William S. Burroughs

[E.A Rumfield]

So dude was a pederast? Honestly I never liked him or Kerouac, didn't finish On The Road. I'd have to put Burroughs, Kerouac and Capote down as the three worst writers I've had the displeasure of reading. When people tell me On The Road is a classic I can't help but laugh. It's not even a cool novel, Kerouac is a whiny little baby. Capote wrote for the money and Burroughs thought he was in ancient Athens. Just for ****s mention at least none of them are as bad as Andy Warhol.

[cafolini]

So dude was a pederast? Honestly I never liked him or Kerouac, didn't finish On The Road. I'd have to put Burroughs, Kerouac and Capote down as the three worst writers I've had the displeasure of reading. When people tell me On The Road is a classic I can't help but laugh. It's not even a cool novel, Kerouac is a whiny little baby. Capote wrote for the money and Burroughs thought he was in ancient Athens. Just for ****s mention at least none of them are as bad as Andy Warhol.

Sweeping generalizations inflated with ignorance about the history of music and the thought of more than half a century, which still endures.

[E.A Rumfield]

Sweeping generalizations inflated with ignorance about the history of music and the thought of more than half a century, which still endures.

What do any of them have to do with music? Kerouac was no Charlie Parker as far as I know and he didn't really have any revolutionary ideas. For years novels have been written about a young mans travels into the physical and spiritual frontier Kerouac just managed to make it inane. He was a burnt out drunk strung out on Benzedrine. Warhol made stupid doodles for The Velvet Underground. A ****ing banana come on! And this guy is the foremost artist of the last 60 years? Some capitalist feigning talent in a leather jacket. He produced (what does produced mean besides the fact that he funded them) the band but Lou Reed is an idiot John Cale was a far better musician and there were far better acts than VU. Warhol was a hack. Capote is just as bad with his stupid little murder novels. In my opinion they both saw their environments as something that could be capitalized on for personal gain.

[bIGwIRE]

EA, you seem really upset about your discovery. You're right, though, Beat gen lit really isn't that good, but I wouldn't say its the worst. Kerouac's Desolation Angels has some really beautiful writing, especially the parts written with Burroughs in Mexico. Not a classic, sure, but worth reading.
As far as Burroughs being a pederast, that doesn't scratch the surface of that miserable miscreant.(ya, I've been watching Looney Tunes with my kids) haha. He may not be the best artist, but at being a despicable human being he was a class apart.
The beat gen were an interesting bunch of slackers, anyway. Some of the poets I like, Corso and such.
Honestly, this thread has been on here before with the same rants.

[E.A Rumfield]

EA, you seem really upset about your discovery. You're right, though, Beat gen lit really isn't that good, but I wouldn't say its the worst. Kerouac's Desolation Angels has some really beautiful writing, especially the parts written with Burroughs in Mexico. Not a classic, sure, but worth reading.
As far as Burroughs being a pederast, that doesn't scratch the surface of that miserable miscreant.(ya, I've been watching Looney Tunes with my kids) haha. He may not be the best artist, but at being a despicable human being he was a class apart.
The beat gen were an interesting bunch of slackers, anyway. Some of the poets I like, Corso and such.
Honestly, this thread has been on here before with the same rants.

I was arguing with someone who knows nothing about art about how Warhol was a hack. This guys telling me about the Campbells thing. I know stupid kids like yea I'm reading On The Road its a great book I'm like 20 pages in. Ferlinghetti is a good poet. So is Gary Synder. The beats weren't all bad but yea I don't know why a pederast is idolized. While it may not be legally wrong it is certainly morally wrong. I'm twenty and I probably wouldn't sleep with a 16 year old girl. The only reason I can think of why a group man or women would want to sleep with a 16 boy or girl is for the power.

[OrphanPip]

I don't get why Capote is involved though. Why would it matter if Capote wrote for money? Capote was a pretty standard mainstream writer, he was part of the popular magazine publishing circle, with magazines like Esquire, along with writers like Mailer.

Even including Warhol is a stretch since the Factory scene is not quite the same as the Beats. Also, no one considers Warhol the foremost artist of the last 60 years.

I'm also not sure why Burroughs' sexual activity with 15-17 year old prostitutes is relevant to the quality of his writing, which I'm rather indifferent to. I think it's silly to say someone would only sleep with a 16 year old for power, it's far more likely they want to sleep with a 16 year old because they find them attractive.

[E.A Rumfield]

I mean I was bored. I dislike Warhol and I have this book entitled the 71 greatest short stories and Capote is in it.

[bIGwIRE]

Burroughs was a heroin addict who shot his wife and ran to South America. He raped little kids(at least where I live it would be rape) all while living off an allowance from mom and dad. Everyone loves a bad boy, but wow...

I'm not convinced people "idolize" him as much as he is so repulsive they have to take a look. It's like driving past a car accident, you can't help yourself, you have to peak. I haven't read anything like his Nova series anywhere else. It wasn't a pleasant read, more like weird and interesting, to be in the mind of a guy tripping on heroin.

[bIGwIRE]

Ya EA, I like Synder, too. His translation of Hanshan's cold mountain poems are "real awesome also."

[Desolation]

I have a soft spot for the Beats, especially Kerouac and Ginsberg. I loved them so much in high school that it doesn't really matter that I don't like them very much now.

As for Burroughs...Disgusting human being, truly. Which is a shame, because he's easily the most innovative and talented of the classic Beat group. I can't look past his love of of little boys, his neglect of his son, or the shooting of his wife enough to actually enjoy anything he's ever written, though.

[Alexander III]

I never quite figured out why the fact that Caravaggio pedaled pedophiliac pornography to members of the clergy; should somehow demean his painting of Jesus being taken to his crucifixion.

Yet, then again, I cannot bear to read anything by Oscar Wilde. He was a homosexual, and that makes everything he wrote disgusting for an honest gentleman.