Wow! No-one's mentioned Hunter S Thompson yet!

Oh, hang on... I have.

here here, quite right.

I never got beyond about a third of Underworld. The opening chapter at the baseball game is amazing but after that ... left me cold.

I think it's fair to say that (at least in terms of style) Burroughs wasn't the first at most of what he did. He's often discussed as a pinnacle of postmodernist writing, which sort of celebrates that anyway. However, I think he's best looked at as a sci-fi author that, along with P.K.D. and J.G. Ballard, managed to transform the genre in such a way that allowed it to ultimately transcend its origins.

It doesn't really make a lot of sense, no. Reading Ghostwritten and Cloud Atlas just reminded me of Pynchon for some reason...only not as good.

Wirginia Woolf (or at least To the lighthouse, I really hated it, I found it utterly boring).
I also hated Dickens' Great expectations (but maybe that's too English for me to get into it).

I'd have to add Huncke and Trocchi to your list..

the poster who talked about how Shakespeare balked at poetry as sunbeams and rainbows - I think Burroughs did the same thing in the 50's. It was all country clubs and daisies then

Agree about Trocchi. Not sure I've heard of Huncke though - one to check out.

Huncke was THE Original Beat! he introduced Burroughs to narcotics and was a fixture on the Times Square hustle scene...an unrepetant junkie he was getting high up until he died. Jerry Garcia helped him out at the end. there are basically 2 books he left us with, a collected works and an autobiography, very careful, clear style.

Would it be fair to say Great Expectations wasn't what you hoped for?

He bores me to tears.

yes he may best be looked that way but not here-- i mean here (on the sonic youth board) you'd think the man single-handedly invented language, or something. mostly everybody here who's into constantly getting high has appointed burroughs as their literary superstar... with hunter s. thompson as a close 2nd. hence my choice for over-rated.

I agree Hunter S. Thompson is rather boring. I like his content and I like what he's done, what he stood for, and what he tried to relay to the public. However, I've been trying to read "the rum diary" for over a year now. Just can't get into it.

!@#$%!, you are making my impressionable mind think that the sonic youth
board is a william burroughs board. where do you see this affinity for
burroughs? :confused:

Lack of imagination.

Matthew, John, Luke, Paul, et al... Man, they screwed up the Good Book royally.

every time there's been a poll asking about favorite writers you get maybe 50% of respondents going "burroughs maaaaaaaan...." now, im not sure all who claim this have actually read him, but yes, he's pretty popular.

Burroughs is disturbing. Who wants to read about people's assholes talking to them or sex with young men?

and William Gibson and P. K. Dick finishing strongly in 3rd and 4th place.

i like gibson, i really do, he does alter my perception, and did something important in science fiction, but in absolute terms he can't hold a candle to kafka or garcia marquez--just to pull a couple of names at random.

pk dick had a wonderful imagination, but his prose suffered for reasons we all know.

I like Ernest Hemingway.

I think Burroughs is great but I didn't realize there is a major
Burroughs fanbase here. That kind of changes my attitude to the board.

I still say Penguin Group is the most overrated author, though.

I actually love his writing style. the lapses in clarity seem to mirror the chaos of his themes perfectly. Thomas Disch is another one like that (surely one of the must UNDERrated sci-fi writers). The writing in Camp Concentration actually makes you almost as paranoid as its characters.

If you fancy getting a evening of boredom, just ask me about Wm. Burroughs and I'll waffle on until the cows come home. Philip K Dick's books are excellent, but not at all easy to read. Agree w/demonraill666 about T Disch.

I didn't really like Moby Dick that much. I got confused by it and kept drifting off when I tried to read it. I cannot recall very much in the middle parts.