Literary Outlaw: The Life and Times of William S. Burroughs

by Ted Morgan, William S. Burroughs

Anarchist, heroin addict, alcoholic, nihilist, homosexual crusader, and brilliant writer, William S. Burroughs was the patron saint and Prince of Darkness of the Beats of the 1950s. His ground-breaking avant-garde masterpiece NAKED LUNCH shocked the literary world with its graphic descriptions of drug abuse and sexual perversion—and resulted in a landmark Supreme Court ruling on obscenity.

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Tim Morgan's biography of Burroughs captures one of the most lionized artist/criminals of our times—a violent, reckless genius whose history is as bizarre as his fiction. A rebel—hero, Burroughs symbolized the anti—authoritarian cause for three generations of the young and disillusioned—exploring the murkiest depths of human terror and degradation in his art—and in his life.

Literary Outlaw is a wild ride through the life of a man who became an icon for the counterculture and whose perverse and decadent life mirrors his remarkable art.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Biography Memoir, Literature, History, American, Literary Criticism

672 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Born Saint-Charles Armand Gabriel de Gramont*, he used the name Sanche de Gramont as his byline (and also on his books) during the early part of his career. He worked as a journalist for many years, and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 for local reporting written under pressure of a deadline. He first came to the United States in 1937, and became a naturalized citizen in February 1977, at which time he had his name legally changed to Ted Morgan. He was a National Book Award finalist in 1982 for Maugham: A Biography.


*His father was a military pilot who died in an accident in 1943, at which point he inherited the title "Comte de Gramont". He was properly styled "Saint-Charles Armand Gabriel, Comte de Gramont" until he renounced his title upon becoming a U.S. citizen in 1977.

Reviews

[Tosh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Burroughs is one of the great characters out of American literature. He's almost a fictional character, but it is own creation. He is also one of the funniest writers in the 20th century. I think he goes beyond the 'Beats' and more in league with the Dorothy Parkers/and other humorists of that generation. But that's my take on him.

I do find it disturbing that he was a gun nut even after shooting his wife by accident by playing William Tell with an apple. He missed! For me that would say 'no more guns,' but for him it made him focus on being a writer. Not exactly a career move with the additional baggage that would make me happy, but nevertheless that tragedy opened him up to another world of sorts.

For someone younger he sort of became the grand gentleman of 'Beat' literature or at its very worst, became part of the NIke advertising world - but if you strip all that away what we have is a classic american artist struggling to make evil into an art. And making it funny!

This is the first major biography on the man and I think the author got the surroundings right, and nailed Burroughs to a period of time that was wild yet conservative at the same time. Just like Burroughs himself!

[Mat · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fantastic, classic and very entertaining biography!
I found myself marking on almost any given page an interesting passage or insight into William Burroughs, the great genius of the Beat Generation and counterculture.

Not only is this biography filled and jam-packed with information on Burroughs himself but there are lots of fascinating asides and tidbits where Ted Morgan gives many 'mini-biographies' on Burroughs' friends or members of his immediate entourage or coterie. I found out lots of information on Allen Ginsberg, Lucien Carr, Jack Kerouac, Burroughs' wife, Joan Vollmer Adams, Gregory Corso, Paul Bowles, Alan Ansen and of course Brion Gysin - the only man he ever respected.
What I really loved too was finding out more about other talented artists and writers I did not know much about until now such as the mysterious crippled French Jewish junky, Jacques Stern, who was famous for his tall tales about his own life, some of which turned out to be spurious some which turned out to be unbelievably true.

The chapter that focused on the decline of his son, Billy Burroughs, was one of the most fascinating chapters in the book and was devastating and harrowing to read about. My heart really bled and ached for poor little Billy (I felt sad to the point of depression after finishing this chapter) - a boy who lost his mother Joan at the age of 2 due to a stupid, drunken shooting accident (which haunted WSB for the rest of his life - or did it? [see the final chapter for more details]), growing up with his grandparents in Palm Beach, Florida, and suffering from various forms of affliction and addiction, not knowing where his father was nor why he was absent with only vague memories of his mother (her heart-shaped calves and a spiral staircase in Mexico City). His complicated liver transplant surgery in Colorado, where he happened to be fortuitously located at the time, was both fascinating and scary in its detail. I did not know that Burroughs Jr. had a brief fling with Joanne Kyger! That came as news to me. The great sad irony in all of this was that here we have one of the greatest writers in the world at the time and yet he couldn't communicate on an emotional level with his son. He couldn't connect with him on that level, which can partly be traced to his insipid upbringing by his conservative father. Burroughs' father reminded me of my own father - clean, straight, almost never showed a hint of emotion or about as "communicative as a plant" as my sister once put it.

The craziness of Burroughs' bunker days and the endless sycophants and junky entourage who would go out to score junk for him was new to me and indicative of what pain Burroughs was in after his son's death.
Burroughs continues to lose one friend after another - Mikey and Trocchi in the early 80s, Brion Gysin who tragically died of emphysema and lung cancer in 1986, the sudden death of his brother Mort (and the guilt he feels over his brother's difficult life) and finally of course the death of Allen Ginsberg, a few months before his own, which must have come as a crushing blow.

The 1980s and 1990s were not easy for Burroughs but there was a beautiful transformation that took place. Through all the hardship and loss, he managed to pen his masterpieces which are the Cities of the Red Night trilogy. Morgan offers some very informative analysis of the characters in these books and how they represent different parts of the diverse collage that made up WSB's character. Finally, his devotion and love for his cats was beautiful as it appears that Burroughs is making up for all of the fuck-ups in his relationships with others throughout his life.

All in all, a fantastically exhaustive portrait and biography of the man.

So why not 5 stars?
Let me say, in terms of information and entertainment, this book is an easy 5 stars, I would give it 6 if I could.

However, I have 2 major gripes with this book which makes me dock a star for the overall evaluation.

First of all, although there is an index and notes section at the back of the book, my Kindle edition did not contain one single footnote from start to finish. Anyone serious about writing an accurate biography that can be backed up solidly with documental evidence, but decides instead not to include any footnotes whatsoever is either cocky or making a serious mistake. As a result, there were parts of the biography which sounded like Burroughs' writing but because there were hardly any quotation marks, I could not tell if it was...a) lifted from a Burroughs' book or b) Ted Morgan, paraphrasing Burroughs and trying to sound like him. This was a major flaw of the book.

Secondly, I mentioned earlier that this book has some fascinating mini-biographical asides about other people Burroughs knew or who entered his life. While any details or comments on Burroughs, Ginsberg or Kerouac tended to be positive and laudatory, there were some disparaging comments about other people (two examples that immediately come to mind are Orlovsky and Sinclair Beiles) which I would classify as 'slanderous'.

In fact, I wonder if that is why the author was punched by Gregory Corso (as he mentions towards the end of the book) although his comments about Corso were almost invariably positive, including his praise of how Gregory stayed true to the beat lifestyle and didn't 'sell out' as some people thought Burroughs and Ginsberg did when they joined some of the bigwig literary academic associations and let themselves be absorbed by the mainstream culture. (Incidentally, I didn't see it as selling out but as being practical - authors need a reputation and a name in order to sell books)

All things considered, if you want information, LOTS of information on Burroughs' life, this is not just a meal, it's a real banquet with Naked Lunch on the table and more.

[George Ilsley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very readable, and a comprehensive overview of Burroughs and of course the rest of his world —Kerouac, Lucian Carr, Ginsberg et al. I still pick it up sometimes and read from it at random, which is, I suppose, a kind of "cut up" reading style.

The story of the Burroughs's son is long, and tragic and very sad. WSB was never really inclined to be a father, and considering he killed the boy's mother, never really destined to be a husband either. In fact, most of Burroughs' personal life is sad. Perhaps this is what inspired his dry and wry humour. In the end, he has his precious cats. And methadone.

I've read a longer biography, but not a better one.

Just revisited this while reading John Giorno’s memoir Great Demon Kings: A Memoir of Poetry, Sex, Art, Death, and Enlightenment. Now have fresh appreciation for this comprehensive and insightful biography.

[Matthew W · Rating 5 out of 5]

"It was no accident that I went to the Los Alamos Ranch School where they couldn't wait to make the atom bomb and drop it on the Yellow Peril" stated Nordic degenerate William S. Burroughs. Burroughs felt the atom bomb symbolized America's final loss of innocence and that here on out "everything was permitted." Burroughs was also a fan of German genius Oswald Spengler's two volume pessimistic masterpiece "The Decline of the West" and Burroughs himself was symbolic of this decline. The Grandson of brilliant adding machine inventor William Seward Burroughs I, WSB was a drug addict, unrelenting homosexual, wife killer, and failed father (among many other things). As a writer however, William S. Burroughs created nihilistic worlds of sexual perversion (with nonexistent STDs that would predict Aids), tribes of homosexual criminals, talking assholes, and other oddities scattered throughout the world. William S. Burroughs was no doubt a writer of his time (which all great writers usually are), reflecting the world through his own unique lens, a lens that fortunately the majority of the United States population wasn't seeing through, for Burroughs life was a life of pain. His only outlet for this pain, aside from drugs and sex of course, was his writing.

"Literary Outlaw" is easily the most powerful biography I have ever had the fortune (other might call it a misfortune) of reading. If Hollywood wasn't run by mostly hacks, I would like to see this bio adapted into a film, although David Cronenberg's "Naked Lunch" is certainly a worthy Burroughs tribute. For the writers and would-be writers out there, "Literary Outlaw" is also an inspirational work. Those people that lead interesting and unconventional lives (with unconventional personalities to boot), usually also make interesting writers as "Literary Outlaw" and William S. Burroughs make testament to. "Literary Outlaw" is no ass-kissing tribute or soulless academic analytical text, but a portrait of a man that lived a fairly pathetic, sad, and many times shameful life. Thankfully, he has left a legacy in written form for those out there that cannot ignore the degeneracy of the modern world. William S. Burroughs tried it, traveling throughout the world and living in many exotic places (while on exotic drugs). Of course, he could never escape this world and most importantly, he could never escape himself.

[Splashconception · Rating 5 out of 5]

This biography of Burroughs is as good as Junky or possibly even Naked Lunch though of course you can't really read William as a straight narrative. Was it the best biography I've read period, or at least the most interesting, one that kept my attention in that way where hours pass nose deep in
a good book? Yes it was.
Was is at times almost devastatingly depressing? Yes it was. Especially the lamenting on monstrous mistakes of communicating compassion and affection with those that were closest to him, a memory of rejecting his father's love late on evening and all the chapters about Billy Burroughs, William's son and that sad interval after his first liver transplant when Billy already carrying the resentment he had towards his father regarding the now infamous William Tell act and who by all accounts was not to hep on surviving in the first place comes out of a coma to live a 4 year struggle of immense physical pain due in part to a fistula type hole in his side the size of a fist and drinks liver number two to death. Well, really he commits suicide in a sense by discontinuing the medication that kept his body from rejecting his new liver.
Plus, Burroughs story is kind of a sad one, the gay outcast who finally made himself into the image of a criminal because he never fit in anywhere. But the flipside of that, as the biography points out in multiple ways is that Burroughs was always authentically original, his own person and for the most pretty honest.
This biography reads better than a lot of fiction novels (his life was weirder than fiction in many ways, probably in part because he does not hesitate to explore parapsychological phenomena, his mom in her time being something of, at least according to Burroughs, an accomplished medium, in fact there is a weird little story about green men and a small deer he saw when he was a mere youngin', the sort of story that reminds me of Satre's mescaline induced lobster (or was it a pair of crabs) friends, though at the time of the little men and the deer {was the deer green or was it the men?} he was much too young to have ingested any hallucinogens).
Of course Burroughs gets into some weird shit--I'm not talking about his ill advised dadesque cut-up obsession which was interesting for about one novel...ie when it was woven into a narrative, but then Burroughs has never been the sort of writers whose books I read like a novel anyways, I try to approach them the way he reads them, which given the discussion in this book and another biography about the routines Burroughs made up to seduce Allerton and later the acting out of routines to get a handle on what he was writing makes sense--but just the surreal paranormal stuff that Burroughs considered every day magic. Burroughs was a man of the curse and felt himself to be cursed more than once, or possessed, indeed the only passages he wrote about the accidental killing of his wife explore what he calls his possession by the ugly spirit. How much of this Burroughs actually believes verses how much is a symbolic is a mute point I think. One gets the feeling reading this biography that his metaphorical fiction sort of seamenlessly blends into his fiction. There's his obsession with Reich's orgone accumulator and belief that sexual oppression creates fascism (which may not be too far off the mark actually, fascists tend to be impotent, or at least fascist leaders tend to have small penises and ejaculate prematurely...ie cough cough, Franco and Mussolini and I'm just gonna run on conjecture here but considering how Trump jumps on the masculine paradigm, gladhanding that tired ideology of yore like a horny dog who just spotted a nice firm leg to hump one has to imagine serious insecurities about his manhood......a premie for sure...). Which is a poor segue into another notion in this biography, Burroughs explorations on the fringes of psychology. Okay psychedelics is one everyone knows, he hung out with Leary in 61, consuming psilocybin pills which he apparently disliked because of man-sized insect problems that followed. He also snorted DMT with Paul Bowles who apparently felt his face falling off or something of the sort. And then there is the infamous Yage, all the rage now, but Burroughs happened to hook up with the famous ethnobotanist Schultes and might have provided a significant contribution to ethnobotany by being the first to identify a second plant which seemed to be responsible for the hallucinogenic visions which was not Banestaria Capi. At the time, early to mid fifties I believe, it was not known what the active ingredient was.
There are also a lot of great anecdotes for fans of writers or wannabe writers to gorge themselves on as well. The panel with Henry Miller and Norman Mailer and several others including an English writer I'd like to check who wrote a text called Cain's Book. is a highlight, this was right around the time Grove press was fighting censorship arrests, which I guess, or it seems according to this account the post office was involved in. Naked Lunch was considered obscene, booksellers were arrested and the case, along with a similar one against Miller and Ginsburg all sort of get hashed out and conclude with what seemed to be the end of censorship laws. Burroughs makes an appearance at the Democratic National Convention in 68' not really a spring chicken by that time but already well on his way to being the great grandaddy figure of the counter culture. There are other funny scenes with Burroughs and Terry Southern and a wheelchaired director working on a movie script that never gets made. Burroughs doing the rockstar thing and apparently pissing off Mick Jagger by turning down an invitation to his wedding. There are other factiod tidbits like the fact that Junky sold 100,000 copies in its first year on Ace paperbacks which is a pretty tidy sum and might mean that it was his most popular book.
One thing the book shows is that Burroughs was not a reptilians cold person but at times more of a sentimental old grandmotherly type figure who tried to hide his vulnerability behind a hard exterior, though certainly he grew a degree of jaded bitter amour when it came to love after being rejected so many times, and most cruelly by Ginsburg who Burroughs apparently fell madly in love with and wanted to become one with, something he called schellupping which sounded to me a whole lot like the love he later referred to as a female con in an interview. Though Burroughs was nothing if not a man of contradiction, having said yet another time that there was nothing holy about Kerouac using Buddhist belief as an excuse to hide from possibility of pain that comes with love.

[Alberto · Rating 5 out of 5]

En estas biografías que edita espop acabas sabiendo más de las vidas de los protagonistas que de la tuya propia. A veces resulta un poco denso tantísima información no solo del biografado (me acabo de inventar una palabra) sino de todo su entorno: Allen Ginsberg, Lucien Carr, su hijo Billy, Jack Kerouac, la esposa de Burroughs, Joan Vollmer Adams, Gregory Corso, Paul Bowles, Alan Ansen, Brion Gysin y el editor de Olympia Press Maurice Girodias.
Posiblemente mejor personaje que escritor (de culto), explícito y vanguardista, un vicioso delincuente drogata, armado y peligroso pero educado y vestido con traje que influyó en toda una generación (beat) y en el mundo entero por extensión.
Otro imprescindible para lectores forajidos.

[Ben Lovegrove · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is probably the longest Burroughs biography I've read. It goes into masses of detail but the problem is it uses pseudonyms for the names of some real people who presumably don't want to be identified. My favourite biography is the one by Barry Miles which is shorter and more concise, but I would say that both are worth a read. Perhaps the Miles one first for an introduction then this. I liked this one because it details his road trips through Mexico to see the volcano and various anecdotes.

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best biographies I've read. Superb. A really heavyweight treatment for a heavyweight character.

[Merl Fluin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Total carnage, by turns gripping and depressing to read, and often both at once.

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fascinating and thoroughly enjoyable read. It was the most exciting book I have read in quite a while, and yet I have to stop short of saying that it actually meant something to me personally. It was the best book that I have read about the "Beat Generation", and I think it belongs in the reading list of any serious aficionado.

Burroughs had a fascinating life, and the biographer had total access to the subject. To his credit, Burroughs had no interest in sanitizing his life to please the sensibilities of others. This is a true portrait of a remarkable but troubled man, a man whose life spanned a few generations of American culture and touched many other important cultural figures. I won't bother recapping any of his story here, because once I begin, where would I stop? Morgan chose an anecdotal format for his work, one full of the everyday ups and downs, moments of laughter, and interpersonal encounters. This does not read like a literary biography normally does. It sometimes seem like a very long Vanity Fair piece. I don't say this derisively, because the result is a book that is fun and enjoyable, and that also provides a full portrait of his subject. Morgan also has a clear-eyed view of Burroughs's work - the stunning significance of Naked Lunch, and the disappointing lack of importance of some of his other pieces.

Burroughs was a man who experienced the dregs of society and life in this country - he was a petty criminal, drug addict, alcoholic, and homosexual. He was also the grandson of a famous inventor and the product of a comfortable upper middle class home, and he had a Harvard degree. He was literate, brilliant, humorous, and creative, but also destructive and more than a little crazy. The story of his son's life and death, which is told in great detail here, is heartbreaking. The things he experienced and the anti-repressive culture which he helped create make for some of the most interesting reading I have encountered. One comes to like the man, despite his terrible flaws, and to enjoy his triumphs and appreciate his wit. And yet one is also left with the impression of a somewhat reptilian mental explorer, a man who possessed genius and boldness, if not an overwhelming literary talent.

[Stephen Bird · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book changed my life, as did Camille Paglia's "Sexual Personae" when I first read it 19 years ago. "Literary Outlaw" is a great window onto the post-WWII-beatnik culture--specifically the friends & people constituting Burroughs' Columbia University / Times Square NYC / Mexico City / Tangiers / Paris / London and again and finally New York City communities--in the 40's and 50's & beyond. Thus this text provides necessary background info missing from "The Letters of William S. Burroughs 1945-1959" (which I also highly recommend). I also learned via "Literary Outlaw" that Burroughs was very interested in magic and/or black magic, of which he was often a practitioner. Subsequently, this interest in magic ties into the dream world / dream time origins (where morality is suspended) of Burroughs' writing. Ted Morgan deconstructs Burroughs with fantastic and fascinating insight--Morgan is a Pulitzer-prize winning journalist & experienced biographer, having written 3 other biographies covering more mainstream public figures. PS--The chapter in "Literary Outlaw" dealing with the demise and slow suicide of Burrough's incredibly self-destructive son Billy was heartbreaking and heart-wrenching! It killed me! In fact, it was so heavy it that I could only deal with it in stages.

[Gravity · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best biography I've ever read. Ted Morgan does an excellent job of researching W.S.B.'s life and the people around him. And even though his subject is interesting enough, this book shines because he examines the mid-century literary scene that surrounded Burroughs and made the publication of his books possible, like the obscenity trials and the rise of Grove Press. Great literary history!

[Phillip · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the all time great writer's biographies. It not only tells an interesting story in an engaging fashion, but it also presents the connection between events in Burroughs' life and the purpose and content of his writing.

I believe Burroughs and Morgan were friends, at least withing the context of the project, and the text shows a sympathetic portrayal of the man who has written works that have moved millions of fans and offended others.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Contrary to what Will Self said, this gives you a better sense of what shaped El Hombre Invisible than the Selected Letters.

[J Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is easily the best biography I have ever read, and certainly the only one that I re-read every few years

[Max Nemtsov · Rating 5 out of 5]

Прекрасная био (хоть и не без литературщины) мыслителя поистине планетарного масштаба, из-за которой, несмотря на его раскавыченные внутренние монологи, человека не видно все равно. El hombre invisible все удалось даже после смерти.

Но полезного много - равно как и потешного, например короткий кусок об ужине с Евтухом в ноябре 1987го, кто, напившись, "трубил" свои стишки по-русски в компании с биографом, УСБ (кто его и привел), Гинзбергом, Макклюром, Джорно и прочими. В этом наверняка должен быть какой-то урок.

[Dean Prichard · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2 stars. When the author sticks to describing the strange life of WSB, the book is great for the most part. The earlier parts of the book, as well as the chapter on Billy were quite interesting. Also very good are the sections on WSB's interactions with other famous and not-so-famous artists, including most of the Beats. Where it falls flat for me is where he tries to discuss and analyze WSB's books. I also think that overall, the author being a fan and friend to WSB in the end was a detriment to the book in many ways. ( He somewhat admits this in the 2nd to last chapter.) The last 2 chapters where the biographer enters the story also seem very disconnected from the rest of the book, and were my least favorite part.

[Kurt · Rating 3 out of 5]

William S. Burroughs is a deity, and lived one of the most intriguing lives in recorded history. My complaint is that this book is too fucking much. When it branches out to give the backstory of Burroughs' son, fine. And Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac, okay. But when it starts giving you the detailed history of the doctor who did the son's surgery, it's too fucking much. But this is everything you could possibly want to know about Burroughs, and every single person he's ever met.

[Jeff Russo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Better than say the Miles biography. As with many authors, Burroughs's life is in many ways more compelling than his books.

One odd thing, this is for the most part a soberly written book, yet Morgan will often throw a "shit" or "fuck" into the text while not quoting anyone. A bit odd. Did Morgan also drop random profanities into his biography of FDR?

[Petersfo]

Since Burroughs crossed paths with so many interesting people during his life, Ted Morgan's biography is rich in interesting tidbits, filling the reader in with information about all these nooks and crannies.

[Emer Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book. Not just for the insight into Mr Burroughs, but also for the surrounding characters. All the Beats come alive here in this extensive, entertaining well written biography. Writer does seem to have it in for Lou Reed though.

[Raynna Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holy fucking shit.

[David B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ted Morgan has written a detailed biography of the writer and media personality William S. Burroughs that explores his many contradictions. Like so many great biographies, it also serves as a fascinating prism through which to view the times and circumstances that informed his life--the Beat movement of the 50s and 60s. Burroughs produced highly personal, often violent and even pornographic work that reflected his homosexuality, his drug dependence, and his somewhat addled, magical view of the universe, causing him to be viewed by many as a highly decadent, even demonic figure. Morgan contrasts this with the actual man, who was quiet and stiffly polite. One of the most shocking things about him was how conventional his morality was in many ways.

My only familiarity with Burroughs' work is a couple abortive stabs at reading "Naked Lunch" and "The Place of Dead Roads" when I was much too young for them, but I believe that this book is a must for anyone who really wants to understand his writing, since it reflected his personal life so heavily. Here you will find full accounts of the famous incident in which he shot his wife as well as encounters with many of the leading cultural figures of his day. One of the major threads concerns his failure as a father and his difficult relationship with his son Billy. A long chapter covering that tragic young man's final days is one of the most harrowing things I have ever read.

[Nicholas · Rating 5 out of 5]

A compelling account of the peripatetic struggle of a deviant intellectuals' fight against authority, whilst all the time battling his own demons.
Although a hefty tome, the level of the uniqueness of the subjects' character makes for a fascinating read, that rarely drags or becomes too reliant on names and dates in a technical manner.
The author builds the various characters up in a manner that ensures you become familiar with them, and have no trouble recalling their presence when they reappear far along the timeline from whence they first appeared. The only negative criticism I have is the excessive use of this in the case of Burroughs' son, who has a dismal,drunken,transplant surgery fueled, chapter all to himself, that begins to feel like a separate biography.This occurs towards the end of the book, when the chronological approach gets somewhat abandoned in favor of chapters relating to specific events and places. The overall effect is an almost intimate portrait of the man and his 180 degree turn from persecuted pariah to lauded author and respected pioneer of social progress.
In all, a long but eventful ride that is hard to put down in more than one sense.

[Michael Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ever wonder about the enfant terrible of American letters? He was really a teenage adventure writer who didn't censor anything or leave anything out. This is a great book about the life and times of one of the punkest of punks that ever lived, who, when he died, was living like a rough-and-tumble country squire in Lawrence, Kansas.

This was a book with particular frisson for me. Ted Morgan was the Americanized name of Sanche de Gramont (Ted Morgan is an anagram of de Gramont), in whose apartment in Rome I lived for my last three years of high school (my parents and brother lived there too - a long story). NAKED LUNCH was in the bookcase in my room and I idly took it down from the shelf one day because it had "naked" in the title. After I finished, not only had I stepped through the looking glass, but I resolved never to go back. I think I've done a pretty good job of that...

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recently finished this biography and I must say it was one of the most interesting ones I have read. I, as well as the other two reviewers of this book, am amazed that such a detailed history of a cultural icon is out of print. This book starts with Burrough's Grandfather and ends with him in his life in Lawrence Kansas. In between, you will find a life that few people could claim to have led, and still be alive well into their 80's. The book also goes into great detail about the lives of the other Beat icons such as Kerouac, Ginsburg, and Cassady. This book is fairly graphic and does not paint a pretty picture of thier lives. If I had read "On the Road" after reading this book, I might have looked at it in a whole different way. If you can find it, I highly recommend it. (originally posted on Amazon.com)

[Leonard Makin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LIKE WILLIAM BURROUGHS. THIS BOOK GIVES A COMPLETE PICTURE OF THE WRITER WITHOUT ANY
SANITIZING OF DETAILS.
IT AMOUNTS TO A HISTORY OF THE BEAT MOVEMENT WITH ANECDOTAL SNAPSHOTS OF KEROUAC AND
GINSBERG.
THOROUGHLY ENJOYED READING IT - AND FOR SUCH A LONG BOOK - NEVER LOST INTEREST - COULDN'T
WAIT TO PICK IT UP AND CONTINUE.
GAVE THE NOVELS A BACKGROUND, AS IT WERE, MADE ME WANT TO RE-READ THEM ALL AGAIN, WITH
MORE INSIGHT, PLACED THEM INTO THE CONTEXT OF BURROUGHS' LIFE WHEN HE WAS WRITING THEM.

[Al L · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid book, but I was a little disappointed given the inherently interesting subject and the usually interesting author- Ted Morgan. The experimental techniques Mr Morgan uses, inner monologues, stream of consciousness, and his own version of "cut ups" add little our understanding of Mr Burroughs. The size of the book and the completeness of examination of the author is impressive though and overall it is a worthwhile way to spend several hours.

[Tommy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book. Must read for Beats. Only the Lou Reed part is faulty.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very influential book from my impressionable youth, however I never turned into a queer junky so guess I didn't ultimately follow Burroughs' lessons very well...