About the Author

William S. Burroughs (1914-1997)--guru of the Beat Generation, controversial eminence grise of the international avant-garde, dark prophet, and blackest of black humor satirists--had a range of influence rivaled by few post-World War II writers. His many books include Naked Lunch, Queer, Exterminator!, The Cat Inside, The Western Lands, and Interzone.

Oliver Harris edited The Letters of William S. Burroughs 1945-1959. He is currently a lecturer in American Literature at the University of Keele.