|
Letters 1945-59
Paperback / softback
Main Details
Title |
Letters 1945-59
|
Authors and Contributors |
By (author) William S. Burroughs
|
|
Introduction by Oliver Harris
|
Series | Penguin Modern Classics |
Physical Properties |
Format:Paperback / softback | Pages:512 | Dimensions(mm): Height 198,Width 129 |
|
ISBN/Barcode |
9780141189888
|
Classifications | Dewey:813.54 |
---|
Audience | |
|
Publishing Details |
Publisher |
Penguin Books Ltd
|
Imprint |
Penguin Classics
|
Publication Date |
27 August 2009 |
Publication Country |
United Kingdom
|
Description
A collection of letters that illuminates both the development of the writer and the character of the man Beginning as surprisingly formal notes from the road to his friends Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac, the letters gradually deepen in substance and style. Burroughs's letters show the development of both the man and the writer, vividly documenting his (often turbulent) personal and cultural history. The collection provides a key to opening up and contextualizing Burroughs's fiction, but more than that it shows how letter-writing was itself integral to his life and creative process.
Author Biography
William S. Burroughs was born on February 5, 1914 in St Louis. In work and in life Burroughs expressed a lifelong subversion of the morality, politics and economics of modern America. To escape those conditions, and in particular his treatment as a homosexual and a drug-user, Burroughs left his homeland in 1950, and soon after began writing. By the time of his death he was widely recognised as one of the most politically trenchant, culturally influential, and innovative artists of the twentieth century. His numerous books include Naked Lunch, Junky, Queer, Nova Express, Interzone, The Wild Boys, The Ticket That Exploded and The Soft Machine. After living in Mexico City, Tangier, Paris, and London, Burroughs finally returned to America in 1974. He died in 1997.
|