Queer: A Novel
by William S. Burroughs
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Book Summary Information
Author: William S. BurroughsEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1987-01-06
ISBN: 0140083898
Number of pages: 160
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Book Reviews of Queer: A Novel
Book Review: tragedy of a drifter
Summary: 5 Stars
A book of unreciprocated feelings, and longings amplified by withdrawel and junk sickness. This is a much more intimate and personal look into the life of William Burroughs than his other stuff. It takes place after he accidentally killed his wife, and he is sobering up and facing all of the demons and guilt previously dulled by the drugs.
This book was banned for a long time, the homosexual relationships and longings aren't grotesque exaggerations with shock value in mind like some of his other stories, they are very human and almost universal innocent boyish longings for affection.
He develops these "routines", funny stories he uses that show off his sarcasm and absurd sense of humor when he wants the attention of the room. All of the stories are hilarious and really show off his talent as a writer, but the people around him generally could care less or they just don't get it. So he is trapped always in a foreign land suspicious of everyone searching endlessly for islands of sanctuary.
Burroughs claims in the introduction that just reading the words and putting it down is very painful for him, but he did it so that he could move forward. A very intense time in the life of a brilliant and fascinating character.
Summary of Queer: A Novel
For more than three decades, while its writer's world fame increased, Queer remained unpublished because of its forthright depiction of homosexual longings. Set in the corrupt and spectral Mexico City of the forties, Queer is the story of William Lee, a man afflicted with both acute heroin withdrawal and romantic and sexual yearnings for an indifferent user named Eugene Allerton. The narrative is punctuated by Lee's outrageous "routines" ? brilliant comic monologues that foreshadow Naked Lunch ?yet the atmosphere is heavy with foreboding.
In his extraordinary introduction, Burroughs reflects on the shattering events in his life that lay behind this work.
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