The Cat Inside

Description

There is an unexpected side to William Burroughs - the author of weird and disturbing fictions had a great fondness for cats. This is his earnest appreciation of the cats he knew, a record of his dreams of cats, and a meditation on the long, mysterious relationship between cats and their human hosts. In The Cat Inside, Burroughs is touching when writing of the many strays he took in over the years, disdainful of dogs ('self-righteous as a lynch mob'), always erudite and surprisingly caring - it is a genuine revelation, for Burroughs fans and cat lovers alike. 'Heartwarming anecdotes . . . Burroughs ventures galaxies away from his usual twisted literary turf.' Time 'Burroughs's contact with cats put him in touch with himself.' Harper's Bazaar

William S. Burroughs was born in 1914. His first published novel was the largely autobiographical Junky, which remains a classic depiction of the constant cycle of drug dependency, cures and relapses he was victim to for most of his life. In 1951, in a drunken William Tell stunt, he accidentally shot and killed his common-law wife. He is most famous for his use of the 'cut-up' technique of writing and the novel Naked Lunch. His other major works included Queer, Exterminator! The 'Nova Trilogy' (The Soft Machine, Nova Express and The Ticket That Exploded) and the 'Red Night Trilogy' (Cities of the Red Night, The Place of Dead Roads and The Western Lands). He died in 1997.