Book description
Originally written in 1952 but not published till 1985,
Queer
is an enigma - both an unflinching autobiographical self-portrait and a
coruscatingly political novel, Burroughs' only realist love story and a
montage of comic-grotesque fantasies that paved the way for his
masterpiece, Naked Lunch
. Set in Mexico City during the early fifties, Queer
follows William Lee's hopeless pursuit of desire from bar to bar in the
American expatriate scene. As Lee breaks down, the trademark
Burroughsian voice emerges; a maniacal mix of self-lacerating humor and
the Ugly American at his ugliest. A haunting tale of possession and
exorcism, Queer
is also a novel with a history of secrets, as this new edition reveals.
William S. Burroughs was born on February 5, 1914 in St Louis. In
work and in life Burroughs expressed a constant subversion of the
morality, politics and economics of modern America. To escape these,
and in particular his treatment as a homosexual and a drug-user,
Burroughs left the US in 1950, and soon after began writing. By the
time of his death he was widely recognised as one of the most
politically trenchant, culturally influential, and innovative artists
of the twentieth century. His numerous books include Naked Lunch,
Junky, Queer, Nova Express, Interzone, and The Wild Boys.
After living in Mexico City, Tangier, Paris, and London, Burroughs
finally returned to America in 1974. He died in 1997.
Oliver Harris edited The Letters of William S. Burroughs,
1945-1959 and Penguin's fiftieth anniversary
edition of Junky.
