Queer

'Queer is a major work, Burroughs's heart laid bare' Allen Ginsberg

Originally written in 1952 but not published till 1985 due to its outspoken depiction of homosexual desire, Queer is an unflinching autobiographical self-portrait and a coruscating political novel, Burroughs's only realist love story and a comic-grotesque fantasy that paved the way for his masterpiece, Naked Lunch.

Set in Mexico City during the early fifties, Queer follows William Lee's hopeless pursuit of an apathetic young man called Eugene Allerton from bar to bar in the American expat scene. As Lee breaks down, Burroughs's trademark voice emerges; a maniacal mix of self-lacerating humour and the Ugly American at his ugliest. A haunting tale of possession and exorcism, Queer is also a novel with a history of secrets, as this new edition reveals.

The definitive 25th anniversary edition of Burroughs's legendary second novel

About The Author

William S. Burroughs was born on February 5, 1914 in St Louis. In work and in life Burroughs expressed a constant subversion of the morality, politics and economics of modern America. To escape these, and in particular his treatment as a homosexual and a drug-user, Burroughs left the US in 1950, and soon after began writing. By the time of his death he was widely recognised as one of the most politically trenchant, culturally influential, and innovative artists of the twentieth century. His numerous books include Naked Lunch, Junky, Queer, Nova Express, Interzone, and The Wild Boys. After living in Mexico City, Tangier, Paris, and London, Burroughs finally returned to America in 1974. He died in 1997. Oliver Harris edited The Letters of William S. Burroughs, 1945-1959 and Penguin's fiftieth anniversary edition of Junky.