Ikon-Magazin Special
The William S. Burroughs Files

Last month [August 2002] it was five years ago that writer William S.
Burroughs died [on August 2, 1997 at age 84 of a heart attack].

On this occasion we would like to remind our readers of Burroughs'
legacy as a novelist [author of »Naked Lunch« and some 20 other
novels], but above all as one of the earliest writers to theorize about
new media in fiction and essay.

A contemporary of Marshall McLuhan [who was one of the few cri-
tics to applaud »Naked Lunch« when first published], Burroughs pro-
vided some startling concepts for the analysis of the post-modern
condition, i.e. »reality as a film« [long before Baudrillard's »simulation«
theories], »word as a virus«, »electronic revolution« as a subversive
strategy in politics, »biological mutation« as precondition for »space
travel«, the drug scene as universal metaphor for the mechanics of
advanced capitalism etc. . .

We present our »Burroughs Files« as a network of three interlinked
websites:

The Burroughs Homepage contains a selection of his writings
[about 50 essays and articles by the man, about 20 sections from his
novels, and several interviews plus short descriptions of Burroughs'
major novels].

Zur Homepage
 


The Burroughs Report features a biograph of the Life and Times
of the man in 8 chapters written and narrated by himself.

To Report
 


And the Call Me Burroughs site finally offers about 50 photographs
that illustrate the Life and Times from Burroughs' childhood in St. Louis
to his old age in Lawrence, Kansas.

To Exhibition
 


There is much to see and read here. So take your time . . .  

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