (1977) (with Brion Gysin)
- Colloque de Tangier Vol. 2 (1979) (with Brion Gysin and Gérard-Georges Lemaire)
- Apocalypse (1988) (with Keith Haring)
Film collaborations
- The Final Academy Documents – (with various experimental film collaborations of Brion Gyson, Antony Balch, John Giorno and others)
The Final Academy - a 1982 tour in Britain, organized by David Dawson, Roger Ely and Genesis P-Orridge. The project was based on, featuring works of and was inspired by William S Burroughs. A DVD, 'The Final Academy Documents" is a DVD of edited highlights from the tour, including Burroughs' public appearance in 1982 and reading from his work at Manchester's infamous The Haçienda, a performance by John Giorno and includes the experimental film collaborations with Anthony Balch, Brion Gysin, and others - ‘Towers Open Fire' and ‘Ghosts at No. 9'. Further related information on these films mentioned above and other works of Burroughs' can be found here and here and also here on 3 various UbuWeb external links.
This Cherry Red Records DVD is from 2002 here is a link to this DVDs info page
Many of Burroughs' works were later republished with revisions made by the author, and/or censored material restored. Both Junkie/Junky and Naked Lunch were published in "restored" editions following Burroughs's death. An expanded edition of Yage Letters entitled Yage Letters Redux was published in April 2006.
Burroughs also played a cameo part in the motion picture Drugstore Cowboy. He also collaborated on the documentary Words of Advice: William S. Burroughs On the Road released in 2007.
Recordings (partial list)
- Call Me Burroughs (1965) - The English Bookshop, Paris (reissued in 1995 by Rhino Word Beat)
- The Nova Convention (1979) by Burroughs and others - LP GPS 14-15
- Nothing Here Now But The Recordings (1981) with Brion Gysin - LP Industrial Records IR0016
- You're the Guy I Want to Share My Money With (1981) with John Giorno and Laurie Anderson - LP GPS 20-21 et al
- Poetry in Motion (1982) a film directed by Ron Mann - Burroughs is a featured writer.
- Mister Heartbreak (1984) by Laurie Anderson - Burroughs speaks the lyrics to the song "Sharkey's Night"
- Home of the Brave (1986) by Laurie Anderson - a sample of Burroughs intoning "Listen to my heart beat" is incorporated into the song "Late Show"
- UnCommon Quotes (1986) - Recorded live at the CARAVAN of DREAMS, September 11, 1986 ([1]) (ISBN 0 929856 00 7)
- Smack my Crack (1987) with Tom Waits and various artists
- Like A Girl I Want To Keep Coming (1989) by John Giorno - LP Giorno Poetry System
- Seven Souls (1989) by Material - Burroughs collaborates with Bill Laswell, later remixed in 1998 as The Road to the Western Lands
- Dead City Radio (1990) - Island Records
- The "Priest" they called him (1992) - Burroughs narrates and Kurt Cobain plays guitar
- Break Through In Grey Room (1992) - A collection of readings and cutups - Sub Rosa Records
- "Just One Fix" (1992) from the Ministry album Psalm 69: The Way to Succeed and the Way to Suck Eggs - Burroughs speaks the lyrics to the song "Quick Fix" and created the cover art
- The Black Rider (1992) - Musical co-authored with Tom Waits and Robert Wilson, sings on "T'ain't No Sin"
- Spare Ass Annie and Other Tales (1993) - Island Records (features the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy)
- "Words Of Advice" on the Material album Hallucination Engine (1994) - same piece as on Spare Ass Annie and Other Tales accompanied by different music
- The Elvis of Letters (1995) with Gus van Sant
- 10%: File under Burroughs (1996) - 2 CD set; Disc one: "Beats" (dance music using Burroughs's voice and Brion Gysin); Disc two: "Beat" (acoustic sounds and voices)
- Songs in the Key of X (1996) and In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988-2003 bonus disc (2003) - Burroughs records his vocal over an instrumental version of R.E.M.'s "Star Me Kitten"
- Stoned Immaculate: The Music of the Doors (2000) - Burroughs reads poetry by Jim Morrison over music provided by The Doors on the track "Is Everybody In?"
Band names
Burroughs's work has inspired the name of several musical groups over the years. The most widely known of these is Steely Dan, a group named after a dildo in Naked Lunch. Also from Naked Lunch came the name The Mugwumps. The band Soft Machine took its name from the Burroughs novel of the same name, while alt-country band Clem Snide is named for a Burroughs character. The band The Soft Boys took its name from Burroughs' novels The Soft Machine and The Wild Boys. Proto-punk band Dead Fingers Talk from Hull, England, took their name from the novel of the same name, and their only album was titled Storm the Reality Studios, after a quote from Nova Express.
See also