The sometimes raunchy, often legally dubious New York and Mexican exploits of William S. Burroughs, one of the godfathers of the "Beat" generation, are well known. Less familiar are his experiences in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of South Texas, where for several years he was a cotton farmer (while avoiding the law in New York). This intriguing chapter in the famous author's life is thoroughly recounted for the first time in Rob Johnson's new book. From 1946 to 1949, Bill Burroughs prepared himself for the writing of his first books by, among other pursuits, raising marijuana and opium poppies and entertaining Beat visitors such as Allen Ginsberg and Neal Cassady at his farm in New Waverly, Texas. Less known, though, are stories about his other farm, a "serious" fifty-acre spread, in the Valley near Edinburg, described in the 1977 edition of "Junky". Here, he raised legal crops such as cotton, carrots, and peas. Other Beat writers move casually in and out of the narrative, which includes the "William Tell" episode in Mexico in which Burroughs fatally shot his wife, who had placed a drink glass on her head as a target.
- ISBN10 1585445177
- ISBN13 9781585445172
- Publish Date 1 August 2006 (first published 30 May 2006)
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 10 February 2015
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Texas A & M University Press
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 216
- Language English