by Steve Martin

Created on: January 10, 2009

William Seward Burroughs is a name that became both famous and notorious during the rise of the counter-culture that began with the Beat Generation in the 1950s. While other luminaries of the time such as Ginsberg and Kerouac are unequivocally admire, the name of Burroughs still divides opinion. To some, he is a genius who drove the literature of the Beats and who challenged out-moded society norms. To others, he was a privileged, upper-class Missouri boy who led a dissolute life of herion addiction and homosexual promiscuity.

William Burroughs was born on February 5, 1914 in St. Louis, Missouri into a comfortable upper-class lifestyle. After attending school in St. Louis, he graduated in English Literature from Harvard University in 1936, hating every minute of his time there. After graduating, he travelled around Europe for a while and returned to the United States married. Settling in New York, he worked for an advertising agency.

So far, his existence had proved unremarkable. However, it was whilst in New York, that Burroughs consciously rejected his privileged, moneyed and educated background and embraced an alternative life-style that, unfortunately, included heroin addiction. It was during this time, however, that he also became friends with other key figures in the beat movement, particularly Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac. While Ginsberg and Kerouac were established writers, Burroughs had yet to be published.

Leaving New York, Burroughs moved to Texas to live a more rural existence as a farmer. However, besides growing fruit, he also cultivated marijuana and had to flee to Mexico City to avoid the police. He travelled there with Joan Vollmer, his common law wife. Unfortunately, at a drunken party, Burroughs attempted a trick that resulted in his accidentally shooting Joan dead. One of the results of this was that Burroughs left Mexico, eventually settling in Tangier.

Burroughs' first two novels were "Junkie" and "Queer". However, it was with the publication of "The Naked Lunch" in 1959, that he established his reputation. That's not to say everyone admired the work. The book was praised by such luminaries as Norman Mailer and J. G. Ballard, but there were many who regarded the book as disgusting. In fact, the book had to be published in Italy after a number of American states prosecuted Naked Lunch under obscenity legislation.

In the 1960s, Burroughs published "The Wild Boys" and "port of Saints" while living in London. He returned to New York in the seventies and became an increasingly popular figure among those who espoused the counter-culture; including Andy Warhol and Kurt Cobain. He died in 1997.

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