Book description
'Where are the snows of yesteryear. And the speedballs I useta know?
Well, I guess it's time for my Ovaltine and a long good night.'
In 1996 William Burroughs began writing a final journal. He died the
following summer after a life of notoriety: godfather of the Beat
writers, author of thirteen controversial novels, druggy, dangerous and
bleak. Spanning the realms of personal memoir, cultural criticism and
fiction, Burroughs' diaries include anecdotes and memories, entries on
his beloved cats and the joys of housekeeping, and musings on
drug-taking, humanity and government cover-ups.
'Last Words' contains some of the most brutally personal prose in the
William Burroughs canon, and the deaths of his friends, Allen Ginsberg
and Timothy Leary, provide a window onto his own preparations for death
- a quest for absolution marked by a profound sense of guilt and loss.
'He is a writer of enormous richness whose books are a kind of attempt
to blow up this cosy conspiracy, to allow us to see the truth.' J. G. Ballard
'These journals make for unbearably poignant reading. Unlikely as it
may sound, Bill Burroughs was only human after all.' The Times
'An exploration in depth, and in sum, of Burroughs' personality and
creative pre-occupations…[A] rich repetition, with variations, of a
string of half-conscious fancies, scenarios and literary allusions.
“Last Words” also presents fresh clues to the larger design of his
imagination, and a means of gaining a renewed perspective on his work.'
New York Times
'”Last Words” reveals the author of “Naked Lunch” riddled with
arthritis and still saddled with guilt for shooting his common-law wife
in 1951. Although he seems more vulnerable than ever before, the
anti-establishment anger continues to flare up at odd moments, his
skewed sense of humour still sends out sparks.' Time Out
'There's a savage glamour about William Burroughs, both in his writing
and his life…”Last Words”, made during the last nine months of his life,
shows him to be as sharp-minded as ever.' Ham & High
'Elegiac and filled with a curious kind of contentment at the way
things have turned out. For the first and only time, he reveals a
gentler self, full of years and filled with grace. He was a great
American writer to the end.' Gay Times
'Fascinating. Burroughs surfaces among his words as a bent, acute,
watchful, irritated, clever old man, like a sparkling eye peering out
from the greasy broken panes of a dilapidated building.' Financial Times
'“Last Words” is filled with memories and reminiscences delivered in
staccato poignancy. Burroughs cuts up his recollections and dreams,
merging, always playfully, sometimes painfully, fact with fiction…A
welcome addition to the extensive Burroughs oeuvre.' Scotsman William
Burroughs was born in St Louis, Missouri in 1914. Immensely influential
among the Beat writers of the 1950s - notably Jack Kerouac and Allen
Ginsberg - he already had an underground reputation before the
appearance of his first important book, 'Naked Lunch'. Originally
published by the daring and influential Olympia Press (the original
publishers of Henry Miller) in France in 1959, it aroused great
controversy on publication and was not available in the US until 1962
and in the UK until 1964. The book was adapted for film by David
Cronenberg in 1991. William Burroughs died in 1997.
