The New York
Public Library has acquired the archives of queer Beat
writer William Burroughs for an undisclosed sum, reports
Agence France-Presse. The archive, previously
inaccessible to the public, includes draft versions of
his acclaimed novel Naked Lunch, as well manuscripts
and correspondence from the early 1950s to the early
1970s, Burroughs's most prolific period. The
items will join the archive of Jack Kerouac as part of
the library's Beat-related Berg Collection.
"Not only
was Burroughs one of the three progenitors of the Beat
movement...but he may also be regarded as one of
20th-century America's great satirists,
fiercely sinister and corrosive," Isaac Gewirtz,
curator of the Berg Collection, told AFP.
The gay-owned
Beat Hotel in Desert Hot Springs, Calif., operated by
longtime Burroughs collaborator Steve Lowe, also has a
sizeable collection of Beat memorabilia, including a
number of original photos and artworks by Burroughs.
(Advocate.com)