 First edition | |
| Author | William S. Burroughs |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Viking Press |
Publication date | November 1985 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| ISBN | 0-670-80833-4 |
| OCLC | 12050392 |
| 813/.54 19 | |
| LC Class | PS3552.U75 Q8 1985 |
| Preceded by | Junkie |
Queer is a 1985 novella by American author William S. Burroughs. It is partially a sequel to his 1953 novella Junkie .
The novel begins with the introduction of "Lee", who recounts his life in Mexico City among American expatriate college students and bar owners surviving on part-time jobs and GI Bill benefits. The novel is written in the third person and Burroughs commented in the "Introduction", published in 1985, that it represents him off heroin, whereas in Junkie, his narrator was psychologically "protected" by his addiction. Lee is self-conscious, insecure, and driven to pursue a young man named Allerton, who is based on Adelbert Lewis Marker (1930–1998), a recently discharged American Navy serviceman from Jacksonville, Florida who made friends with Burroughs in Mexico City. [1] [2]
Queer was originally written as an extension of Junkie, which had been judged too short and uninteresting for publication. Burroughs lost interest in the manuscript, and chose not to return to it even after Junkie was accepted. It was doubtful whether much of the content could be published in the United States at that time, since the heavy homosexual content and theme could be held as obscene. Jack Kerouac admired the work and thought it would appeal to "east coast homosexual literary critics". [3] It was eventually published in 1985 with a new Introduction, when Burroughs's literary agent Andrew Wylie secured him a lucrative publishing contract for future novels with Viking. Reportedly, he had not read the manuscript in thirty years because of the emotional trauma it caused him. Much of it was composed while Burroughs was awaiting trial for the allegedly accidental homicide of his common-law wife Joan Vollmer.
The introduction of the 25th Anniversary edition of Queer, published in 2010 and edited by Oliver Harris, who made some small revisions to the text, argued that the novel's real traumatic backstory was Burroughs' real life relationship with Lewis Marker, fictionalised in the narrative as Lee's hopeless desire for Allerton. [4]
Despite his frequent and uncompromising writings on homosexuality, Burroughs has, in the words of Jamie Russell, author of Queer Burroughs, "been totally excluded from the 'queer canon'". [5] According to Russell, Burroughs's life and writing suggests a gay subjectivity which has been deeply troubling to many in the gay community. Burroughs reputedly said in a press interview, in response to a question regarding the gay rights movement, "I have never been gay a day in my life and I’m sure as hell not a part of any movement." (The primary source of this quotation is unclear; it is quoted, second-hand, by narrator Peter Weller in the 2010 documentary feature William S. Burroughs: A Man Within .) [6]
An Erling Wold opera of the same title, based on the novel, premiered in the United States in 2001. [7]
In 2011, Steve Buscemi was set to direct a film adaption of the book. The screenplay was written by Oren Moverman, director and writer of The Messenger . [8] Buscemi led the first reading of Queer at the Sarasota Film Festival with Stanley Tucci, Ben Foster, John Ventimiglia, and Lisa Joyce. [9]
In December 2022, it was announced that Luca Guadagnino would be directing a film adaptation of the novel with Daniel Craig in the lead role. [10] In April 2023, Drew Starkey was cast as Allerton, along with Lesley Manville, Jason Schwartzman and Henry Zaga. [11] The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival, and received a limited release starting November 27, 2024. [12]
William Seward Burroughs II was an American writer and visual artist. He is widely considered a primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodern author who influenced popular culture and literature. Burroughs wrote 18 novels and novellas, six collections of short stories, and four collections of essays. Five books of his interviews and correspondences have also been published. He was initially briefly known by the pen name William Lee. He also collaborated on projects and recordings with numerous performers and musicians, made many appearances in films, and created and exhibited thousands of visual artworks, including his celebrated "shotgun art".
Naked Lunch is a 1959 antinovel by American author William S. Burroughs. The antinovel does not follow a clear linear plot, but is instead structured as a series of non-chronological "routines". Many of these routines follow William Lee, an opioid addict who travels to the surreal city of Interzone and begins working for the organization "Islam Inc."
Naked Lunch is a 1991 surrealist science fiction drama film written and directed by David Cronenberg and starring Peter Weller, Judy Davis, Ian Holm, and Roy Scheider. It is an adaptation of William S. Burroughs's 1959 novel Naked Lunch, and an international co-production of Canada, Britain, and Japan.
Nova Express is a 1964 novel by American author William S. Burroughs. It was written using the 'fold-in' method, a version of the cut-up method, developed by Burroughs with Brion Gysin, of enfolding snippets of different texts into the novel. It is part of The Nova Trilogy, or "Cut-Up Trilogy', together with The Soft Machine and The Ticket That Exploded. Burroughs considered the trilogy a "sequel" or "mathematical" continuation of Naked Lunch.
Joan Vollmer was an influential participant in the early Beat Generation circle. While a student at Barnard College, she became the roommate of Edie Parker. Their apartment became a gathering place for the Beats during the 1940s, where Vollmer was often at the center of marathon, all-night discussions. In 1946, she began a relationship with William S. Burroughs, later becoming his common-law wife. In 1951, Burroughs killed Vollmer. He claimed, and shortly thereafter denied, the killing was a drunken attempt at playing William Tell.
Junkie: Confessions of an Unredeemed Drug Addict, or Junky, is a 1953 novel by American Beat generation writer William S. Burroughs. The book follows "William Lee" as he struggles with his addiction to morphine and heroin. Burroughs based the story on his own experiences with drugs, and he published it under the pen name William Lee. Some critics view the character William Lee as simply Burroughs himself; in this reading, Junkie is a largely-autobiographical memoir. Others view Lee as a fictional character based on the author.
Desolation Angels is a semi-autobiographical novel written by Beat Generation author Jack Kerouac, which makes up part of his Duluoz Legend. It was published in 1965, but was written years earlier, around the time On the Road was in the process of publication. The events described in the novel take place from 1956-1957. Much of the psychological struggle which the novel's protagonist, Jack Duluoz, undergoes in the novel reflects Kerouac's own increasing disenchantment with the Buddhist philosophy. Throughout the novel, Kerouac discusses his disenchantment with fame, and complicated feelings towards the Beat Generation. He also discusses his relationship with his mother and his friends such as Allen Ginsberg, Neal Cassady, Lucienn Carr and William S. Burroughs. The novel is also notable for being a relatively positive portrayal of homosexuality and homosexual characters, despite its use of words that were at the time considered homophobic slurs.
And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks is a novel by Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs. It was written in 1945, a full decade before the two authors became famous as leading figures of the Beat Generation, and remained unpublished in complete form until 2008.
The Wild Boys: A Book of the Dead is a novel by William S. Burroughs. It was first published in 1971 by Grove Press. It depicts a homosexual youth movement whose objective is the downfall of western civilization, set in an apocalyptic late twentieth century.
Oliver C. G. Harris is a British academic and Professor of American Literature at Keele University. He is the author and editor of eighteen books, including a dozen editions of works by William S. Burroughs: Letters, 1945–1959 (1993), Junky: the definitive text of Junk (2003), The Yage Letters Redux (2006), Queer (2010), The Cut-Up Trilogy, The Soft Machine, Nova Express, and The Ticket That Exploded (2014), Blade Runner: A Movie (2019), Minutes to Go Redux (2020), The Exterminator Redux (2020), BATTLE INSTRUCTIONS (2020) and Dead Fingers Talk (2020). In 2022, he published two short books of essays, A Burroughs Triptych and Making Naked Lunch and in 2023 a collaborative hybrid of criticism and memoir, Two Assassins: William Burroughs/Hassan Sabbah. He is President of the European Beat Studies Network. He served as a consultant to Luca Guadagnino for his 2024 film Queer, based on the Burroughs novel. In 2024, he published a second hybrid of memoir and scholarship, One Shot: A Beat Generation Mystery.
Beat is a 2000 American biographical drama film written and directed by Gary Walkow, and starring Courtney Love, Kiefer Sutherland, Norman Reedus, and Ron Livingston. The film focuses primarily on the last several weeks of writer Joan Vollmer's life in 1951 Mexico City, leading up to her accidental killing by her husband, the writer William S. Burroughs. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2000 and was entered into the 22nd Moscow International Film Festival.
Daniel Wroughton Craig is an English actor. He gained international fame by playing the fictional secret agent James Bond for five installments in the film series: Casino Royale (2006), Quantum of Solace (2008), Skyfall (2012), Spectre (2015), and No Time to Die (2021).
This is a bibliography of the works of William S. Burroughs.
Luca Guadagnino is an Italian film director and producer. His films are characterized by their emotional complexity, eroticism, and lavish visuals. Guadagnino has received numerous accolades, including a Silver Lion, alongside nominations for an Academy Award and three BAFTA Awards.
Andrew Gerhardt Droege is an American actor, comedian, writer, and director best known for his online impressions of Chloë Sevigny.
Joseph Andrew Starkey is an American actor. He began his career with supporting roles in the teen drama films Love, Simon and The Hate U Give. He gained recognition for his portrayal of troubled teenager Rafe Cameron in the Netflix adventure series Outer Banks (2020−present), and has since starred in Luca Guadagnino's romantic drama film Queer (2024).
Haldon Chase (1923–2006) was an American archaeologist known for his research on several rock art sites in Colorado. Outside of archaeology, he was best known as part of the earliest Beat circle and inspiration for several characters in the novels of Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs.
Justin Kuritzkes is an American playwright, novelist, and screenwriter best known for writing the scripts for two of Luca Guadagnino's films, Challengers and Queer. He has also been the subject of media coverage because of his activities on YouTube, such as the 2011 video "Potion Seller".
Queer is a 2024 period romantic drama film directed by Luca Guadagnino from a screenplay by Justin Kuritzkes, based on the 1985 novella by William S. Burroughs. Set in 1950s Mexico City, the film follows an outcast American immigrant who becomes infatuated with a younger man. Jason Schwartzman, Henry Zaga, Omar Apollo, and Lesley Manville also star.
The following is a list of unproduced Luca Guadagnino projects in roughly chronological order.