William S. Burroughs
William S. Burroughs (1914 - 1997) was an American author. He attended Harvard University. His works include The Naked Lunch (1959), Nova Express (1964), and Cities of the Red Night (1981).[1]
Life and Works
Burroughs was born February 5, 1914.[2] As a child, he was of a privileged background and interested in writing journals and essays, which enabled him to attend Harvard University.[3] He moved to Europe and became a homosexual, was unable to serve in the Second World War, and moved to New York City in 1943.[4] He joined the Beat movement, writing in disgusting detail about his homosexual activities, married twice, moved to Mexico, shot his wife as a prank, and kept correspondence with Allen Ginsberg, who encouraged him to write while coping with his heroin addiction.[5] He wrote Junkie: Confessions of an Unredeemed Drug Addict (1953) and The Naked Lunch (1959) in poorly metered verse, satires of the drug-obscured milieu he brought upon himself, and died August 2, 1997.
References
- ↑ The New York Public Library Student's Desk Reference. Prentice Hall, New York, 1993.
- ↑ http://www.biography.com/people/william-s-burroughs-9232376
- ↑ http://www.famousauthors.org/william-s-burroughs
- ↑ http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/william-seward-burroughs-3219.php
- ↑ "Burroughs, William S." Encyclopedia Britannica Online.