Literary Outlaw

Ted Morgan Literary Outlaw (1988)
Bill was still more or less with us when I first read this, so the re-read seemed about due given the number of his books I've been getting through in recent times. I've absorbed enough to have formed a reasonably accurate impression of the guy's existence, but it's nice to be reminded of all the small print I'd long since forgotten. Literary Outlaw is blessed with a lot of said small print and couldn't be termed a casual read by any description.

As one might expect, Morgan kicks off with a history of Burroughs' lineage, the adding machine which wasn't quite so significant as we have apparently remembered, and a family who remained poorly defined in his fiction out of all proportion to their influence. No attempt is made to paper over the cracks of the man who shot his own wife, or to facilitate the patronage of those who require that their authors tick all the boxes on whichever morally responsible list is doing the rounds this month. Additionally, the author knew Burroughs and makes sparing use of his narrative technique on the grounds of fiction occasionally serving as a more faithful transmission of truth than simple reportage. Some of it is horrible, not least the tragedy of Burroughs' emotionally estranged son, author of Speed and forever doomed to remain a footnote in the life of his father; but it's all part of the general weave and, I would argue, essential for an understanding of the man.

Despite everything, Burroughs comes out of it well - if not someone you could ever have described as cuddly, certainly someone you could respect and a sympathetic figure - which may have surprised some. I don't honestly know whether he was the greatest writer of the twentieth century - assuming such an accolade has any meaning - but there's a fair chance that he may have been, and Literary Outlaw presents as good a supporting argument as you're likely to find.