William S. Burroughs: A Man Within Page #2

Usually the most radical work

tends to come from

the upper classes...

because they're trying so hard

to shock, so hard to get away

from their roots.

So he's a fascinating character,

uniquely American

in that regard.

I don't think that work

could have existed...

had he not been breaking away

from an incredibly patrician,

Midwestern background.

There was no rebellion

in those days.

Well, certainly not

in our strata.

Or very little that I saw.

There might have been

isolated cases.

But by and large,

they were in a good spot.

Their families

were in a good spot,

and the sons wanted to just

go along exactly the same way.

"Thanks for the K.K.K."

For n*gger-killing lawmen

feeding their notches.

For decent, churchgoing women...

with their mean, pinched,

bitter, evil faces.

Thanks for 'Kill a Queer

for Christ' stickers.

Thanks for laboratory AIDS.

Thanks for Prohibition...

and the war against drugs.

Thanks for a country

where nobody is allowed

to mind his own business.

Thanks for a nation of finks.

Yes, thanks for

all the memories.

All right, let's see your arms.

You always were a headache

and you always were a bore.

Thanks for the last

and greatest betrayal...

of the last and greatest...

"of human dreams."

Burroughs achieved

a great deal more...

than being arguably the greatest

writer in the world...

in the second half

of the 20th century,

because he did break down

so many barriers.

And he did play into

and influence...

so many other fields,

like rock and roll,

like the movies.

Well, William seemed to have

a connection with anything

and everything.

You know, you see a movie

like Blade Runner,

and then you find the phrase

"blade runner" came from him.

The term "heavy metal"

is attributed to him.

"Soft machine."

You know, there's so many

phrases, names of groups that

come from William's work.

He's like another kind of Bible.

[ Victor Bockris ]

He's a great pioneer of

the gay liberation movement,

or the whole position,

standing of gay people

around the world really now.

Where'd you learn about sex

originally, from friends?

Books.

Books? Yes.

The book called The Plastic Age

by Percy Marks was sort of

a daring book for the '20s.

Mm-hmm.

And The Green Hat

and Coming of Age in Samoa.

Mm-hmm.

This is the '20s

I'm talking about,

which is a very different era.

[ Bockris ]

Burroughs once said to me,

"If one man stands up

and, you know, rejects..."

the bullshit of society,

"it makes it possible for

everyone else to follow on."

And he was that man

to some extent.

And here is Reverend Braswell

in the Denver Post...

"Homosexuality is

an abomination to God..."

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