William Burroughs’s Advice for Young People

By on February 14, 2013 in News 8

Before his death, William S. Burroughs offered this bizarre and profane but likely true and wise life advice for the young and optimistic:

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  • http://twitter.com/TedHeistman Ted Heistman

    That was pretty good.

  • Bruteloop

    I had tea with him many, many years ago. He was a gentleman, quiet at first but funny and warm after a while. I had hoped to become his lover but that place was already taken by a pleasantly protective younger man. All in all it was a rather sweet afternoon. A cherished memory.

  • Matt Staggs

    I’d love for you to write something about that for the site.

  • http://www.zoboprepublic.wordpress.com/ zobop republic

    “Never interfere in a boy-girl fight.” Got that right, especially in the ghetto. No, no, no.

  • Thad McKraken

    What’s funny is that I’m hugely influenced by Burroughs but in an incredibly strange way. Obviously, I employ his and Gysin’s cut up technique quite a bit in my art and music and try and tap into the Third Mind as much as I can, buuuuuuut, I honestly don’t like his writing much. Never have. I actually didn’t even make it through the book he did about his dreams because I thought it was incredibly boring. For my money, Henry Miller did what Burroughs did a billion times better but never gets that sort of credit. Miller’s writing alternates between structure and anti-structure effortlessly which is where Burroughs floundered. Nothing he writes sticks in my head because there’s no structure for it to process, so I forget it the second I’m done reading. It creates a cool altered state sort of mood but that’s all it does.

    That being said, Naked Lunch the movie, by David Cronenberg is up there with my all time favorites. He took Burrough’s writing and assembled a narrative regarding his life around it. Total fucking godhead.

  • Juan

    Always good to hear from dear old uncle Bill:)

  • Apathesis

    This is awesome.

  • https://sites.google.com/site/themattprather Matt Prather

    William Burroughs read some Jim Morrison poems for the tribute album “Stoned Immaculate”:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoned_Immaculate:_The_Music_of_The_Doors
    (it’s basically an album for Doors fans with every track being a cover by non-Doors bands and performers)

    You might find uploads of this Burroughs / Morrison hybrid audio creation on YouTube:
    http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=william+burroughs+is+everybody+in