William S. Burroughs

Novelist, Author

1914 – 1997

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Who was William S. Burroughs?

William Seward Burroughs II was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, painter, and spoken word performer. A primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodernist author, he is considered to be "one of the most politically trenchant, culturally influential, and innovative artists of the 20th century". His influence is considered to have affected a range of popular culture as well as literature. Burroughs wrote 18 novels and novellas, six collections of short stories and four collections of essays. Five books have been published of his interviews and correspondences. He also collaborated on projects and recordings with numerous performers and musicians, and made many appearances in films.

He was born to a wealthy family in St. Louis, Missouri, grandson of the inventor and founder of the Burroughs Corporation, William Seward Burroughs I, and nephew of public relations manager Ivy Lee. Burroughs began writing essays and journals in early adolescence. He left home in 1932 to attend Harvard University, studied English, and anthropology as a postgraduate, and later attended medical school in Vienna. After being turned down by the Office of Strategic Services and U.S. Navy in 1942 to serve in World War II, he dropped out and became afflicted with the drug addiction that affected him for the rest of his life, while working a variety of jobs. In 1943 while living in New York City, he befriended Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac, the mutually influential foundation of what became the countercultural movement of the Beat Generation.

Famous Quotes:

  • After one look at this planet any visitor from outer space would say I want to see the manager.
  • Which came first the intestine or the tapeworm?
  • I think the ideal situation for a family is to be completely incestuous.
  • There couldn't be a society of people who didn't dream. They'd be dead in two weeks.
  • I think there are innumerable gods. What we on earth call God is a little tribal God who has made an awful mess. Certainly forces operating through human consciousness control events.
  • This is a war universe. War all the time. That is its nature. There may be other universes based on all sorts of other principles, but ours seems to be based on war and games.
  • Black magic operates most effectively in preconscious, marginal areas. Casual curses are the most effective.
  • Humility is indeed beatness, a compulsory virtue that no one exhibits unless he has to.
  • In deep sadness there is no place for sentimentality.
  • Writing prejudicial, off-putting reviews is a precise exercise in applied black magic. The reviewer can draw free-floating disagreeable associations to a book by implying that the book is completely unimportant without saying exactly why, and carefully avoiding any clear images that could capture the reader's full attention.

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Born
Feb 5, 1914
St. Louis
Also known as
  • William S Burroughs
  • William Burroughs
  • William Seward Burroughs
  • Burroughs, William S.
  • William Lee
  • William Seward Burroughs II
  • Il hombre invisible
  • The Invisible Man
  • William S. Bourroughs
  • Bill
Parents
Spouses
Children
Nationality
  • United States of America
Profession
Education
  • Harvard University
  • John Burroughs School
  • Mexico City College
  • Los Alamos Ranch School
Lived in
  • St. Louis
  • Missouri
Died
Aug 2, 1997
Lawrence

Submitted
on July 23, 2013

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"William S. Burroughs." Biographies.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <https://www.biographies.net/people/en/william_s_burroughs>.

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