08-03-1997
DANIEL ZWERDLING, HOST: One of the most provocative, vilified, deified
American writers has died.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP OF WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS, WRITER, READING HIS WORK)
WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS, WRITER: "Down in the dim gray wards and day
rooms where the do-wrongs hawk and spit and ****ver and vomit, Croker
(ph) wouldn't give me goop ball. "He asked me what the American flag
means to me. And I told him soak it in heroin and I'll suck it."
ZWERDLING: William Burroughs, the author of "****d Lunch," a work
about his life as a heroin addict, the man who helped shaped the
generation of Beat writers, such as Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac,
the rebel who was descended from Confederate leader Robert E. Lee,
William Burroughs died yesterday of a heart attack, at the age of 83.
Some critics hailed Burroughs as a genius. Others called his works
obscene garbage. In fact, "****d Lunch" became the subject of a
landmark court ruling on obscenity in 1962, overturning earlier court
decisions that banned its sale in the United States.
One of Burroughs's friends and editors said his death yesterday came
as a surprise because he seemed to be in good health. Although when
you read about his lifestyle, you might be surprised that Burroughs
managed to survive for so long.
Burroughs lived much of his life as a drug addict, and seemed almost
proud of it. He focused on his addiction in his writing. Here is
Burroughs reading an excerpt from his work at a Wa****ngton night club
in 1981.
BURROUGHS: "This is a scrap of folklore from the federal narcotics
hospital at Lexington, Kentucky. There is an exclusive wing of
Lexington reserved from the do-rights, who are considered good
rehabilitation prospects. They get better rooms and more medication.
"The doctor walks into the ward and says, "It's rather warm in here."
As one man the do-rights break out in a sweat and rush around opening
windows. ""Cold in here, isn't it?" "Immediate the do-rights see their
breath in the air, snatch blankets and bundle themselves up to a
chorus of chattering teeth.
Doctor, when I die I want to be buried right in the same coffin with
you.
"You're the finest, most decent, most deeply humane man I've ever
known. Put me down for additional medication, son." ZWERDLING: And of
all of Burroughs's real life nightmares, the legendary Mexico City
incident was the worst. One day in 1951, Burroughs passed the hours
has he often did in his early years, drinking and shooting drugs. And
then he tried to shoot a glass off the top of his wife's head,
apparently trying to duplicate the mythical feat of William Tell and
the apple.
Instead, Burroughs shot his wife in the forehead and killed her.
He was charged with involuntary manslaughter, but fled the country and
never went to jail. He later said that the incident made him a serious
writer.
Burroughs experimented with writing techniques to shake up the
language. He would literally cut sentences and words out of newspaper
articles and other material, and then paste them back together in new
patterns, with Burroughs said revealed new meanings.
In the 1970s, a younger generation of writers and musicians and
performance artists borrowed his ideas and expanded on them, people
like Patti Smith, Lou Reed, and Laurie Anderson.
Anderson, for instance, recorded Burroughs speaking, then physically
attached the recording tape to a violin bow, and ran the bow along a
special violin equipped with a playback head.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP OF LAURIE ANDERSON USING VIOLIN TO PLAY SOUNDS OF
WILLIAM BURROUGHS' VOICE) VOICE OF BURROUGHS: Listen, listen, listen,
listen, listen to, listen, listen, listen to my heartbeat.
ZWERDLING: William Burroughs sort of mellowed in recent years.
He wrote more straightforward works, gave readings on the hip TV show
"Saturday Night Live," and appeared in mainstream films, such as "Drug
Store Cowboy" and "Twister." William Burroughs died yesterday in
Lawrence, Kansas. He was 83 years old.
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