Queer

Written in 1952 but not published until 1985 due to its outspoken depiction of homosexual desire, Queer is an enigma - both an unflinching autobiographical self-portrait, and a coruscatingly political novel. It is Burroughs' only realist love story, and a montage of comic-grotesque fantasies that paved the way for his masterpiece Naked Lunch. Set in Mexico City during the early 50s, it 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, the trademark voice of the author emerges - a maniacal mix of self-lacerating humour and the Ugly American at its ugliest. 'He had aged without experience of life, like a piece of meat rotting on a pantry shelf.' 'There is in fact something obscene and sinister about photography, a desire to imprison, to incorporate, a sexual intensity of pursuit.' William Seward Burroughs was a primary figure of the American Beat Generation and one of the most politically trenchant, culturally influential artists of the 20th century born into a wealthy family in St. Louis, Missouri.