The University News

Issue date: 11/9/09 Section: News

Media Credit: courtesy Labudde Special Collections

With depth and complexity, William Burroughs penned his books.

Burroughs was born in 1914 to a prominent family. Throughout his life and his many troubles, he always had his family to bail him out.

He grew up in St. Louis, attended college at Harvard University and worked during the summers at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

In 1944, he began living with Joan Vollmer, who later became his common law wife. Burroughs developed an addiction to morphine, which caused a considerable number of problems with the law. Vollmer's drug of choice was Benzedrine.

Seven years later, while on vacation in Mexico, Vollmer and Burroughs decided to engage in a drunken game of "William Tell." Unfortunately, Burroughs shot and killed Vollmer that fateful night.

Later, Burroughs said shooting his wife was what provoked his writing.

Finally finding the courage to reveal his true sexual orientation, Burroughs wrote "The Naked Lunch," which was published by Olympia Press in 1959. It was then he became a well-known homosexual author.

Burroughs continued writing and his fame grew.

In 1964, he published "Nova Express."

One year later, he compiled "The Naked Lunch" and "Nova Express" into a spoken word album titled "Call Me Burroughs."

Listeners were fascinated with his style of speaking. In a time when spoken word artists strived to be dramatic, he simply read his works. But the simplicity allowed the meaning of his complex writing to shine through.

In an introduction to the album, Emmett Williams described Burroughs as similar to Mark Twain and apple pie.

Williams was impressed that Burroughs didn't go all out for show.

Burroughs said that was not the point.

"I am a recording instrument," Burroughs said. "I do not presume to impose 'story' 'plot' 'continuity.' … In so far as I succeed in direct recording of certain areas of psychic process I may have limited function. … I am not an entertainer."

Williams said this album allows for fans to connect with Burroughs when otherwise they might not be able.

"I will leave it up to the door-to-door salesmen of this record to pretend that the master's voice is an indispensable key to the arcana of 'The Naked Lunch' and 'Nova Express,'" he said. "But Burroughs reading Burroughs helps."

Burroughs, the author, artist and spoken word entertainer, passed away in 1997, but his works live on.

To listen to "Call Me Burroughs," visit the LaBudde Special Collections' Marr Sound Archive. For more information, go online at http://library.umkc.edu/marr.

alang@unews.com

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