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| VITAL STATS | William S. Burroughs Information: William Seward Burroughs II (February 5, 1914(1914-02-05) – August 2, 1997; also known by his pen name William Lee) was an American novelist, poet, essayist, painter and spoken word performer. Burroughs was a major figure of the Beat Generation and a postmodernistt author who affected popular culture as well as literature. He is considered to be "one of the most politically trenchant, culturally influential, and innovative artists of the twentieth century.' Burroughs wrote eighteen novels and novellas, six collections of short stories and four collections of essays. Five books have been published of his interviews and correspondences. Burroughs also collaborated on projects and recordings with numerous performers and musicians, and made many appearances in films.
Burroughs was born to a wealthy family in St. Louis, Missourii, where he began writing essays and journals in early adolescence. After leaving home in 1932 to attend Harvard Universityy, Burroughs became enamoured with contemporary counterculture, and fascinated by the underground society of drug addiction. His first work as a novelist was co-written in 1945 with friend Jack Kerouacc while they were living with Allen Ginsbergg in New York City, And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks.
John Waters described Burroughs as being "the first person who was famous for things you were supposed to hide." Much of Burroughs's work is semi-autobiographical, primarily drawn from his experiences as an opiate addict, a condition that marked the last fifty years of his life, his first novel being Junky (1953). It is often satirical and darkly humorous, based upon his socially critical observances and "lifelong subversion" to the moral, political and economic systems of modern American society. In this respect, he is perhaps best known for his third novel Naked Lunch (1959). Burroughs was also the popularizer of the literary cut-up technique. In 1983, he was elected to the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.
Burroughs had one child, William Seward Burroughs III, who he had with his second wife from 1946 to 1951, Joan Vollmer, who died after Burroughs accidentally shot her in the head while drunk. Burroughs was bisexual, and while he was in early life secretive of his sexuality, he later became openly homosexual, and a characteristic critique of homophobia features prominently in his work; he is cited as being one of the first people to use "queer", the title of his second novel, as a self-referential and positive term. He was the grandchild of the inventor William Seward Burroughs I and the nephew of the public relations manager Ivy Lee. Burroughs died at his home in Lawrence, Kansas after suffering a heart attack in 1997. | | Eye color: | | Height: | | Nickname(s): | | Notable feature(s): | | Education: | | Family: | | Resides in: | | Religious affiliations: | | Political affiliation: | | Personal interests/hobbies: | | Charities/Causes: | | Other: | | |
