Without giving a damn about the adage and speaking impolitely… are you aware that abstract painter, author, teacher, and voice actor, William S. Burroughs, is considered the third most famous drug addict in literary history?
A direct descendant of the founder of what became the Burroughs Corporation, and a graduate of Harvard University with honors (English,1936), he was a personal acquaintance of Alan Ginsberg and the pioneer of the “cut up technique.”
Described as self-deluding, narcissistic, yet curious with patrician manners, he began writing at age eight, was gainfully under, or perpetually unemployed for most of his adult life, received a monthly allowance from his parents until age fifty, and either accidentally or purposefully murdered his first of two wives, despite being openly gay.
Born during the era preceding the Harris Act of 1922, he developed seduction for morphine as a teenager when it was administered for pain after he severely burned his hand, and then later matriculated to heroin.
The author of eighteen novels and novellas, four collections of essays, and a host of letters and short stories –all rumored to have been penned under the influence, he wrote using autobiographical themes of death, drugs, and homosexuality.
An impeccable dresser, gun enthusiast, cat lover, and the epitome of a counterculture icon, he had several run-ins with the law, and was dependent on methadone when he succumbed in 1997.
Nom de Plume: William Lee
Was interested in the occult.
Briefly attended medical school.
Was a Scientology enthusiast.
Sired William S. Burroughs, Jr., author of Speed.
Was psychiatrically discharged from the Army (1942).
Collaborated with Kurt Cobain, R.E.M., and Frank Zappa.
His first published work, Junkie: Confessions of an Unredeemed Drug Addict, retailed for $0.35 when initially released.
Thanks for reading,
I had no idea!
Collaborated Kurt Cobain, R.E.M., and Frank Zappa. Interesting. :)