Talk:William S. Burroughs, Jr.

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about time; bravo :D

[edit] List Of Works

There seems to be some missing out of this section, there are even works mentioned in the article which do not appear on it (such as junky).

[edit] Returned?

Returned to Palm Beach? when was he there before? 24.91.43.225 09:05, 8 Jun 2005 (UTC)

His grandparents moved with Billy to Palm Beach, relocating their store, Cobblestone Gardens, to the Florida city when he was an elementary school student. Consequently, he lived in the community for much of his life, departing to Tangiers, New York City (run away) and Kentucky (Lexington Prison)--Mikerussell 2005 June 29 19:17 (UTC)

This wasn't in the article, I'm editing it in, hope you don't mind. 24.91.43.225 3 July 2005 11:41 (UTC)

[edit] Woa there cowboy

Talk about unecessary flourishes :P

Without exaggeration, narcotics were in his blood before birth. His mother was addicted to amphetamines, and his father was a heroin addict. Herbert Huncke, a friend of his parents, relates that when Joan was pregnant he would drive into Houston to obtain an amphetamine inhaled drug called Benzedrine for her. It is both telling, all too obvious, and kind of sad, that her son’s first novel was called Speed, a novel she would never get to read.

I'm not sure you have made a clear point, Ms/r 'P'. The paragraph is included because a person familiar with the subject's life would know he had liver failure at an early age. The undeniable historical fact is his mother was addicted to amphetamines while she was pregnant. In Ted Morgan's biography- partially based on Huncke's eye-witness account- the author states Joan did not receive any prenatal medical care; she just went to the hospital to give birth. Throughout her pregnancy she was daily inhaling large amounts of Benzedrine. There is some valid speculation raised in books about Burroughs' son that his early liver failure at age 28 was partially due to his prenatal exposure to his mother's addiction, which may have weakened his liver in utero. Although his alcohol intake was another contributing factor. As far as his father- let's not keep up the pretenses Burroughs himself was fond of, or felt necessary to produce for interviews and PR agents, that he quit herion in the sixties. Burroughs died on methadone and was a junky for about 50 years. --Mikerussell 05:59, 25 October 2005 (UTC)

I agree that is worth mentioning in this piece that Burroughs Jr was addicted to drugs before he was born - cursed from birth. The fact that his liver gave out at 30 years old is very telling. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 125.26.110.65 (talk) 02:38, 16 November 2007 (UTC)