History Creator / WilliamSBurroughs

** Pseudoscientific theories galore: Scientology, Orgone, alien abductions, telepathy

* ''Blade Runner: A Movie'', a novella from which the title of the film ''Film/BladeRunner'' was taken, which originated as a treatment for a film adaptation of Alan E. Nourse's novel ''The Bladerunner''.

* ''Blade Runner: A Movie'', a novella from which the title of the film ''Film/BladeRunner'' was taken.

* ''[=Queer=]'': Burroughs' second full-length solo novel, but due to content as well as the fact that it was left incomplete after the death of his wife (the mere act of reading the manuscript caused Burroughs incredible pain), it was withheld from publication for some 30 years.

** CoolGuns

* AuthorAvatar: William Lee is a stand-in for the author in ''Junkie'', ''Literature/NakedLunch'', and the Cut-Up trilogy. In the Nova trilogy (''The Soft Machine'', ''The Ticket that Exploded'', ''Nova Express''), Lee is a secret agent fighting an interplanetary conspiracy.
** In his later novels, from the ''The Wild Boys'' on, the character Audrey Carsons appears as an avatar of William Burroughs in his youth, i.e. a troubled, bookish homosexual social outcast with an interest in firearms and drug use.

One of the great innovators of the 20th century and a founding member of [[Creator/TheBeatGeneration the Beats]], William Seward Burroughs II (February 5, 1914 – August 2, 1997) was the avant-garde author of over twenty books, ranging from straightforward and autobiographical (''Junky'', ''Queer'') to surreal and anarchic (''Literature/NakedLunch'', and The Nova Trilogy) to nostalgic, solemn and elegiac (''The Wild Boys'' and The Red Night Trilogy). As the titles of his first two books imply, he was both a drug addict and a bisexual, two things he had always been grimly unapologetic about.

* The Nova Trilogy (''The Soft Machine'', ''The Ticket That Exploded'', ''Nova Express''): A SpaceOpera about a group of extraterrestrial terrorists called the 'Nova Mob' who want to ignite the earth into an exploding supernova by creating insoluble conflicts. They can only be stopped by the Nova Police, who understand their methods and know that "Nobody, on any planet, wants to see a police officer". Thought to be nigh unreadable because of Burrough's extensive use of the 'cut-up' technique, which involves cutting up a page of text into four pieces and re-arranging them to create new text. Although contrary to the claims of bewildered skeptics, the observant reader, if patient, can see a fairly reliable pattern emerge. Usually, a chapter will start out fairly straightforward, with normal prose and everything, then after the bulk of the story is told, the reader will become aware that they're reading the same story, only "cut-up" and may become aware of new connotations and subtleties not noticed in the original. Passages will sometimes descend into strings of seemingly random cut-up images. If taken into account that this was Burroughs' attempt to introduce the montage technique of film into literature, some of the more incoherent passages will begin to make a lot more sense.

* ''Port of Saints'': a time-travel tale described as an "erotic fantasy" by one of his biographers, and featuring characters from a number of past works.

* ''Ghost Of A Chance'': A short novella that's something of a sequel to the Red Night trilogy, recalling Captain Mission and the Madagascar setting of his utopian pirate colony.

One of the great innovators of the 20th century and a founding member of [[Creator/TheBeatGeneration the Beats]], William Seward Burroughs II (February 5, 1914 – August 2, 1997) was the avant-garde author of over twenty books, ranging from straightforward and autobiographical (''Junky'', ''Queer'') to surreal and anarchic (''Literature/NakedLunch'', and The Nova Trilogy) to nostalgic, solemn and elegiac (''The Wild Boys'' and The Red Night Trilogy). As the titles of his first two books imply, he was both a drug addict and a [[strike:homosexual]] bisexual, two things he had always been grimly unapologetic about.

* SurrealHorror: Much of the Nova trilogy, particularly the first chapters of ''The Ticket that Exploded'' and much of ''The Soft Machine'' are nightmarish due to their juxtaposition of strange events (often involving murder, torture, rape), non-sequitur sentences, and grotesque creatures. Due to Burroughs' dark sense of humor, many scenes manage to be simultaneously this and {{SurrealComedy}}, in the same vein as ''Literature/NakedLunch''.

* The title of ''Film/BladeRunner'' was inspired by a 1979 story by him.

One of the great innovators of the 20th century and a founding member of [[Creator/TheBeatGeneration the Beats]], William Seward Burroughs II (February 5, 1914 – August 2, 1997) was the avant-garde author of over twenty books, ranging from straightforward and autobiographical (''Junky'', ''Queer'') to surreal and anarchic (''Literature/NakedLunch'', and The Nova Trilogy) to nostalgic, solemn and elegiac (''The Wild Boys'' and The Red Night Trilogy). As the titles of his first two books imply, he was both a drug-addict and a [[strike:homosexual]] bisexual, something he had always been grimly unapologetic about.

His books contain graphic depictions of drug-usage and sodomy, which are still shocking, even by today's comparably cynical standards. But, subject matter aside, his prose was always inspirational and stunningly original, flowing like poetry even while depicting shit and ejaculation. Frequently taking RefugeInAudacity and always CrossingTheLineTwice, Burroughs was called the 'greatest satirical writer since Creator/JonathanSwift' (author of the misanthropic ''Literature/GulliversTravels'' and the baby-eating fun of ''Literature/AModestProposal'') by friend and fellow Beat writer, Creator/JackKerouac, and the controversy surrounding his opus, ''Literature/NakedLunch'', effectively ended literary censorship in America.

And rightly so. Burroughs's 'routines', as he called them, are the literary equivalent to a depraved vaudeville act, or by modern sensibility, a raunchy sketch show. Utilizing over-the-top characterization and hilariously opaque scenarios, Burroughs's fiction can change scenes at the drop of the hat, jumping from short, punchy hilarity to weird sex back to short, punchy hilarity. But, humor aside, he always had something completely serious to say. His experiences as a drug addict allowed him to see the complications of life reduced to a grimy skeleton, what he called 'The Algebra of Need'.

In fact, ''Junky'' reads more like an anthropological analysis of drug-addiction than a personal memoir and his follow up, ''Queer'', (which wasn't published until many years later) occupies a sort of middle ground. His habit of telling outrageous routines originates in the latter, growing outwards like a fungus, but it was written out of desperation, in the wake of a great personal tragedy, which has since become legend. Burroughs shot his wife, Joan Vollmer, in the head during a drunken game of 'William Tell'. While it was likely just a drunken accident, Burroughs couldn't help but think there was something in his subconscious that drove him to it, and later claimed he was possessed by 'The Ugly Spirit'.

Despite his personal troubles and the controversy surrounding his work, Burroughs became highly influential and respected by a wide variety of younger artists, most notably, the more famous beat writers Jack Kerouac and Creator/AllenGinsberg. After experimenting with the cut-up technique, he almost pioneered the graphic novel form (Creator/AlanMoore openly cites Burroughs as a prominent inspiration), but couldn't get the funds, because of the expenses of color copying. His works have also served as an important influence on CyberPunk and NewWaveScienceFiction (the ''Nova Trilogy'', as science fiction itself, is considered a sort of prototype of the New Wave). The actual UsefulNotes/{{punk}} scene owes a great deal to Burroughs, as well, with his return to America in 1974 being feted by a large number of punks and related artists (including Music/PattiSmith); the Godfather of Punk Music/IggyPop was such a big fan ("Lust for Life" is merely his most obvious example of Burroughs fandom) that when the BBC did a radio biography of Burroughs, he was chosen to present it. And of course, there's his literary heir, Creator/HunterSThompson, who was basically Burroughs [[DisSimile if he were straight, younger, and focused more on sports writing and other nonfiction]]. Most Thompson fans have at least a liking for Burroughs, and vice versa.

-->-- William S. Burroughs

One of the great innovators of the twentieth century and founding member of [[Creator/TheBeatGeneration the Beats]], William Seward Burroughs II (February 5, 1914 – August 2, 1997) was the avant-garde author of over twenty books, ranging from straightforward and autobiographical (''Junky'', ''Queer'') to surreal and anarchic (''Literature/NakedLunch'', and The Nova Trilogy) to nostalgic, solemn and elegiac (''The Wild Boys'' and The Red Night Trilogy). As the titles of his first two books imply, he was both a drug-addict and a [[strike:homosexual]] bisexual, something he had always been grimly unapologetic about.

* MegaCorp: Trak Corporation in ''The Soft Machine'' is a company that monopolizes almost every aspect of society, from the print press to food and drink to cigarettes. Other sinister monopolies turn up in Burroughs' various other novels, e.g. "Interzone Incorporated" in ''Literature/NakedLunch''.

* MegaCorp: Trak Corporation in ''The Soft Machine'' is a company that monopolizes almost every aspect of society, from the print press to food and drink to cigarettes.

** Snakes also appear often, but Burroughs seems to regard them more favorably.

** Firearms and gunfights
** Cats and lemurs appear frequently in Burroughs' later novels and stories.

!!Other works by William S. Burroughs contain examples of:

* SurrealHorror: Much of the Nova trilogy, particularly the first chapters of ''The Ticket that Exploded'' and much of ''The Soft Machine'' are nightmarish due to their juxtaposition of strange events (often involving murder, torture, rape), non-sequitur sentences, and grotesque creatures. Many scenes manage to be simultaneously this and SurrealComedy, in the same vein as ''Literature/NakedLunch''.

* ConspiracyTheorist: The Nova trilogy is full of bizarre conspiracy theories involving mind control by government agencies, alien entities, etc.

* ManlyGay: Burroughs was very open and militant about his homosexuality in later novels such as ''The Wild Boys'', but he despised effeminate gays almost as much as he despised women. His main characters are always tough guys,

* BigCreepyCrawlies: Burroughs had very strong feelings of disgust towards centipedes and to a lesser extent other venomous arthropods like scorpions and spiders. They appear prominently in all of his works, turning up particularly frequently in the Nova trilogy.
* FantasticDrug: In addition to actual drugs like opiates, psychedelics, etc, many of Burroughs' books involve the use of various exotic substances (e.g. scorpion venom, body fluids of various fictional organisms) as recreational drugs, especially in the Nova Trilogy.

* AuthorAppeal: Certain images and ideas recur obsessively throughout Burroughs' work: use of opiates and other drugs, homosexual sodomy, erotic asphyxiation (particularly images of a hanged man getting an erection or ejaculating as his neck snaps in a noose), firearms, his revulsion toward and fear of centipedes and other arthropods, his belief in bizarre conspiracy theories and various pseudoscientific ideas (Scientology, Orgone, alien abductions, etc).

* CreepyCrawlies: Burroughs had very strong feelings of disgust towards centipedes and to a lesser extent other venomous arthropods like scorpions and spiders. They appear prominently in all of his works, turning up particularly frequently in the Nova trilogy.

* AuthorAvatar: William Lee is a stand-in for the author in ''Junkie'', ''Literature/NakedLunch'', and the Cut-Up trilogy. In the cut-up novels (''The Soft Machine'', ''The Ticket that Exploded'', ''Nova Express''), Lee is a secret agent fighting an interplanetary conspiracy.
** In his later novels, starting with ''The Wild Boys'', the character Audrey Carsons appears as an avatar of William Burroughs in his youth, i.e. a troubled, bookish homosexual social outcast with an interest in firearms and drug use.
* ConspiracyTheorist: The cut-up trilogy is full of bizarre conspiracy theories involving mind control by government agencies, alien entities, etc.
* CreepyCrawlies: Burroughs had very strong feelings of disgust towards centipedes and to a lesser extent other venomous arthropods like scorpions and spiders. They appear prominently in all of his works, including the cut-up novels.
* FantasticDrug: In addition to actual drugs like opiates, psychedelics, etc, many of Burroughs' books involve the use of various exotic substances (e.g. scorpion venom, body fluids of various fictional organisms) as recreational drugs.