The Stray Bullet

The Stray Bullet PDF Author: Jorge García-Robles
Publisher: U of Minnesota Press
ISBN: 1452940045
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 130

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Book Description
William S. Burroughs arrived in Mexico City in 1949, having slipped out of New Orleans while awaiting trial on drug and weapons charges that would almost certainly have resulted in a lengthy prison sentence. Still uncertain about being a writer, he had left behind a series of failed business ventures—including a scheme to grow marijuana in Texas and sell it in New York—and an already long history of drug use and arrests. He would remain in Mexico for three years, a period that culminated in the defining incident of his life: Burroughs shot his common-law wife, Joan Vollmer, while playing William Tell with a loaded pistol. (He would be tried and convicted of murder in absentia after fleeing Mexico.) First published in 1995 in Mexico, where it received the Malcolm Lowry literary essay award, The Stray Bullet is an imaginative and riveting account of Burroughs’s formative experiences in Mexico, his fascination with Mexico City’s demimonde, his acquaintances and friendships there, and his contradictory attitudes toward the country and its culture. Mexico, Jorge García-Robles makes clear, was the place in which Burroughs embarked on his “fatal vocation as a writer.” Through meticulous research and interviews with those who knew Burroughs and his circle in Mexico City, García-Robles brilliantly portrays a time in Burroughs’s life that has been overshadowed by the tragedy of Joan Vollmer’s death. He re-creates the bohemian Roma neighborhood where Burroughs resided with Joan and their children, the streets of postwar Mexico City that Burroughs explored, and such infamous figures as Lola la Chata, queen of the city’s drug trade. This compelling book also offers a contribution by Burroughs himself—an evocative sketch of his shady Mexican attorney, Bernabé Jurado.

The Stray Bullet

The Stray Bullet PDF Author: Jorge García-Robles
Publisher: U of Minnesota Press
ISBN: 1452940045
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 130

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Book Description
William S. Burroughs arrived in Mexico City in 1949, having slipped out of New Orleans while awaiting trial on drug and weapons charges that would almost certainly have resulted in a lengthy prison sentence. Still uncertain about being a writer, he had left behind a series of failed business ventures—including a scheme to grow marijuana in Texas and sell it in New York—and an already long history of drug use and arrests. He would remain in Mexico for three years, a period that culminated in the defining incident of his life: Burroughs shot his common-law wife, Joan Vollmer, while playing William Tell with a loaded pistol. (He would be tried and convicted of murder in absentia after fleeing Mexico.) First published in 1995 in Mexico, where it received the Malcolm Lowry literary essay award, The Stray Bullet is an imaginative and riveting account of Burroughs’s formative experiences in Mexico, his fascination with Mexico City’s demimonde, his acquaintances and friendships there, and his contradictory attitudes toward the country and its culture. Mexico, Jorge García-Robles makes clear, was the place in which Burroughs embarked on his “fatal vocation as a writer.” Through meticulous research and interviews with those who knew Burroughs and his circle in Mexico City, García-Robles brilliantly portrays a time in Burroughs’s life that has been overshadowed by the tragedy of Joan Vollmer’s death. He re-creates the bohemian Roma neighborhood where Burroughs resided with Joan and their children, the streets of postwar Mexico City that Burroughs explored, and such infamous figures as Lola la Chata, queen of the city’s drug trade. This compelling book also offers a contribution by Burroughs himself—an evocative sketch of his shady Mexican attorney, Bernabé Jurado.

William S. Burroughs and the Cult of Rock 'n' Roll

William S. Burroughs and the Cult of Rock 'n' Roll PDF Author: Casey Rae
Publisher: University of Texas Press
ISBN: 1477316507
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 313

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Book Description
William S. Burroughs's fiction and essays are legendary, but his influence on music's counterculture has been less well documented—until now. Examining how one of America's most controversial literary figures altered the destinies of many notable and varied musicians, William S. Burroughs and the Cult of Rock 'n' Roll reveals the transformations in music history that can be traced to Burroughs. A heroin addict and a gay man, Burroughs rose to notoriety outside the conventional literary world; his masterpiece, Naked Lunch, was banned on the grounds of obscenity, but its nonlinear structure was just as daring as its content. Casey Rae brings to life Burroughs's parallel rise to fame among daring musicians of the 1960s, '70s, and '80s, when it became a rite of passage to hang out with the author or to experiment with his cut-up techniques for producing revolutionary lyrics (as the Beatles and Radiohead did). Whether they tell of him exploring the occult with David Bowie, providing Lou Reed with gritty depictions of street life, or counseling Patti Smith about coping with fame, the stories of Burroughs's backstage impact will transform the way you see America's cultural revolution—and the way you hear its music.

The Western Lands

The Western Lands PDF Author: William S. Burroughs
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 0141975717
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 313

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Book Description
A fascinating mix of autobiographical episodes and extraordinary Egyptian theology, Burroughs's final novel is poignant and melancholic. Blending war films and pornography, and referencing Kafka and Mailer, The Western Lands confirms his status as one of America's greatest writers. The final novel of the trilogy containing Cities of the Red Night and The Place of Dead Roads, this is a profound meditation on morality, loneliness, life and death.

William Burroughs: the Algebra of Need

William Burroughs: the Algebra of Need PDF Author: Eric Mottram
Publisher: Buffalo, N.Y. : Intrepid Press
ISBN:
Category : Beat generation
Languages : en
Pages : 118

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Book Description


Live All You Can

Live All You Can PDF Author: Eric Mottram
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 64

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Book Description


The Wild Boys

The Wild Boys PDF Author: William S. Burroughs
Publisher: Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
ISBN: 0802197191
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 194

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Book Description
The Wild Boys is a futuristic tale of global warfare in which a guerrilla gang of boys dedicated to freedom battles the organized armies of repressive police states. Making full use of his inimitable humor, wild imagination, and style, Burroughs creates a world that is as terrifying as it is fascinating.

Nova Express

Nova Express PDF Author: William S. Burroughs
Publisher: Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
ISBN: 0802197221
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 194

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Book Description
The Soft Machine introduced us to the conditions of a universe where endemic lusts of the mind and body pray upon men, hook them, and turn them into beasts. Nova Express takes William S. Burroughs’s nightmarish futuristic tale one step further. The diabolical Nova Criminals—Sammy The Butcher, Green Tony, Iron Claws, The Brown Artist, Jacky Blue Note, Izzy The Push, to name only a few—have gained control and plan on wreaking untold destruction. It’s up to Inspector Lee of the Nova Police to attack and dismantle the word and imagery machine of these “control addicts” before it’s too late. This surrealist novel is part sci-fi, part Swiftian parody, and always pure Burroughs.

The Magical Universe of William S. Burroughs

The Magical Universe of William S. Burroughs PDF Author: Matthew Levi Stevens
Publisher: Mandrake of Oxford
ISBN: 9781906958640
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
First ever in-depth consideration of the significance of Magic and the Occult in the Life & Work of the writer and counter-cultural icon.

William Burroughs

William Burroughs PDF Author: Eric Mottram
Publisher: Marion Boyars Publishers
ISBN:
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 292

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Book Description


Reader's Guide to Literature in English

Reader's Guide to Literature in English PDF Author: Mark Hawkins-Dady
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135314179
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 1024

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Book Description
Reader's Guide Literature in English provides expert guidance to, and critical analysis of, the vast number of books available within the subject of English literature, from Anglo-Saxon times to the current American, British and Commonwealth scene. It is designed to help students, teachers and librarians choose the most appropriate books for research and study.