William S. Burroughs, Jr.

Who was William S. Burroughs, Jr.?

William Seward Burroughs III was an American novelist, also known as William S. Burroughs, Jr. and Billy Burroughs. He bears the name of both his father and his great grandfather, William Seward Burroughs I, the original inventor of the Burroughs adding machine. He wrote three novels, two of which were published as Speed and Kentucky Ham. His third novel, Prakriti Junction, begun in 1977, was never completed, although extracts from it were included in his third published work Cursed From Birth.

Burroughs Jr. underwent a liver transplant in 1976 after developing cirrhosis. He died in 1981, at the age of 33, from alcoholism and liver failure. Burroughs Jr. appears briefly in the 1983 documentary Burroughs, about his father, in which he discusses his childhood, his liver problems, and his relationship with his family. In the documentary, John Giorno calls him "the last beatnik."