Maison d'Être Beatnik Coffeehouse

William  S.  Burroughs
[1914-1997]

short profile works by Wm. S. Burroughs movies & TV, other media works about Wm. S. Burroughs family & friends links

"And we all die and the stars will go out one after another . . ."
— William S. Burroughs

"William Burroughs is the only American novelist living today who may conceivably
be possessed by genius." — Norman Mailer (circa 1984)

Wm. S. Burroughs entry at Wikipedia
Wm. S. Burroughs Bibliography at Wikipedia
Wm. S. Burroughs credits [since 1963] at Internet Movie Database
search books on keywords 'Wm. S. Burroughs' at Amazon

Books  by  Wm. S. Burroughs

"Junkie" [1953]

"Queer" [written 1951-3; published 1985]

"Naked Lunch" [Olympia 1959]

	listed on Time Magazine's All-TIME 100 Novels (10/2005) Grove Press 8¼x5¼ pb [2/92] for $9.56 TimeWarner ABR audio [12/95] out of stock/used 'restored text' version Edited by James Grauerholz & Barry Miles Grove Press hardcover [11/2001] for $24.00
	"Naked Lunch" feature film [Dec 1991] Written & directed by David Cronenberg; starring Peter Weller, Judy Davis, Ian Holm, Julian Sands & Roy Scheider Criterion widescreen DVD [11/2003] for $28.99 Fox color VHS [6/92] for $28.48 Milan Records soundtrack CD [2/92] for $13.98 full credits from IMDb
	Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Naked Lunch & Fundraiser 28 August 2009 at ThinkArt Salon in Chicago, Illinois fundraiser info

"The Soft Machine" [Olympia 1961]

Grove Press 8¼x5¼ pb [9/92] for $9.60

"The Ticket That Exploded" [1962]

"Dead Fingers Talk" [1963]
excerpts from "Naked Lunch", "The Soft Machine" and "The Ticket That Exploded"
combined together to create a new narrative

"Nova Express" [Grove 1964]

Grove Press 8¼x5¼ pb [9/92] for $10.40

"The Last Words of Dutch Schultz" [1969]

"The Wild Boys: A Book of The Dead" [Grove 1971]

Grove Press 8¼x5¼ pb [9/92] for $10.40

"Port of Saints" [1973]

"Sidetripping" [1975] Photographs by Charles Gatewood, text by William S. Burroughs Last Gasp 10x10 pb [12/2001] for $24.95 Last Gasp 10¼x10¼ hardcover [6/2001] for $29.16 Derbibooks/Penthouse Books ltd edition hardcover [1975] out of print/used

"Blade Runner (a movie)"  [1979 novella]

Burroughs was paid to write a treatment (not screenplay) adaptation of a novel by Alan E. Nourse [1928-92] called "The Bladerunner". The makers of the "Blade Runner" [1982] movie paid Burroughs & Nourse for use of the term as the title of their adaptation of "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" [1968] by Philip K. Dick [1928-82]. This prior story is set in 1999, when America is decaying under right-wing/fascist rule and medical care is illegal. Young Billy is a 'blade runner' who delivers black market medical supplies to underground physicians and surgeons, while contending with corrupt police, a race riot, and a spreading mutant virus. Blue Wind Press 6¾x5 pb [5/86] for $8.95 Blue Wind Press pb [6/79] out of print/used book entry at Wikipedia

"Cities of The Red Night" [1981]

"The Place of Dead Roads" [1983]

"The Western Lands" [1987]

"My Education: A Book of Dreams" [1995]

"You Can't Win" [1926 bestseller] by Jack Black

The favorite book of Wm. S. Burroughs, who contributed an Introduction for the 2000 republication. The amazing autobiographical novel of burgler, safe-cracker, highwayman, and petty thief Jack Black tracks his life freight-hopping across the western United States and Canada, and his experiences with the brotherhood of hobos, bums, tramps, and criminals who rode the rails in turn-of-the-century America, and his three major stints in prison; the hardcover has the original Foreword by Robert Herrick [1868-1938] UNABR Kindle Edition from Wilder Publns [12/2010] for $2.99 {sic} A.K./Nabat Books 9x6¼ pb {with WmSB Intro} [4/2001] for $10.24 BNpublishing 9x6 pb {without WmSB Intro} [6/2007] for $9.99 Macmillan & Co. hardcover [1926] out of print/used

"You Can't Win" [Parts & Labor - release in 2015?]  
Announced 4/2012: Scheduled to begin filming in Seattle at end of April; apparently emphasizing the
hobo/railroad aspects of the book; Michael Pitt will produce & star, with Robinson Devor directing;
script adapted by Devor, Pitt, Barry Gifford & Charles Mudede • latest info at IMDb

Movies & Television,  Other  Media

"Häxan: Witchcraft Through The Ages" silent documentary
[Svensk Filmindustri Sept 1922]
76-minute version was re-released in 1968 with narration by beat poet Wm. S. Burroughs [1914-97];
soundtrack features violinist Jean Luc Ponty • Alpha Video b&w DVD [9/2015] for $6.99

"Fried Shoes Cooked Diamonds: The Beats of Naropa" [indep 1979] Classroom footage and interviews at the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa Institute in Colorado • Produced & directed by Costanzo Allione; featuring Amiri Baraka, William S. Burroughs, Gregory Corso, Allen Ginsberg, Timothy Leary & Peter Orlovsky Mystic Fire Video VHS [9/98] out of prodn/used full credits at IMDb

Bill Burroughs had something to say about America and the Thanksgiving holiday
"A Thanksgiving Prayer" [1986 poem] by William S. Burroughs {not for the squeamish}
on-camera reading by Burroughs [2:24] at YouTube • HTML text version

Works  about  Wm. S. Burroughs

	"William S. Burroughs: A Man Within" documentary film [Oscilloscope Fall 2010] Written & directed by Jonathan 'Yony' Leyser; narrated by Peter Weller; exclusive archival footage plus interviews with friends & colleagues including Laurie Anderson, Anne Waldman & Diane DiPrima, and filmmakers David Cronenberg, Gus Van Sant & John Waters full credits at IMDb • official movie site
	"Cursed From Birth: The Short, Unhappy Life of William S. Burroughs, Jr." [2006] by William S. Burroughs Jr., edited & compiled by David Ohle Soft Skull Press 8¼x5½ pb [10/2006] for $11.16
	"The Beat Hotel: Ginsberg, Burroughs & Corso In Paris, 1957-1963" [2000] by Barry Miles Grove Press pb [7/2001] for $11.20 Grove Press 9¼x6¼ hardcover [7/2000] for $17.50
	"Beat" [video release April 2000] An account of the events in Mexico in 1951 between Bill Burroughs, his wife Joan Vollmer, Allen Ginsberg, Lucien Carr and others that resulted in the accidental (maybe) shooting death of Joan • Written & directed by Gary Walkow; starring Kiefer Sutherland, Courtney Love, Norman Reedus, Ron Livingston & Daniel Martínez Lions Gate widescreen DVD [10/2002] for $13.48 full credits from IMDb
	"Literary Outlaw: The Life and Times of William S. Burroughs" [1988] by Ted Morgan Avon 8x5¼ pb [3/90] out of print/used Henry Holt hardcover [10/88] out of print/used

Family & Friends

L i n k s
Wm. S. Burroughs entry at Wikipedia
Wm. S. Burroughs Bibliography at Wikipedia
Wm. S. Burroughs credits [since 1963] at Internet Movie Database
search books on keywords 'Wm. S. Burroughs' at Amazon

MH's Wm. S. Burroughs fansite
W.S.B. iZine
W.S.B. page at LitKicks
AF's W.S.B. photo gallery
W.S.B. soundbite 'the truth is irrelevant..."
MG's 'Ghost of W.S.B.' soundbites
1961 interview by Corso & Ginsberg
W.S.B. links at Blue Neon Alley
downloadable W.S.B. videos (.wvx format)
a few Burroughs quotations
W.S.B. Internet Database
W.S.B. 1986 poem "A Thanksgiving Prayer"
The Beat Hotel & Wm. S. Burroughs Museum in Desert Hot Springs, CA

Beatnik Film Festival
includes movies & videos about other beats, plus rare & obscure films

here on the William S. Burroughs [1914-97] Page at Maison d'Être Beatnik Coffeehouse

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