William S. Burroughs

by Phil Baker

Overview

An insightful, revealing portrait of the life and work of William S. Burroughs, one of the iconic figures of the Beat generation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781861897367
Publisher:	Reaktion Books, Limited
Publication date:	06/16/2011
Series:	Critical Lives
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Phil Baker’s previous books include a critical study of Samuel Beckett and a cultural history of absinthe. He lives in London and walks everywhere.

Table of Contents

1    St Louis Blues
2    The Hidden Antagonist
3    New York, New York
4    Go South, Young Man
5    A Slip of the Gun
6    Tangier and Naked Lunch
7    Paris: Cut-ups at the Beat Hotel
8    Burroughs 1960-65: Undesirable Alien
9    Swinging London, 1966-73
10  Holding the Bunker
11  Kansas 1981-97: Adiós Muchachos

References
Select Bibliography
Acknowledgements
Photo Acknowledgements

Editorial Reviews

Lucid and readable . . . manages to pick its through way through most of Burroughs’s major motivations and curious obsessions, and serves as a good introductory text for general readers, as well as a model of concision for Beat aficionados. Repeatedly, in various ways, it asks: just what possessed Burroughs?” —Times Literary Supplement

TLS

Obviously researched with some thoroughness, Baker’s finely cut biography of Burroughs hits the spot as well as Burroughs once did in an infamous episode he was involved with down in Mexico City. . . . For all the often nightmarish twists of events in Burroughs life, he is a biographer’s dream. This biography comes up trumps where grander, better placed ones have come up short. The precise, condensed style makes for a fast moving read.

Beat Scene

Baker’s vivid critical study of the Beat novelist Burroughs zings with the same energy and humor as his subject’s fiction. Judiciously matching the biography to the books, Baker follows Burroughs’s peregrinations from his relationship with Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac in New York, to Mexico, where he accidentally shot dead his wife, and eventually to Tangier, where he wrote his best-known work, The Naked Lunch. A literary life that is as entertaining as it is indispensable as a guide to Burroughs’s writing.”

Sunday Times

Baker’s book is an excellent introduction.”

Stride Magazine

"Baker’s vivid critical study of the Beat novelist Burroughs zings with the same energy and humour as his subject’s fiction. Judiciously matching the biography to the books, Baker follows Burroughs’s peregrinations from his relationship with Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac in New York, to Mexico, where he accidentally shot dead his wife, and eventually to Tangier, where he wrote his best-known work, The Naked Lunch. A literary life that is as entertaining as it is indispensable as a guide to Burroughs’s writing."–Sunday Times

Sunday Times (UK)