About
William S. Burroughs was born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1914. A Harvard graduate, he moved to New York in 1943, where he met Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac. His first novel, Junky (1953), recounts his experience with drug addiction. His most famous work, Naked Lunch (1959), was the subject of obscenity trials. With Brion Gysin, he developed the cut-up technique, used in his Nova trilogy. He also produced visual art and collaborated with musicians. He died in 1997 in Kansas.
* 1914-02-05 — † 1997-08-02
Major works
- Junky (1953)novel
- Naked Lunch (1959)novel
- The Soft Machine (1961)novel
- The Ticket That Exploded (1962)novel
- Nova Express (1964)novel
Key milestones
- 1951Accidentally kills his wife Joan Vollmer in Mexico City.
- 1965The obscenity trial for Naked Lunch is dismissed in Massachusetts.
- 1983Elected to the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.
Themes
AddictionControl and powerNarrative experimentationMarginalitySocial critique
Sources: britannica.com · id.loc.gov · exhibitions.library.columbia.edu