William Burroughs in Context
Will be published approx. on 23. July 2026
Book
Hardback
524 pages
978-1-009-55474-9 (ISBN)
Description
William Burroughs in Context offers the most comprehensive and interdisciplinary examination of the iconic author to date and it captures the immense scope of Burroughs' radical vision and cultural influence. Moving far beyond the Beat Generation, this volume brings together 35 original essays that reframe Burroughs through his many identities: novelist, multimedia artist, queer visionary, drug theorist, and cultural provocateur. By organizing contributions around themes like space-time travel, technology, environmentalism, and creative collaboration, the book presents Burroughs as a uniquely situated figure at the crossroads of literature, science, philosophy, and pop culture. The contributors-drawn from leading voices in literary studies, media theory, cultural history, and the arts-offer readers fresh insights into both familiar and underexplored dimensions of Burroughs' oeuvre. An essential resource for scholars and fans alike, this landmark volume positions Burroughs as a central figure in understanding 20th-century counterculture and its ongoing 21st-century legacy
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Illustrations
Worked examples or Exercises
ISBN-13
978-1-009-55474-9 (9781009554749)
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Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Oliver Harris is Emeritus Professor of American Literature at Keele University and founding President of the European Beat Studies Network, and has published some twenty books related to William Burroughs, including a dozen editions of his works. In 2024, he was the literary consultant for the adaptation of Burroughs' novel Queer. Davis Schneiderman, Professor of English at Lake Forest College, is a Burroughs scholar and co-editor of forthcoming editions of The Third Mind and The Book of Methods (William Burroughs and Brion Gysin). He co-edited the Retaking the Universe: William S. Burroughs in the Age of Globalization, and has written extensively on Burroughs in other publications. Alex Wermer-Colan is the Academic and Research Director at Temple University Libraries' Scholars Studio and a scholar and dramaturg of William Burroughs' work. Alex edited The Travel Agency is on Fire and Cutting Up the Century, and his writing on Burroughs has appeared in a range of literary journals, critical collections, and theatrical and musical performances.
Content
Introduction to the collection: new frontiers Oliver Harris, Davis Schneiderman and Alex Wermer-Colan; Part I. Cultural Histories and Movements: 1. The inscrutable beat: Ginsberg, Kerouac, and the New York Circle Steven Belletto; 2. The exile: from the Americas to Europe via North Africa Eva Kowalska; 3. The avant-gardist: from surrealism to situationism David Banash; 4. The counterculture icon: from beat to punk Guy Stevenson; 5. The obscene queer: the legal legacy of Naked Lunch and the right (not) to read Loren Glass; 6. The non-canonical writer: categorically uncategorizable Michael Sean Bolton; Part II. Identities: 7. The monster: 'I'll by God show them how ugly the Ugly American can be' Oliver Harris; 8. El hombre invisible: Burroughs and the fedora Barry Miles; 9. The anthropologist: Mayans, shamans, junkies David Stephen Calonne; 10. The seer and the satirist: cutting through the prophetic tradition Farid Ghadami; 11. The macho queer: 'a lifetime of defensive hostility' Ian MacFadyen; 12. The libertarian: between individual anarchism and alt-right endorsement Florian Zappe; 13. The de-colonizer: 'the de-colonizer: 'an all-out riot is like a tonic' Alan Carmody; 14. The conspiracy theorist: paranoia, the right, and LSD Chris Fleming; 15. The collaborator: intertextuality and authorship Allen Hibbard; Part III. Space-Time Travel: 16. The recycler: permutating the past, resurrecting the future Benoit Delaune; 17. The visionary: Yage and its aesthetics Marcus Boon; 18. The scissor man: cutting up everything Daria Baryshnikova; 19. The space-time traveler: re-engineering the calendar Tomasz Stompor; 20. The science fiction world builder: Burroughs' speculative cities and their legacy Clementine Hougue; 21. The (revised) boy scout: youth, nostalgia, and memory Thom Robinson; Part IV: Modes of Creativity: 22. The DJ: cut-up machines, automation, sound Benjamin J. Heal; 23. The screenwriter: cut-up films, closet screenplays, and William Burroughs' vision for an alternative cinema Alex Wermer-Colan; 24. The performer: the attention economy in comic routines and cinematic roles Katharine Streip; 25. The horror writer: through the ooze from Lovecraft to Burroughs Fiona Paton; 26. The guerrilla warrior: manifestos and provocations Jimmy Fazzino; 27. The visual artist: from collages to shotgun paintings Yuri Zupancic; 28. The muse: Burroughs and Laurie Anderson Jeffrey L. Meikle; Part V. Science, Medicine and Technology: 29. The Burroughs singularity: black hole, nova, supernova Timothy S. Murphy; 30. The master addict: a career in drugs Phil Baker; 31. The epidemiologist: alt-medicine, paranoia, and the politics of contagion Polina Mackay and James Mackay; 32. The parasite: biology, cybernetics, soft machines Leila Kucukalic; 33. The virologist: a biolinguistic reading of Burroughs James Akira Ward; 34. The electronic revolutionary: media war, fake news, and artificial intelligence Davis Schneiderman; 35. The environmentalist: Burroughs and the Anthropocene Steen Ledet Christiansen; Postscript: prophetic mutterings and battle instructions Anne Waldman.