Stuart+Spina

Rundown tenements teaming with rats and roaches, drug dealers and addicts in dark alleyways, and small time conmen in sleazy bars. While not exactly the kind of setting most of us would want to call home, in the 1940s, William S. Burroughs fled to this seamy world and embraced it. Here he would eke out a meager existence and attempt to create a new identity for himself, shedding what he saw as his repressive upper middle class background. It was this journey through the underworld that would give him the material he would use as a writer later in his life. (Charters 102)
 * A Journey Through The Underworld **

Burroughs is considered to have been among the best writers of the so-called Beat Generation, a literary movement that began to develop after World War II. The Beat writers, or “Beats” as they were also known, discarded many of the traditional ideas about writing. They experimented with poetic form, narrative structure, and rethought the purpose of writing. Their poetry lacked constraints such as metrics and rhyme schemes. They wrote short stories and novels that often explored darker themes such as sexuality and drug use. Most importantly, however, the Beats felt that their writings could be more than just something entertaining to read or an outlet for their feelings; they believed it could be used to trigger real social change and open up a dialogue about the state of society. The Beat Generation writers effectively used this medium to comment on and challenge society and its flaws. Their goal was just not to satirize the world around them; they wanted to call it out.

Burroughs, ironically, was the least likely person anyone would expect to be a part of this movement. The grandson of the inventor of the Burroughs adding machine, he was born into a wealthy St. Louis family in 1914. After receiving a fine education at several prep schools and Harvard University, he seemed cut out to become a successful businessman, perhaps even taking over the family business. At least, that was the life that his parents had envisioned for him. It would be them, not Burroughs himself, who defined who he was going to be. Throughout his teenage and young adult life he had grappled with finding an identity. He was divided within himself over whether to pursue his own life or give in to his family and let them mold his personality for him. In almost desperation, Burroughs fled to New York City after college and sought to make his own destiny. (Charters 102)

In college he had written two minor works which never made it past publishers. (Charters 102) It was not until after several years of living among “a community of outlaws” in New York City, selling drugs and other illegal goods, that an old friend suggested he should write about his colorful life as a drug addict and small time criminal “as a memory exercise”. (Charters 103) This gave Burroughs the perfect chance to reflect on his experiences and moved him one step closer to becoming a serious writer. That “exercise” would later become his first major work, //Junk// (alternatively titled //Junky//), which was published in 1953. (Charters 103) // Junky // takes us on a journey through the skid row culture of New York City. Free from his repressive parents, Burroughs could experiment with and develop his identity. He is no longer the product of an upper middle class family, but rather a young man immersed in the New York City drug culture hustling to get by. Throughout //Junky// we see his almost scientific approach to drug use and how he uses himself as a sort of guinea pig. Burroughs also comments on the people around him in a style reminiscent of James Joyce’s “stream-of-consciousness” technique. We get inside his head and see how he absorbs what is around him.

We also learn how Burroughs got hooked on drugs, primarily morphine, almost by accident. Although using morphine had never crossed his mind despite the fact he was selling it to others: “…At that time I had never used any junk [i.e. morphine syrettes] and it did not occur to me to try it.” (Charters 105, Excerpt of //Junky//) Shortly after he began dealing it, he decided to give it try: “A few nights after meeting Roy and Herman, I used one of the syrettes, which was my first experience with junk. A syrette is like a toothpaste tube with a needle on the end. You push the pin down through the needle; the pin punctures the seal; and the syrette is ready to shoot…” (Charters 109, excerpt of //Junky//) This was a major turning point in his life, as his drug addiction would resurface again and again as a major element in his work. Yet, even after writing //Junky//, it would take a much larger and more painful turn in his life to push him headfirst into taking writing seriously.

The accidental death of his wife at his hands finally turned him into a writer, mainly as a knee-jerk coping mechanism. The mid and late 1950s saw an intense period of writing, as well as some serious soul searching for Burroughs. His two next works, //The Yage Letters// (which talked about his quest through South America to find a psychotropic plant called yage) and //Naked Lunch// (a frantic and semi-autobiographical tale of a drug addict in New York), were written during this period. His chaotic life helped to develop his voice and style as a writer, and gave him a sharp perspective to view the world and reflect on who he had become as a person. (Charters 104)

After being a pampered rich boy, New York City lowlife, an almost family man, and an adventurer, William S. Burroughs discovered who he was meant to be. It took sinking to the depths of humanity, but his experiences would define him as a writer for decades to come.