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Call Me Burroughs
Contents: Bradley the buyer (6:25) -- Meeting of International Conference of Technological Psychiatry (4:56) -- The fish poison con (6:59) -- Thing police keep all board room reports (1:24) -- Mr. Bradley Mr. Martin hear us through the hole in thin air (4:15) -- Where you belong (rewrite) (6:38) -- Inflexible authority (10:47) -- Uranian Willy (rewrite) (2:01).
- GenresFiction
Unbound
First published January 1, 1965
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About the author
William S. Burroughs
449 books7,029 followersWilliam Seward Burroughs II, (also known by his pen name William Lee) 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.
Much of Burroughs's work is semi-autobiographical, primarily drawn from his experiences as a heroin addict, as he lived throughout Mexico City, London, Paris, Berlin, the South American Amazon and Tangier in Morocco. Finding success with his confessional first novel, Junkie (1953), Burroughs is perhaps best known for his third novel Naked Lunch (1959), a controversy-fraught work that underwent a court case under the U.S. sodomy laws. With Brion Gysin, he also popularized the literary cut-up technique in works such as The Nova Trilogy (1961–64). In 1983, Burroughs was elected to the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, and in 1984 was awarded the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by France. Jack Kerouac called Burroughs the "greatest satirical writer since Jonathan Swift", a reputation he owes to his "lifelong subversion" of the moral, political and economic systems of modern American society, articulated in often darkly humorous sardonicism. J. G. Ballard considered Burroughs to be "the most important writer to emerge since the Second World War", while Norman Mailer declared him "the only American writer who may be conceivably possessed by genius".
Burroughs had one child, William Seward Burroughs III (1947-1981), with his second wife Joan Vollmer. Vollmer died in 1951 in Mexico City. Burroughs was convicted of manslaughter in Vollmer's death, an event that deeply permeated all of his writings. Burroughs died at his home in Lawrence, Kansas, after suffering a heart attack in 1997.
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.
Much of Burroughs's work is semi-autobiographical, primarily drawn from his experiences as a heroin addict, as he lived throughout Mexico City, London, Paris, Berlin, the South American Amazon and Tangier in Morocco. Finding success with his confessional first novel, Junkie (1953), Burroughs is perhaps best known for his third novel Naked Lunch (1959), a controversy-fraught work that underwent a court case under the U.S. sodomy laws. With Brion Gysin, he also popularized the literary cut-up technique in works such as The Nova Trilogy (1961–64). In 1983, Burroughs was elected to the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, and in 1984 was awarded the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by France. Jack Kerouac called Burroughs the "greatest satirical writer since Jonathan Swift", a reputation he owes to his "lifelong subversion" of the moral, political and economic systems of modern American society, articulated in often darkly humorous sardonicism. J. G. Ballard considered Burroughs to be "the most important writer to emerge since the Second World War", while Norman Mailer declared him "the only American writer who may be conceivably possessed by genius".
Burroughs had one child, William Seward Burroughs III (1947-1981), with his second wife Joan Vollmer. Vollmer died in 1951 in Mexico City. Burroughs was convicted of manslaughter in Vollmer's death, an event that deeply permeated all of his writings. Burroughs died at his home in Lawrence, Kansas, after suffering a heart attack in 1997.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 16, 2014
Having read every published novel, essay collection, cut-up book, collection of letters, biography, art gallery guide, article, poem I could get my hands on and having listened to all the recordings, watched all the films and documentaries concerning Burroughs there was one thing that worried me before reading this latest (I don't think final) biography. Was this going to be a simply updated version of Barry Mile's earlier biography? Was it a timed publication?
It was and it wasn't.
The same opening prologue scene could have been avoided. Much of the early years open no real new discoveries. In fact so much has been written by Ted Morgan, Miles and others, plus so much can be gleamed from the collection of letters one wonders if this was a publication simply put out to capitalize on the centenary of Burroughs' birth.
Then we reach his years in London and things become interesting. Miles had somehow gained access to Burroughs financial accounts and this reviewer was interested to learn that after the publication of Naked Lunch stateside Burroughs was pulling in over 40k a year - In these days that is an extraordinary amount for a novelist - in the sixties it was astronomical.
More light is shone on his years in New York and later years in Lawrence than previous publications.
As a completest I remain satisfied and recommend Call me Burroughs both to those who have read prior studies and those who have not.
I feel in general the life of Burroughs is more interesting than the bulk of his work as I detail in my review of Naked Lunch here on goodreads.
It was and it wasn't.
The same opening prologue scene could have been avoided. Much of the early years open no real new discoveries. In fact so much has been written by Ted Morgan, Miles and others, plus so much can be gleamed from the collection of letters one wonders if this was a publication simply put out to capitalize on the centenary of Burroughs' birth.
Then we reach his years in London and things become interesting. Miles had somehow gained access to Burroughs financial accounts and this reviewer was interested to learn that after the publication of Naked Lunch stateside Burroughs was pulling in over 40k a year - In these days that is an extraordinary amount for a novelist - in the sixties it was astronomical.
More light is shone on his years in New York and later years in Lawrence than previous publications.
As a completest I remain satisfied and recommend Call me Burroughs both to those who have read prior studies and those who have not.
I feel in general the life of Burroughs is more interesting than the bulk of his work as I detail in my review of Naked Lunch here on goodreads.
March 22, 2025
Best enjoyed as a timelessly surreal stand-up comedy routine than as a historical literary document of the 60s
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews