Word Virus: The William S. Burroughs Reader (Burroughs, William S.)

With the James Grauerholtz and Ira Silverberg essays telling me things I never knew about a man I spent a great evening with at a Manhattan dinner party, this is a compendium of WSB's greatest works, either in their entirety or in excerpt. What can be said about Burroughs that has not been said. He gave Ginsberg a copy of the complete poetry of Hart Crane and, years later, Tennessee Williams is using Crane's poems for titles and so is Jim Morrison of the Doors. (Crane is the missing link between the post-surrealist poets and the Beats.) Burroughs influenced many hundreds of artists and writers. My introduction to him was in my glowing review of "The Wild Boys," a book that cannot be filmed but, like the film of "Naked Lunch," must be, somehow, some day. He was a charming man, and this book contains many of his finest writings. One can see him in one's mind's eye doing a reading, begging pharmacists and dealers in Chinatown only to be told, "No glot. Clom Fliday." For years, a buddy has referred to me as "Dr. Bradley/Mr. Martin," the obscene bureaucrats that our doctors and spies have turned into. Now, guess what Wild Bill and Ted Nugent had/have in common?

The book condition in general is good. The pages still look brand-new though some pages are folded. There should be a CD in the inside back cover but it is unavailable. The dust jacket is a little bit scratchy and less sleek.

If you need a quick fix of Bill, you'll be in hog heaven as you lug this big tome around. If you're a newbie, this is the petri-dish place to begin. A remarkable labour of love, smartly compiled, spanning the master's entire range of work, with generous excerpts from all periods and supplemental explanatory notes by both Grauerholz and, periodically, Burroughs. Do not hesitate. Minutes To Go.

Excellent writing, reinvents the process of writing, discusses it in detail.

Some of the greatest writers are great on account of their ability to express complex thoughts clearly and concisely. This may have been a more prized characteristic among the ancients, and it may have taken a turn for the worse in the Renaissance, then steadily into the 18th and 19th centuries. Notable exceptions, such as Machiavelli and Rabelais, probably sought to emulate the ancients more than their own contemporaries. The 20th century, especially among American authors, cured much of the flowery belaboring that was concurrently culminating in Europe. On one side of the ocean Proust and Musil, while on the other side Hemingway and Dreiser. On one side Celan and Michaux, while on the other side Berryman and Olson. So... here we have William Burroughs, an American author of the 20th century, skilled in the craft of getting to the point... but at the same time educated by European letters. And one wonders if the author's decision to cut up his sentences and paragraphs, shuffle these around and make them, as a result, less direct and downright dubious, was in an attempt to serve both masters. The beauty of the prose, however, is astonishing, as are the images and situations depicted. Perhaps the cutups serve even to enhance this beauty in a way, and it does not make any difference where one opens the book. This makes Burroughs an ideal subject for an anthology, and this anthology contains a great selection of samples.

Every book that anyone owns will, upon reflection, remind them of the period of their life in which they read the book. Sort of like music.If I look at my bookcase, I can run my eyes over the spines of a hundred or so spines, and by extension, a hundred or so feelings given to me from those books.'Word Virus' is by no means an exception to this rule. If anything, it proves it. Simply due to its extensiveness, and the complexity (or stupidity depending on how you look at it) of Burroughs' writing, it took me a few months to hack through in my final year of high school. Even now, the glaring red spine amongst my other books manages to evoke my feelings of that time even now.But by god it's worth it. There is nothing more frightening than Burroughs' prose. Everything he writes cannot be understood intellectually, but rather emotionally. You read his words, trying to make head or tail of what is printed in front of you, but that's not the point. You just have to let his ideas, his experiments simply wash over you and you'll understand them in due course.A true shining light in literature.Belive the myth.

A very exspansive and definitive collection for the Burroughs enthusist. This does not have it all, but it does offer a generous portion of this man's work. Including the forementioned, in the other reviews, colaboration with Jack Kerouac. Grauerholz really put togther this labor of love. I'd recomend it for first timers as well as old time collectors. Inbetween each chapter biographical information pertinent to that era is included. Also features a cd spoken word sampler, that pulls material from the Giornio boxed set. I'd also recomend that hefty delight.

I can't believe this is actually available!Just think about all that this has to offer:(1)An in depth analogy of Burroughs life, mind, art, and everything he did/was.(2)A CD with readings from various Burroughs novels!(3)A great looking hard-cover book All this stuff is really great, but the kicker is an exerpt from the un-released, rare, never-before-seen collaboration with Jack Kerouac! I hope that the whole thing is published someday! BUY THIS NOW!!!!!!E-MAIL ME IF YOU KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THE KEROUAC/BURROUGHS COLLABORATION!!!

Merry go round.

There are some beings who for good or bad become representatives of their age, recreating themselves to match the eras through which they move. In many ways Burroughs was the spirit of the 20th century itself.This book well represents the artist in his time.

Bien qu'imparfaite et très courte (dans le cas des romans), l'oeuvre de William S. Burroughs est extrêmement riche, de par ses essais et ses interviews - dans certains cas, ils sont plus intéressants que les romans ("Cités de la nuit écarlate" est une véritable horreur et Burroughs n'avait plus rien à dire). Donc, cette anthologie est précieuse et les textes sont remis dans leur contexte pour mieux comprendre la démarche du romancier. Ce livre est recommandable.

fine fine fine