Working my way through the archives of This American Life, just the other day I heard the show's 2015 rebroadcast of a BBC documentary on Burroughs. I was aware of Burroughs and a sliver of his work, but the hour-long show provided a concise overview of how Burroughs's work was distinctive and influential without being overly reverential of the work or the person.
Thanks for this. Making a quick comment now so I remember to read later.
Burroughs is one of the undisputed goats imo. Synthesizing so many disparate artistic, magical, technological, and chemical influences, it's hard to think of another writer who crafted such a totally standalone universe. He gets labelled as a beat, but he was really the godfather of industrial and post-punk culture.
> Thompson was a much better and more successful writer.
It seems weird to compare William S. Burroughs to Hunter S. Thompson. Burroughs wrote surreal Science Fiction while Thompson was a journalist. That's like comparing Thomas Wolfe (You Can't Go Home Again) to Tom Wolfe (Electric Kool Aid Acid Test.) The author doesn't make the case that one was better than the other in their respective genres. I honestly don't understand the point of this essay.
> Burroughs and Kerouac were arrested as material witnesses who had not reported a homicide. Burroughs' father immediately posted the $2,500 bail, while Kerouac's father refused to pay and let Jack stay at the Bronx jail. Edie Parker's parents agreed to post Jack's bail if he promised to marry their daughter. He did, the marriage was annulled two years later.
https://www.thisamericanlife.org/546/burroughs-101