![]() | This is an archive of past discussions. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page. |
Archive 1 | Archive 2 | Archive 3 |
The Headings are too short, or too many, IMHO, and don't seem to follow a logical theme, so I tried to refit them. I also started an archive because as one person stated, the previous page was long and not easy to read/make sense of, although it is available in the archive, maybe a fresh page will help things. -- Mikerussell 04:01, 15 June 2006 (UTC)
Not to mention that when Burroughs finally did own a home in Kansas, it was a sears catalog house in a kit, which must have only been worth a few thousand dollars. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.197.145.253 ( talk) 13:52, 3 June 2008 (UTC)
I agree the statement about the bribery needs to be cited. I'm sure any number of Burroughs biographies might be able to confirm or deny this, such as Ted Morgan's "Literary Outlaw". I personally had never heard of any sort of bribery happening, though if I remember correctly there was some family influence thrown around to get WSB out of Mexico. 23skidoo 03:14, 16 July 2006 (UTC)
I did not add the info (the stuff discussed right above on this page), nor do I really object to it being withdrawn, but I thought I would say that there is some support (see this link http://old.lawrence.com/burroughs/deathofjoan-full.pdf) for the ideas therein; namely, bribery and changing stories the day after the shooting. The source is a 70 page essay by James Grauerholz himself. After reading it I changed some things in the Vollmer article. Considering Grauerholz was such a devoted friend to Burroughs I was quite surprised at some of the stuff he wrote/uncovered, if I get more free time I might include some additions here. But whoever added the material may not be as off base as we are usually to think. I wonder if any more research from Grauerholz will be coming out?-- Mikerussell 07:05, 19 July 2006 (UTC)
In regard to the following paragraph:
What, exactly, is the "opiate subculture"? This seems to imply that Waits is or was a user of heroin or opium, which I do not believe to be the case. Before I change the wording, can someone provide some information that supports such a description? Thanks. --- Charles 18:34, 22 July 2006 (UTC)
Anyone have any additional information on Evil River? I only learned of its existence via Amazon today, but it was written about as a "coming soon" book back in 2004 [1], and was apparently referenced in Word Virus. 23skidoo 02:45, 25 August 2006 (UTC)
Thanks to a newbie screw-up, we've lost the image of Burroughs that was previously used in this article. Although I was able to find the image again thanks to an Answers.com Wiki-mirror I find I now cannot upload it as the image use tag that has previously been used ("promophoto") has now been discontinued as promotional photographs are apparently no longer allowed unless they're clearly released as non-copyright or press release photos. The Burroughs image had been essentially "grandfathered" (that or the copyright police hadn't gotten to it yet). So any ideas what we can do? I suppose we could always toss up an image of a Naked Lunch cover, but apparently we can't do THAT either. So does this mean no images for this article from here on in? 23skidoo 20:53, 10 September 2006 (UTC)
This article says Burroughs son died of liver cancer, but the son's article ( William_S._Burroughs_Jr.) mentions cirrhosis (though only as a header) and liver failure. Can someone who knows clarify his son's cause of death, and balance this point in the two articles? That'd be great. Doctormatt 02:56, 2 October 2006 (UTC) Billy Jr died 3rd March 1981 in De Land Florida. Complications following a liver transplant two years previously. He continued drinking and stopped taking anti-rejection drugs. The cause of death is listed as a heart attack. Refrence; Cursed from birth; the short unhappy life of William Burroughs Jr. - —Preceding unsigned comment added by 125.26.110.93 ( talk) 04:37, 15 November 2007 (UTC)
I've started several new articles on a few of Burroughs' short works; if anyone can add detail to these articles, please do. I've created Blade Runner, a movie, Ghost of Chance and The Cat Inside. It would be nice if we could get Book of Breeething out of redlink territory as well but I know virtually nothing about that book. 23skidoo 23:39, 2 October 2006 (UTC)
Regarding the following statement:
Perhaps I'm simply up too late but I can't understand what "commonplace experimental prose" is supposed to mean, mainly because it seems contradictory. Can a literary work be both commonplace and experimental? If so, does this accurately describe the three books? -- Gyrofrog (talk) 06:41, 3 October 2006 (UTC)
It seems to me that the influences section should be revised. Denton Welch needs to be listed (from the Welch wikipedia page: "William S Burroughs cited Denton Welch as the writer who most influenced his own work, and dedicated his novel The Place of Dead Roads to Welch."). Probably Celine should be referenced too. I would delete Spengler, because I wouldn't call him a top influence on Burroughs' writing (just one among many). -—Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.225.141.203 ( talk)
A rather bizarre passage was deleted regarding Burroughs experimenting with cats. I support the deletion; while The Cat Inside is an actual book I don't know if it really covers the experiments mentioned in the edit. If we're going to have this sort of material, it needs to be cited from a non-fictional source (as Cat Inside, while autobiographical to an extent, is to my understanding considered a work of fiction). 23skidoo 01:55, 5 October 2006 (UTC)
I'm looking for the first occurrence in Burroughs's writing of the phrase "word is a virus." It is quoted in many places, and I have found several paraphrases of it, but for whatever reason I have not yet been able to find the actual source and date of the exact phrase. The phrase would be good to add to this article and it should be sourced properly for wikiquote. Thanks Amber388 22:22, 14 October 2006 (UTC)
This is a bit of an odd question, but it is somthing that I have wondered for a while-
It seems evident from his writing that he did engage in sexual relationships with people underage (for instance his 'boyfriend', of sorts, in Morocco who was 14, if my memory serves me right), as well as the occation when he mentions paying a couple of underage boys to have sex with him watching and him watching underage boys swimming naked in Latin America (as mentioned in Queer). He also refers to various people he is attracted to (particularly in Mexico, Morocco and Latin America) as 'boys', however this could just be that it refered to males of any age as boys.
At the same time, much of this comes from Queer and Junky which are largely autobiographical, but still qualify as fiction. Other parts come from his letters to Ginsberg. I'm not suggesting that we have "William S. Burroughs was an avant garde author, social critic, unrepentent drug addict and DIRTY PAEDOPHILLE" at the start of the article, but I think that this needs to be explored further and mentioned. I'm definately not a Burroughs expert, so others may already have answers to this question... - Gegen
May God Bless You Always!
I was reading this article and came across the portion where it discusses the burying of his body at BellBellefontaine Cemetery. In the section it lists what are supposely the exact cooridates for William Burroughs' grave. This leads me to two questions.
1.) Can we confirm the location? What is the source of this exact date? Are we sure that William S. Burroughs' grave is located on this exact spot?
2.) Importance? Is this exact location important enough and encyclopedic to include in this article?
Yours in Christ, ( Steve 16:06, 25 November 2006 (UTC))
Grave is unmarked as of March 26, 2007 and to the right of William S. Burroughs (1857-1898) white granite obelisk.
confirmed by bellefontaine cemetery 314-381-0750 posted by 69.19.14.35 17:53, 26 March 2007 (UTC) christina rutz
Thanks to everybody for this high quality article Moe Aboulkheir 02:21, 5 January 2006 (UTC)
At some point in the last month, the bibliography was terribly screwed up. Why was Port of Saints and My Education removed from the novel list, for example? I'm puzzled; I put them back. I oppose the removal of the Junkie cover. It is historically significant, plus, to be honest, without it the only image in this entire article is the cover of Dead City Radio. We should be adding more images, not taking them away. I have put it back. 23skidoo 03:11, 11 January 2007 (UTC)
If the book cover does not even depict Burroughs, and it has a spot in the book article itself, why is it appropriate to include? This is my honest opinion, and I assume good faith in the addition, but honestly, for a new reader looking at this article, the cover looks very out of place. A girl getting strangled by a man? I think others may want to re-think the addition. Pictures should fit the topic- I say this having contributed a couple pictures recently and think the article might be improved if the focus was shifted from the pictures to just the text, pulling even mine. I will leave it at that. -- Mikerussell 21:56, 14 January 2007 (UTC)
This article is poorly presented with errors of fact. The writing style, in spots, is similiar to People magazine's worst Paris Hilton-type celebrity prose. It needs immediate attention to salvage its value to the subject and wikipedia in general. Contributors need to discipline themselves by using the REF system, and applying sources from the bibliography to back-up assertions. About a year ago, I think, this article was better. What happened? -- Mikerussell 20:33, 14 January 2007 (UTC)
I'm starting to wonder if Evil River, despite being listed with a 2007 release date by Amazon and assigned an ISBN number, isn't either becoming vaporware or is being delayed. The release date keeps creeping back and I still haven't been able to find any official announcement of its release. I recall that the "Restored Text" edition of Naked Lunch was also delayed for something like a year after its initial release announcement, and apparently Evil River has been considered "coming soon" since 2005. If no one can offer verification that the book is in fact coming out this year, I'd be willing to support deleting the article (which I created) until such time the book is actually released. Thoughts? 23skidoo 04:46, 22 January 2007 (UTC)
This is edited out.
In 1972, Burroughs and Southern unsuccessfully attempted to adapt Naked Lunch for the screen in conjunction with American game show producer Chuck Barris citation needed; during this period, he was present at Villa Nellcôte for the the Rolling Stones' Exile on Main Street sessions with Southern. citation needed
I know he was around the Beatles in London during the 1960s because Ian Sommerville worked with Mcartney on something, but have never read anything about them (Burroughs and Southern) travelling to French Riveria to hang out with the Stones. In the Brockris book With Burroughs in the Bunker, he meets Jagger for the first time ever, so did they forget they met in early 1971? If I am wrong, re-add with refs. Even more, Keith Richards, I remember in a Rolling Stone Interview, the famous one in 1971 just before Exile came out, says he never had met Burroughs, but they were talking about dope in the interview and his name came up that way. -- Mikerussell 20:10, 2 March 2007 (UTC)
I changed the text today from novel to screenplay. I don't know why it is categorized as a novel, but if it is then one can change it back. As far as I know a novel has to be at least 40,000 words to be classsified in publication as a novel, anything less is a novella. I haven't looked at the book in quite awhile but I doubt it is that long and even the article says its only 81 pages. I always undertood it to be a movie script, but maybe I am confusing it with his Blade Runner. Not that this is a big problem, but I did change it and thought I would mention it here. -- Mikerussell 20:58, 2 March 2007 (UTC)
An unregistered user added the following incomplete sentence to "Band names": "Rock Band "The Mark Inside" from Burroughs opening quote in the movie "Naked Lunch"." This needs to be cleaned up being put back in the main article. I couldn't make head nor tail of it, and am unfamiliar with the band in question so I don't know if this is the name of an album, a song, or what. 23skidoo 01:12, 11 March 2007 (UTC)
In the Paris Review interview (and elsewhere) Burroughs vehemently denies the William Tell story as "absurd and untrue". He says that he was cleaning the gun to sell it to a friend when it went off and killed his wife. I don't have the source on hand, but I can get it.
There is first hand eyewitness evidence stated in Rob Johnson's - 'The Lost Years Of William Burroughs' that the 'William Tell' routine was something that had been practiced on numerous prior occasions on the farm using watermelons. The realibility of this evidence is uncertain, but it is published. Burroughs was no doubt a good shot. He blames the quality of the gun on the Brookner interview and states that he had never tried to practice the 'william tell' stunt before. But then again, why would he admit to it being premeditated, when his case states the contrary? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 125.26.110.93 ( talk) 04:53, 15 November 2007 (UTC)
Recently someone, but possibly others including an anonymous writer named "Paul H." wrote an interview which has been published on Brink.com and two (2) links to this interview were posted on various pages of Wikipedia, including William S. Burroughs, Master Musicians of Jajouka, Brion Gysin and Mohamed Hamri, as well as their own pages for Master Musicians of Joujouka and user:Opium jones23. He makes libelous statements against living persons, two close American friends of Paul Bowles in Tangier, inferring that they are pedophiles and condone and/or participate in the sexual exploitation of children. He probably did this himself. He has accused Paul Bowles of being a murderer by allegedly trying to kill Hamri, etc., which is preposterous, and of regularly entertaining young adolescents in his Tangier apartment, which is patently untrue and libelous. I want an Administrator to keep these links to Brink.com off, as well as it mutation on other sites until a lawyer can contact him and take appropriate action. Wikipedia is supposed to be fair, but by allowing these links on, you are perpetrating falsehoods and deliberate slander against myself and a close friend, as everyone in Tangier knows that Paul Bowles had close American friends who still live in the city. I do not wish to have police knocking on my door because of some irresponsible, inaccurate and sloppy "journalism" written by a man who won't even use his full name, only "Paul H."? Furthermore, someone has completely vandalized the biography of Bachir Attar on Wikipedia and changed everything to spell the group as Joujouka, when his official site says it is Jajouka, put in words such as drinking vodka, etc., when this is not what Wikipedia said only 2 weeks or less ago. If this kind of behavior is tolerated by editors at Wikipedia, then I will contact the administrators to take action against user:Opium jones23 for vandalizing and slandering as well.-- BKLisenbee
I read the article and the user is not mentioned. Bowles being dead is beyond libel. However the user BKLisenbee is a serial POV editor employed by the subjects or the heirs of many of his edit page subjects. His talk page comments seem to claim illegal activities by named and presumably living people. At the same time he claims to be abused in the some way while spreading potentially legally damaging stuff for this community. This seems strange. I will try and contact the site that says they reported this user to the police and get more details. I advise caution. Abelelkrim 01:25, 2 May 2007 (UTC)
At the end of this book, WB states that he is going to find a drug (I think it was called "telepathine") which he knows can induce psychicness. Anyone know what the hell he was on about? I have NEVER heard of this drug anywhere else, and would be willing to bet that it was a hippy myth. Anyone got any more info?
I don't have the reference in front of me, but general background memory identifies it as harmaline, which you find in various of the plants in the numerous ayahuasca recipe combos that people used to write about in letters to Entheogen Review. I think the name harmaline is derived from the scientific name for the Syrian rue plant. 9eyedeel ( talk) 04:10, 5 January 2008 (UTC)
The spelling of the book title needs to be consistent; it is spelled both "Junky" and "Junkie" in the article. - Mark Dixon ( talk) 11:35, 19 October 2009 (UTC)
I remember how the expanded edition of Naked Lunch was continually delayed over the course of about 2 1/2 years before it suddenly appeared. it's starting to look like this is happening again with Evil River. I created the article based upon strong indication the book was going to come out (including an ISBN number and the Amazon listing). But that was back in the late summer/early fall of 2006 and now it looks like the book "may" come out at the end of July. Yet the Viking Penguin website still does not list it. If July 30 comes and goes without a release, or if the date is pushed back yet again, I'm willing to submit the article for AFD unless anyone can think of a good reason to keep the article active. Have any of the Burroughs experts here found any firm indication that this release is actually forthcoming in the near future? 23skidoo 22:26, 28 May 2007 (UTC)
There is a whole book, comprising of correspondence with Ginsberg and autobiographical snippets, entitled The Yage Letters. This is an entertaining book which was published long after it was concieved and completed. This is not even very obscure now, just look it up on Amazon. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.115.136.151 ( talk) 18:48, August 27, 2007 (UTC)
Amazon is now saying Evil River is not due for release until "2019" -- translation; it's vaporware, or at least in limbo. Viking Press has no mention of it, and according to a site referenced in the article on the book, this game has been going on since at least 2005. I created the article on Evil River more than a year ago now, however since others have since edited it, I cannot delete it outright; it has to go to AFD. Before nominating it, however, I want to get the feel of the Wiki-Burroughs community on this. We do have articles on unpublished works -- And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks by Burroughs and Kerouac being the applicable example here. Evil River could continue as an article, but changed to an unpublished work. Or, the article can be nominated for AFD and, if deleted, be recreated at a later date if and when publictaion is officially announced. I have placed a poll on the article's talk page to gauge opinion on this. If no one posts any objections or alternate suggestions in the next week or so, I will go ahead and nominate it to AFD. If folk want the article kept, no worries, though I'd welcome suggestions on how to handle a book that is in limbo like this. 23skidoo 05:22, 1 August 2007 (UTC)
Based upon the above comments I will submit this to AFD, just on the off chance it can be rescued by someone who might have information. Additional: actually, I checked the user history and except for a couple of bots and people who edited for format rather than content, this doesn't have to go to AFD. I will send it to PROD instead. I'll make sure the links are cleaned out from the template, etc. after it's been taken down (if no one contests the PROD). I probably don't need to even PROD it, but the article's been up for a year now, so I might as well. 23skidoo 12:32, 14 September 2007 (UTC)
An editor removed Jean-Paul Sartre as an influence on Burroughs, however there are printed sources that say Sartre was a contemporary and an influence (much like Henry Miller). I don't have time to go through my library to find the source, so if someone can jump ahead of me on this, please do. 23skidoo 19:39, 18 October 2007 (UTC)
I am pretty sure that William Burroughs appeared in the UK TV documentary "Einstein's Brain", in which a Japanese professor attempts to track down the offending organ. The whole thing is delivered straight until our hero asks for directions in a TV shop in a small US town. Every TV seems to be playing footage of a nuclear test detonation, and the TV sales man (if memory serves) was none other than William Burroughs - so I guess the "documentary" was a little closer to "Borat" than "BBC News".
So, my question to the community is: what sort of evidence should I gather before I change the main article?
By the way, that was my first ever Wikipedia edit!
Jim-the-blim 22:29, 14 November 2007 (UTC)
Does anyone know anything about the REM song, "F*ck Me Kitten", sometimes labeled as "Star Me Kitten", that WS Burroughs performed? 74.132.11.37 ( talk) 04:54, 13 December 2007 (UTC)
just revrted an old edit miss tagged and POV . We dont care if the editor is an American man living in Tangier but facts are facts and he deleted under false edit summery to
User:Opiumjones 23 ( talk) 03:13, 15 December 2007 (UTC)
With the exception of Steely Dan, the band names section is completely berift of citations. We need sources to verify where these names came from. For example, my understanding is Dead Fingers Talk takes their name from the book of this title, not a line from either Naked Lunch or Soft Machine (an IP changed it just now). 23skidoo ( talk) 22:26, 10 January 2008 (UTC) Yes the BOOK
Heavy Metal Kid is from Naked Lunch eg Heavy Metal Opiumjones 23 ( talk) 23:45, 10 January 2008 (UTC)
Being a Bukowski fan, I was specifically under the impression that Bukowski was not a fan of the beats, and was especially critical of Kerouac and Burroughs. He even wrote a short story mocking Burroughs. Though this is true of about 99% of his literary icons, can anyone show me an example of how Bukowski was an admirer of Burroughs work? CrowleyHead ( talk) 11:29, 23 January 2008 (UTC)
The recent change makes the sentence look silly. I believe Morgan and other sources outright use the word "bribed" so I think this should be retained. I will revert the change once I have a chance to check my sources. 23skidoo ( talk) 15:54, 24 January 2008 (UTC)
I see someone added Evil River to the Non-fiction list and I have removed it after confirming, once again, that the book has not been released nor does anyone seem to know when or if it is coming out. Amazon now has a date of the end of May 2008 which is an improvement over 2025 or whatever date they had a few months ago. The existence of an ISBN number, as I have learned, is NOT proof that a book exists. It's just a number reserved for the work, sort of like a company reserving a URL for a future movie release that could be years in the future. One book that HAS been confirmed as released is the new Everything Lost notebook facsimilie edition, which I have added to the list. Regarding Evil River again, I don't profess to have access to all the sources imaginable, so if someone out there can provide one to suggest the book is available or, better still, has actually purchased a copy, I'm more than willing to be corrected with extreme predjudice (just send me a PM so I know where to order it from!) 23skidoo ( talk) 17:13, 5 February 2008 (UTC)
Image:Junkieace.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.
Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to ensure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.
If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images lacking such an explanation can be deleted one week after being tagged, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.
BetacommandBot ( talk) 23:05, 13 February 2008 (UTC)
Opiumjones 23 ( talk) 22:34, 4 March 2008 (UTC)
For some weeks now I've noted that this article has a tag on it regarding the Arbcom probation on Scientology articles. This article isn't about Scientology; it's about someone who was once a member and has written criticism regarding Scientology. It's a very minute part of his body of work. (Indeed, if all references to Scientology were removed, it wouldn't negatively affect the overall article). Is there any reason to keep the Arbcom warning up on this particular article? 23skidoo ( talk) 18:13, 13 May 2008 (UTC)
I'm going to follow the Be Bold philosophy here and remove this article from the Scientology Wikiproject for two reasons: 1. As noted above Scientology plays a very minor role in Burroughs' life and canon and 2. I do feel the Arbcom probation (which appears to still be in place since the case was closed in September 2007) is an unnecessary distraction. I'm not particularly a big fan of placing an article under a WikiProject on the grounds of a passing reference (I'm OK with categories, however). If someone vehemently objects to this, they're welcome to state their case or Be Bold and revert me. 23skidoo ( talk) 12:33, 14 May 2008 (UTC)
While I do not oppose the idea of splitting the Bibliography into a separate article, I would caution that there first be extensive research done as to whether such articles are allowed in Wikipedia. These sorts of splits invariably result in AFD challenges. Fortunately one of the main pieces of ammo used by deletionists - lack of sources - can be defeated by the fact that there are actually multiple professionally published bibliographies of WSB's work in circulation, something 99.99% of authors cannot claim. Nonetheless, I would counsel with the Novels WikiProject and perhaps someone involved with WP:N to ensure that splitting the article won't just be a waste of time. 23skidoo ( talk) 22:37, 30 July 2008 (UTC)
This section is getting too messy and speculative. While Steely Dan and The Soft Machine are widely known to have been based upon Burroughs, and the other ones listed here seem to have connections, the section needs a bit more sourcing to establish verifiability. 23skidoo ( talk) 17:57, 14 September 2008 (UTC)
![]() | This is an archive of past discussions. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page. |
Archive 1 | Archive 2 | Archive 3 |
The Headings are too short, or too many, IMHO, and don't seem to follow a logical theme, so I tried to refit them. I also started an archive because as one person stated, the previous page was long and not easy to read/make sense of, although it is available in the archive, maybe a fresh page will help things. -- Mikerussell 04:01, 15 June 2006 (UTC)
Not to mention that when Burroughs finally did own a home in Kansas, it was a sears catalog house in a kit, which must have only been worth a few thousand dollars. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.197.145.253 ( talk) 13:52, 3 June 2008 (UTC)
I agree the statement about the bribery needs to be cited. I'm sure any number of Burroughs biographies might be able to confirm or deny this, such as Ted Morgan's "Literary Outlaw". I personally had never heard of any sort of bribery happening, though if I remember correctly there was some family influence thrown around to get WSB out of Mexico. 23skidoo 03:14, 16 July 2006 (UTC)
I did not add the info (the stuff discussed right above on this page), nor do I really object to it being withdrawn, but I thought I would say that there is some support (see this link http://old.lawrence.com/burroughs/deathofjoan-full.pdf) for the ideas therein; namely, bribery and changing stories the day after the shooting. The source is a 70 page essay by James Grauerholz himself. After reading it I changed some things in the Vollmer article. Considering Grauerholz was such a devoted friend to Burroughs I was quite surprised at some of the stuff he wrote/uncovered, if I get more free time I might include some additions here. But whoever added the material may not be as off base as we are usually to think. I wonder if any more research from Grauerholz will be coming out?-- Mikerussell 07:05, 19 July 2006 (UTC)
In regard to the following paragraph:
What, exactly, is the "opiate subculture"? This seems to imply that Waits is or was a user of heroin or opium, which I do not believe to be the case. Before I change the wording, can someone provide some information that supports such a description? Thanks. --- Charles 18:34, 22 July 2006 (UTC)
Anyone have any additional information on Evil River? I only learned of its existence via Amazon today, but it was written about as a "coming soon" book back in 2004 [1], and was apparently referenced in Word Virus. 23skidoo 02:45, 25 August 2006 (UTC)
Thanks to a newbie screw-up, we've lost the image of Burroughs that was previously used in this article. Although I was able to find the image again thanks to an Answers.com Wiki-mirror I find I now cannot upload it as the image use tag that has previously been used ("promophoto") has now been discontinued as promotional photographs are apparently no longer allowed unless they're clearly released as non-copyright or press release photos. The Burroughs image had been essentially "grandfathered" (that or the copyright police hadn't gotten to it yet). So any ideas what we can do? I suppose we could always toss up an image of a Naked Lunch cover, but apparently we can't do THAT either. So does this mean no images for this article from here on in? 23skidoo 20:53, 10 September 2006 (UTC)
This article says Burroughs son died of liver cancer, but the son's article ( William_S._Burroughs_Jr.) mentions cirrhosis (though only as a header) and liver failure. Can someone who knows clarify his son's cause of death, and balance this point in the two articles? That'd be great. Doctormatt 02:56, 2 October 2006 (UTC) Billy Jr died 3rd March 1981 in De Land Florida. Complications following a liver transplant two years previously. He continued drinking and stopped taking anti-rejection drugs. The cause of death is listed as a heart attack. Refrence; Cursed from birth; the short unhappy life of William Burroughs Jr. - —Preceding unsigned comment added by 125.26.110.93 ( talk) 04:37, 15 November 2007 (UTC)
I've started several new articles on a few of Burroughs' short works; if anyone can add detail to these articles, please do. I've created Blade Runner, a movie, Ghost of Chance and The Cat Inside. It would be nice if we could get Book of Breeething out of redlink territory as well but I know virtually nothing about that book. 23skidoo 23:39, 2 October 2006 (UTC)
Regarding the following statement:
Perhaps I'm simply up too late but I can't understand what "commonplace experimental prose" is supposed to mean, mainly because it seems contradictory. Can a literary work be both commonplace and experimental? If so, does this accurately describe the three books? -- Gyrofrog (talk) 06:41, 3 October 2006 (UTC)
It seems to me that the influences section should be revised. Denton Welch needs to be listed (from the Welch wikipedia page: "William S Burroughs cited Denton Welch as the writer who most influenced his own work, and dedicated his novel The Place of Dead Roads to Welch."). Probably Celine should be referenced too. I would delete Spengler, because I wouldn't call him a top influence on Burroughs' writing (just one among many). -—Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.225.141.203 ( talk)
A rather bizarre passage was deleted regarding Burroughs experimenting with cats. I support the deletion; while The Cat Inside is an actual book I don't know if it really covers the experiments mentioned in the edit. If we're going to have this sort of material, it needs to be cited from a non-fictional source (as Cat Inside, while autobiographical to an extent, is to my understanding considered a work of fiction). 23skidoo 01:55, 5 October 2006 (UTC)
I'm looking for the first occurrence in Burroughs's writing of the phrase "word is a virus." It is quoted in many places, and I have found several paraphrases of it, but for whatever reason I have not yet been able to find the actual source and date of the exact phrase. The phrase would be good to add to this article and it should be sourced properly for wikiquote. Thanks Amber388 22:22, 14 October 2006 (UTC)
This is a bit of an odd question, but it is somthing that I have wondered for a while-
It seems evident from his writing that he did engage in sexual relationships with people underage (for instance his 'boyfriend', of sorts, in Morocco who was 14, if my memory serves me right), as well as the occation when he mentions paying a couple of underage boys to have sex with him watching and him watching underage boys swimming naked in Latin America (as mentioned in Queer). He also refers to various people he is attracted to (particularly in Mexico, Morocco and Latin America) as 'boys', however this could just be that it refered to males of any age as boys.
At the same time, much of this comes from Queer and Junky which are largely autobiographical, but still qualify as fiction. Other parts come from his letters to Ginsberg. I'm not suggesting that we have "William S. Burroughs was an avant garde author, social critic, unrepentent drug addict and DIRTY PAEDOPHILLE" at the start of the article, but I think that this needs to be explored further and mentioned. I'm definately not a Burroughs expert, so others may already have answers to this question... - Gegen
May God Bless You Always!
I was reading this article and came across the portion where it discusses the burying of his body at BellBellefontaine Cemetery. In the section it lists what are supposely the exact cooridates for William Burroughs' grave. This leads me to two questions.
1.) Can we confirm the location? What is the source of this exact date? Are we sure that William S. Burroughs' grave is located on this exact spot?
2.) Importance? Is this exact location important enough and encyclopedic to include in this article?
Yours in Christ, ( Steve 16:06, 25 November 2006 (UTC))
Grave is unmarked as of March 26, 2007 and to the right of William S. Burroughs (1857-1898) white granite obelisk.
confirmed by bellefontaine cemetery 314-381-0750 posted by 69.19.14.35 17:53, 26 March 2007 (UTC) christina rutz
Thanks to everybody for this high quality article Moe Aboulkheir 02:21, 5 January 2006 (UTC)
At some point in the last month, the bibliography was terribly screwed up. Why was Port of Saints and My Education removed from the novel list, for example? I'm puzzled; I put them back. I oppose the removal of the Junkie cover. It is historically significant, plus, to be honest, without it the only image in this entire article is the cover of Dead City Radio. We should be adding more images, not taking them away. I have put it back. 23skidoo 03:11, 11 January 2007 (UTC)
If the book cover does not even depict Burroughs, and it has a spot in the book article itself, why is it appropriate to include? This is my honest opinion, and I assume good faith in the addition, but honestly, for a new reader looking at this article, the cover looks very out of place. A girl getting strangled by a man? I think others may want to re-think the addition. Pictures should fit the topic- I say this having contributed a couple pictures recently and think the article might be improved if the focus was shifted from the pictures to just the text, pulling even mine. I will leave it at that. -- Mikerussell 21:56, 14 January 2007 (UTC)
This article is poorly presented with errors of fact. The writing style, in spots, is similiar to People magazine's worst Paris Hilton-type celebrity prose. It needs immediate attention to salvage its value to the subject and wikipedia in general. Contributors need to discipline themselves by using the REF system, and applying sources from the bibliography to back-up assertions. About a year ago, I think, this article was better. What happened? -- Mikerussell 20:33, 14 January 2007 (UTC)
I'm starting to wonder if Evil River, despite being listed with a 2007 release date by Amazon and assigned an ISBN number, isn't either becoming vaporware or is being delayed. The release date keeps creeping back and I still haven't been able to find any official announcement of its release. I recall that the "Restored Text" edition of Naked Lunch was also delayed for something like a year after its initial release announcement, and apparently Evil River has been considered "coming soon" since 2005. If no one can offer verification that the book is in fact coming out this year, I'd be willing to support deleting the article (which I created) until such time the book is actually released. Thoughts? 23skidoo 04:46, 22 January 2007 (UTC)
This is edited out.
In 1972, Burroughs and Southern unsuccessfully attempted to adapt Naked Lunch for the screen in conjunction with American game show producer Chuck Barris citation needed; during this period, he was present at Villa Nellcôte for the the Rolling Stones' Exile on Main Street sessions with Southern. citation needed
I know he was around the Beatles in London during the 1960s because Ian Sommerville worked with Mcartney on something, but have never read anything about them (Burroughs and Southern) travelling to French Riveria to hang out with the Stones. In the Brockris book With Burroughs in the Bunker, he meets Jagger for the first time ever, so did they forget they met in early 1971? If I am wrong, re-add with refs. Even more, Keith Richards, I remember in a Rolling Stone Interview, the famous one in 1971 just before Exile came out, says he never had met Burroughs, but they were talking about dope in the interview and his name came up that way. -- Mikerussell 20:10, 2 March 2007 (UTC)
I changed the text today from novel to screenplay. I don't know why it is categorized as a novel, but if it is then one can change it back. As far as I know a novel has to be at least 40,000 words to be classsified in publication as a novel, anything less is a novella. I haven't looked at the book in quite awhile but I doubt it is that long and even the article says its only 81 pages. I always undertood it to be a movie script, but maybe I am confusing it with his Blade Runner. Not that this is a big problem, but I did change it and thought I would mention it here. -- Mikerussell 20:58, 2 March 2007 (UTC)
An unregistered user added the following incomplete sentence to "Band names": "Rock Band "The Mark Inside" from Burroughs opening quote in the movie "Naked Lunch"." This needs to be cleaned up being put back in the main article. I couldn't make head nor tail of it, and am unfamiliar with the band in question so I don't know if this is the name of an album, a song, or what. 23skidoo 01:12, 11 March 2007 (UTC)
In the Paris Review interview (and elsewhere) Burroughs vehemently denies the William Tell story as "absurd and untrue". He says that he was cleaning the gun to sell it to a friend when it went off and killed his wife. I don't have the source on hand, but I can get it.
There is first hand eyewitness evidence stated in Rob Johnson's - 'The Lost Years Of William Burroughs' that the 'William Tell' routine was something that had been practiced on numerous prior occasions on the farm using watermelons. The realibility of this evidence is uncertain, but it is published. Burroughs was no doubt a good shot. He blames the quality of the gun on the Brookner interview and states that he had never tried to practice the 'william tell' stunt before. But then again, why would he admit to it being premeditated, when his case states the contrary? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 125.26.110.93 ( talk) 04:53, 15 November 2007 (UTC)
Recently someone, but possibly others including an anonymous writer named "Paul H." wrote an interview which has been published on Brink.com and two (2) links to this interview were posted on various pages of Wikipedia, including William S. Burroughs, Master Musicians of Jajouka, Brion Gysin and Mohamed Hamri, as well as their own pages for Master Musicians of Joujouka and user:Opium jones23. He makes libelous statements against living persons, two close American friends of Paul Bowles in Tangier, inferring that they are pedophiles and condone and/or participate in the sexual exploitation of children. He probably did this himself. He has accused Paul Bowles of being a murderer by allegedly trying to kill Hamri, etc., which is preposterous, and of regularly entertaining young adolescents in his Tangier apartment, which is patently untrue and libelous. I want an Administrator to keep these links to Brink.com off, as well as it mutation on other sites until a lawyer can contact him and take appropriate action. Wikipedia is supposed to be fair, but by allowing these links on, you are perpetrating falsehoods and deliberate slander against myself and a close friend, as everyone in Tangier knows that Paul Bowles had close American friends who still live in the city. I do not wish to have police knocking on my door because of some irresponsible, inaccurate and sloppy "journalism" written by a man who won't even use his full name, only "Paul H."? Furthermore, someone has completely vandalized the biography of Bachir Attar on Wikipedia and changed everything to spell the group as Joujouka, when his official site says it is Jajouka, put in words such as drinking vodka, etc., when this is not what Wikipedia said only 2 weeks or less ago. If this kind of behavior is tolerated by editors at Wikipedia, then I will contact the administrators to take action against user:Opium jones23 for vandalizing and slandering as well.-- BKLisenbee
I read the article and the user is not mentioned. Bowles being dead is beyond libel. However the user BKLisenbee is a serial POV editor employed by the subjects or the heirs of many of his edit page subjects. His talk page comments seem to claim illegal activities by named and presumably living people. At the same time he claims to be abused in the some way while spreading potentially legally damaging stuff for this community. This seems strange. I will try and contact the site that says they reported this user to the police and get more details. I advise caution. Abelelkrim 01:25, 2 May 2007 (UTC)
At the end of this book, WB states that he is going to find a drug (I think it was called "telepathine") which he knows can induce psychicness. Anyone know what the hell he was on about? I have NEVER heard of this drug anywhere else, and would be willing to bet that it was a hippy myth. Anyone got any more info?
I don't have the reference in front of me, but general background memory identifies it as harmaline, which you find in various of the plants in the numerous ayahuasca recipe combos that people used to write about in letters to Entheogen Review. I think the name harmaline is derived from the scientific name for the Syrian rue plant. 9eyedeel ( talk) 04:10, 5 January 2008 (UTC)
The spelling of the book title needs to be consistent; it is spelled both "Junky" and "Junkie" in the article. - Mark Dixon ( talk) 11:35, 19 October 2009 (UTC)
I remember how the expanded edition of Naked Lunch was continually delayed over the course of about 2 1/2 years before it suddenly appeared. it's starting to look like this is happening again with Evil River. I created the article based upon strong indication the book was going to come out (including an ISBN number and the Amazon listing). But that was back in the late summer/early fall of 2006 and now it looks like the book "may" come out at the end of July. Yet the Viking Penguin website still does not list it. If July 30 comes and goes without a release, or if the date is pushed back yet again, I'm willing to submit the article for AFD unless anyone can think of a good reason to keep the article active. Have any of the Burroughs experts here found any firm indication that this release is actually forthcoming in the near future? 23skidoo 22:26, 28 May 2007 (UTC)
There is a whole book, comprising of correspondence with Ginsberg and autobiographical snippets, entitled The Yage Letters. This is an entertaining book which was published long after it was concieved and completed. This is not even very obscure now, just look it up on Amazon. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.115.136.151 ( talk) 18:48, August 27, 2007 (UTC)
Amazon is now saying Evil River is not due for release until "2019" -- translation; it's vaporware, or at least in limbo. Viking Press has no mention of it, and according to a site referenced in the article on the book, this game has been going on since at least 2005. I created the article on Evil River more than a year ago now, however since others have since edited it, I cannot delete it outright; it has to go to AFD. Before nominating it, however, I want to get the feel of the Wiki-Burroughs community on this. We do have articles on unpublished works -- And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks by Burroughs and Kerouac being the applicable example here. Evil River could continue as an article, but changed to an unpublished work. Or, the article can be nominated for AFD and, if deleted, be recreated at a later date if and when publictaion is officially announced. I have placed a poll on the article's talk page to gauge opinion on this. If no one posts any objections or alternate suggestions in the next week or so, I will go ahead and nominate it to AFD. If folk want the article kept, no worries, though I'd welcome suggestions on how to handle a book that is in limbo like this. 23skidoo 05:22, 1 August 2007 (UTC)
Based upon the above comments I will submit this to AFD, just on the off chance it can be rescued by someone who might have information. Additional: actually, I checked the user history and except for a couple of bots and people who edited for format rather than content, this doesn't have to go to AFD. I will send it to PROD instead. I'll make sure the links are cleaned out from the template, etc. after it's been taken down (if no one contests the PROD). I probably don't need to even PROD it, but the article's been up for a year now, so I might as well. 23skidoo 12:32, 14 September 2007 (UTC)
An editor removed Jean-Paul Sartre as an influence on Burroughs, however there are printed sources that say Sartre was a contemporary and an influence (much like Henry Miller). I don't have time to go through my library to find the source, so if someone can jump ahead of me on this, please do. 23skidoo 19:39, 18 October 2007 (UTC)
I am pretty sure that William Burroughs appeared in the UK TV documentary "Einstein's Brain", in which a Japanese professor attempts to track down the offending organ. The whole thing is delivered straight until our hero asks for directions in a TV shop in a small US town. Every TV seems to be playing footage of a nuclear test detonation, and the TV sales man (if memory serves) was none other than William Burroughs - so I guess the "documentary" was a little closer to "Borat" than "BBC News".
So, my question to the community is: what sort of evidence should I gather before I change the main article?
By the way, that was my first ever Wikipedia edit!
Jim-the-blim 22:29, 14 November 2007 (UTC)
Does anyone know anything about the REM song, "F*ck Me Kitten", sometimes labeled as "Star Me Kitten", that WS Burroughs performed? 74.132.11.37 ( talk) 04:54, 13 December 2007 (UTC)
just revrted an old edit miss tagged and POV . We dont care if the editor is an American man living in Tangier but facts are facts and he deleted under false edit summery to
User:Opiumjones 23 ( talk) 03:13, 15 December 2007 (UTC)
With the exception of Steely Dan, the band names section is completely berift of citations. We need sources to verify where these names came from. For example, my understanding is Dead Fingers Talk takes their name from the book of this title, not a line from either Naked Lunch or Soft Machine (an IP changed it just now). 23skidoo ( talk) 22:26, 10 January 2008 (UTC) Yes the BOOK
Heavy Metal Kid is from Naked Lunch eg Heavy Metal Opiumjones 23 ( talk) 23:45, 10 January 2008 (UTC)
Being a Bukowski fan, I was specifically under the impression that Bukowski was not a fan of the beats, and was especially critical of Kerouac and Burroughs. He even wrote a short story mocking Burroughs. Though this is true of about 99% of his literary icons, can anyone show me an example of how Bukowski was an admirer of Burroughs work? CrowleyHead ( talk) 11:29, 23 January 2008 (UTC)
The recent change makes the sentence look silly. I believe Morgan and other sources outright use the word "bribed" so I think this should be retained. I will revert the change once I have a chance to check my sources. 23skidoo ( talk) 15:54, 24 January 2008 (UTC)
I see someone added Evil River to the Non-fiction list and I have removed it after confirming, once again, that the book has not been released nor does anyone seem to know when or if it is coming out. Amazon now has a date of the end of May 2008 which is an improvement over 2025 or whatever date they had a few months ago. The existence of an ISBN number, as I have learned, is NOT proof that a book exists. It's just a number reserved for the work, sort of like a company reserving a URL for a future movie release that could be years in the future. One book that HAS been confirmed as released is the new Everything Lost notebook facsimilie edition, which I have added to the list. Regarding Evil River again, I don't profess to have access to all the sources imaginable, so if someone out there can provide one to suggest the book is available or, better still, has actually purchased a copy, I'm more than willing to be corrected with extreme predjudice (just send me a PM so I know where to order it from!) 23skidoo ( talk) 17:13, 5 February 2008 (UTC)
Image:Junkieace.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.
Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to ensure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.
If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images lacking such an explanation can be deleted one week after being tagged, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.
BetacommandBot ( talk) 23:05, 13 February 2008 (UTC)
Opiumjones 23 ( talk) 22:34, 4 March 2008 (UTC)
For some weeks now I've noted that this article has a tag on it regarding the Arbcom probation on Scientology articles. This article isn't about Scientology; it's about someone who was once a member and has written criticism regarding Scientology. It's a very minute part of his body of work. (Indeed, if all references to Scientology were removed, it wouldn't negatively affect the overall article). Is there any reason to keep the Arbcom warning up on this particular article? 23skidoo ( talk) 18:13, 13 May 2008 (UTC)
I'm going to follow the Be Bold philosophy here and remove this article from the Scientology Wikiproject for two reasons: 1. As noted above Scientology plays a very minor role in Burroughs' life and canon and 2. I do feel the Arbcom probation (which appears to still be in place since the case was closed in September 2007) is an unnecessary distraction. I'm not particularly a big fan of placing an article under a WikiProject on the grounds of a passing reference (I'm OK with categories, however). If someone vehemently objects to this, they're welcome to state their case or Be Bold and revert me. 23skidoo ( talk) 12:33, 14 May 2008 (UTC)
While I do not oppose the idea of splitting the Bibliography into a separate article, I would caution that there first be extensive research done as to whether such articles are allowed in Wikipedia. These sorts of splits invariably result in AFD challenges. Fortunately one of the main pieces of ammo used by deletionists - lack of sources - can be defeated by the fact that there are actually multiple professionally published bibliographies of WSB's work in circulation, something 99.99% of authors cannot claim. Nonetheless, I would counsel with the Novels WikiProject and perhaps someone involved with WP:N to ensure that splitting the article won't just be a waste of time. 23skidoo ( talk) 22:37, 30 July 2008 (UTC)
This section is getting too messy and speculative. While Steely Dan and The Soft Machine are widely known to have been based upon Burroughs, and the other ones listed here seem to have connections, the section needs a bit more sourcing to establish verifiability. 23skidoo ( talk) 17:57, 14 September 2008 (UTC)