WRITERS UNDER THE INFLUENCE: William S. Burroughs, Hubert Selby Jr. & Heroin (Ch 3)

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William (Bill) S. Burroughs, author of Naked Lunch, and Hubert Selby Jr. (A.K.A Cubby), author of Requiem for a Dream, lived improbably long lives considering the damage they inflicted on their bodies via heroin addiction. As the rest of America gloried in the post-WW2 period of prosperity, comfort and conformity, Bill and Cubby explored the ghettos, underpasses and fringes of society, looking for the forgotten people—those cast off and dismissed as unworthy of the so-called American Dream. They were interested in the stories of the homosexuals, drag queens, sex workers, junkies, drunks and hustlers. Unlike the unlucky rest of us, Bill and Cubby became more relevant and cooler as they got older. Their radical subject matter and writing styles drew in new generations of fans and attracted notable figures from other creative fields; Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain idolised Bill, while Cubby counted among his fans punk personality Henry Rollins and Red Hot Chilli Peppers frontman Anthony Kiedis.

CREDITS -
This episode was written and narrated by Key Whiskey. Special thanks to Jarryd Doyle for editing the audio and voicing Allen Ginsberg, Ken Kesey, and other voices featured throughout.

William S. Burroughs 1914-1997

Hubert Selby Jr. 1928-2004

READ -
Now you know the writers, get to know the writing…

William S. Burroughs
Junkie (1953); Naked Lunch (1959); Cities of the Red Night (1981); The Place of Dead Roads (1983); The Western Lands (1987); Queer (1985).

Hubert Selby Jr.
Last Exit to Brookyln (1964); The Room (1971); The Demon (1976); Requiem for a Dream (1978); Song of the Silent Snow (1986); The Willow Tree (1998).

WATCH -
Too lazy to read? Here are the film adaptations…

William S. Burroughs
Naked Lunch (1991) - starring Peter Weller.

Hubert Selby Jr.
Last Exit to Brooklyn (1989) - starring Jennifer Jason Leigh; Requiem for a Dream (2000) - starring Ellen Burstyn.

SOURCES -

Heroin
Darke, Shane. ‘High mortality among heroin users - what can we do to reduce the years of life lost?’. National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, UNSW Sydney, 31 Mar. 2016, https://ndarc.med.unsw.edu.au/blog/high-mortality-among-heroin-users-what-we-can-do-reduce-years-life-lost.

Dizon, Jan. ‘Your addiction is costing you your life’. Tech Times, 17 Oct. 2014, https://www.techtimes.com/articles/18014/20141017/addiction-costing-money-life-infographics.htm.

’Heroin Addiction’. Beacon House, https://www.beaconhouse.org/what-we-treat/drug-abuse-treatment/heroin-addiction/.

’Heroin, Morphine and Opiates’. History, 12 Jun. 2017, https://www.history.com/topics/crime/history-of-heroin-morphine-and-opiates.

’History of Heroin’. Narconon, https://www.narconon.org/drug-information/heroin-history.html.

Secorun Palet, Laura. ‘The Deadly Drug That Used to Be a Popular Medicine’. OZY, 22 Jul. 2015, https://www.ozy.com/flashback/the-deadly-drug-that-used-to-be-a-popular-medicine/39174/.

William S. Burroughs
Anderson, David Joshua. ‘Los Alamos Ranch and the Manhattan Project’. New Mexico History, 29 Oct. 2013, http://newmexicohistory.org/2013/10/29/los-alamos-ranch-and-the-manhattan-project/.

Asher, Levi. ‘William Burroughs’. The American Museum of Beat Art, http://www.beatmuseum.org/burroughs/williamsburroughs.html.

Baker, Phil. William S. Burroughs, Reaktion Books, London, 2010.

Birmingham, Jed. ‘William Burroughs and the William Tell Legend’. Reality Studio, 23 Nov. 2009, https://realitystudio.org/bibliographic-bunker/william-burroughs-and-the-william-tell-legend/.

Burroughs, William. ‘I have learned the junk equation. Junk is not a kick. It is a way of life’. Independent, 7 Apr. 1998, https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/i-have-learned-the-junk-equation-junk-is-not-a-kick-it-is-a-way-of-life-1154940.html.

Campbell, James. ‘The first cut-up’. The Guardian, 9 May 1999, https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/1999/may/09/featuresreview.review5.

Cauthon, Phil. ‘The Life of William S. Burroughs’. Lawrence, 30 Jul. 2007, http://www.lawrence.com/news/2007/jul/30/timeline/.

Conrad, Peter. ‘Call Me Burroughs: A Life by Barry Miles - review’, The Guardian, 9 Feb. 2014, https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/feb/09/call-me-burroughs-a-life-barry-miles-review.

Cosgrove, Ben. ‘William S. Burroughs At 100: Rebel, Junkie, Exile, Genius’. Time, 4 Feb. 2014, https://web.archive.org/web/20170223224835/http://time.com/3878907/william-s-burroughs-naked-lunch-author-100th-birthday/.

Gargan, William M. ‘Selby, Hubert, Jr.’ Encyclopedia.com, 14 Apr. 2020, https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/selby-hubert-jr-0.

Hancock, Michael. ‘Burroughs Adding Machine Co. - History’. X Number, http://www.xnumber.com/xnumber/hancock7.htm.

Henderson, Jane. ‘Wife’s shooting death haunted Burroughs, says new bio’. St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 1 Feb. 2014, https://www.stltoday.com/entertainment/books-and-literature/reviews/wife-s-shooting-death-haunted-burroughs-says-new-bio/article_db12616a-ea5c-55d0-931d-4170459afe0e.html.

Masters, Kim. ‘Smack Dabbling’. The Washington Post, 1 May 1994, https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/1994/05/01/smack-dabbling/5c0a3b58-8bfd-4b2a-9be4-a486772fe9e3/.

McLellan, Dennis. ‘Hubert Selby Jr., 75; Wrote Existential Novels’. Los Angeles Times, 28 Apr. 2004, https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-apr-28-me-selby28-story.html.

Miles, Barry. Allen Ginsberg: Beat Poet. Viking, London, 1989.

Miles, Barry. William S. Burroughs: A Life. Hachette, London, 2014.

Nelson, Bryce. ‘Bellevue Psychiatric: Tales of Despair’. The New York Times, 20 Sep. 1983, https://www.nytimes.com/1983/09/20/science/bellevue-psychiatric-tales-of-despair.html.

’Remembering when Kurt Cobain met his idol William Burroughs’. Far Out Magazine, 9 May 2018, https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/remembering-when-kurt-cobain-met-his-idol-william-burroughs/.

Schjeldahl, Peter. ‘William S. Burroughs, Outlaw and Beat’. The New Yorker, 27 Jan. 2014, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/02/03/the-outlaw.

Self, Will. ‘William Burroughs - the original junkie’. The Guardian, 1 Feb. 2014, https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/feb/01/william-burroughs-junky-will-self.

Severo, Richard. ‘William S. Burroughs Dies at 83; Member of the Beat Generation Wrote “Naked Lunch”’. The New York Times, 3 Aug. 1997, https://www.nytimes.com/1997/08/03/nyregion/william-s-burroughs-dies-at-83-member-of-the-beat-generation-wrote-naked-lunch.html.

Watson, Steven. ‘Beat Bios: William S. Burroughs’. Waiting For The Sun, 1998, http://archives.waiting-forthe-sun.net/Pages/ArtisticInfluences/Beats/BeatBios/burroughs_bio.html.

Watson, Steven. ‘Joan Vollmer Adams Burroughs’. Waiting For The Sun, 1998, http://archives.waiting-forthe-sun.net/Pages/ArtisticInfluences/Beats/BeatBios/vollmer_bio.html.

O’Donnell, Patrick & Madden, David W., et. al., editors. Encyclopedia of Twentieth-Century Fiction, Three Volume Set, Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, 2011, pp. 819-820.

’William S. Burroughs’. Biography, 2 Apr. 2014, https://www.biography.com/writer/william-s-burroughs.

’William S. Burroughs’. NNDB, https://www.nndb.com/people/096/000030006/.

William S. Burroughs meeting Kurt Cobain, October 1993

Hubert Selby Jr.
Ailworth, Erin. ‘“Requiem” Author Gets an Offbeat Farewell’. Los Angeles Times, 8 May 2004, https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-may-08-me-selby8-story.html.

Barker, Dennis. ‘Last Exit to Brooklyn is ruled not obscene by court of appeal’. The Guardian, 1 Aug. 1968, https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/aug/01/last-exit-to-brooklyn-hubert-selby-appeal-1968.

Brick, Carlton. ‘Hubert Selby Jr’s war on God’. Spiked, 30 May 2018, https://www.spiked-online.com/2018/05/30/hubert-selby-jrs-war-on-god/.

Calcutt, Andrew & Shephard, Richard. Cult Fiction: A Reader’s Guide, Prion Books, London, 1999.

Dean, Michael W., director. ‘Hubert Selby Jr: It/ll Be Better Tomorrow’. YouTube, 22 Feb. 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvDJNEcUxfs.

Giles, James R. Understanding Hubert Selby, Jr, University of South Carolina Press, Columbia, 1998.

Gross, Terry, host. ‘Novelist Hubert Selby, Jr.’. Fresh Air, National Public Radio, aired 4 May 1990, https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1854952.

Guttridge, Peter. ‘Hubert Selby Jnr’. The Independent, 28 Apr. 2004, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/hubert-selby-jnr-549834.html.

Hamilton, Denise. ‘From the Shadows, a Legend Reappears: Mainstream Recognition Catches Up With “Last Exit to Brooklyn” Author Selby Once Again’. Los Angeles Times, 11 Mar. 1988, https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-03-11-vw-1247-story.html.

Hart, Hugh. ‘Hubert Selby Attracts A New Generation Of Readers’. Chicago Tribune, 3 May 1992, https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1992-05-03-9202090174-story.html.

Hodgkinson, Will. ‘Culture Quake: Last Exit to Brooklyn’. The Telegraph, 16 Oct. 2004, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/3625500/Culture-quake-Last-Exit-to-Brooklyn.html.

Homberger, Eric. ‘Hubert Selby Jr’. The Guardian, 28 Apr. 2004, https://www.theguardian.com/news/2004/apr/28/guardianobituaries.film.

’Hubert Selby Jr’. Authors Calendar, http://authorscalendar.info/selby.htm.

Leone, Ryan. ‘Hubert Selby Jr’s American Dream’. Beatdom, 26 Oct. 2014, https://www.beatdom.com/hubert-selby-jrs-american-dream/.

Lindbloom, James. ‘The Tao of the Willow Tree: An Interview with Hubert Selby, Jr’. Gadfly Online, Aug 1999, http://www.gadflyonline.com/home/archive/August99/archive-hubertselby.html.

Lucas, John. ‘Treasuring Hubert Selby Jr’. The Guardian, 16 Sep. 2010, https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2010/sep/16/treasuring-hubert-selby-jr.

Rendall, Jonathan. ‘Last exit to welfare’. The Independent, 18 Apr. 1999, https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/last-exit-to-welfare-1088008.html.

Selby Jr., Hubert. ‘Why I Continue To Write’. LA Weekly, 24 Feb. 1999, https://www.laweekly.com/why-i-continue-to-write/.

Selby Jr., Hubert. ‘Compulsive writing’. The Guardian, 9 Feb. 2003, https://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/feb/08/featuresreviews.guardianreview17.

Siegel, Robert, host. ‘“Last Exit to Brooklyn” Author Dies’. All Things Considered, National Public Radio, aired 27 Apr. 2004, https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1853368.

Simpson II, Tyrone R. “Something Tangible To Strike At”. Ghetto Images in Twentieth-Century American Literature: Writing Apartheid, Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2012, pp. 85-126.

Stewart, Henry. ‘Gilbert Sorrentino: The Lost Laureate of Brooklyn’. Electric Literature, 11 Aug. 2014, https://electricliterature.com/gilbert-sorrentino-the-lost-laureate-of-brooklyn/.

Vangelisti, Paul. ‘Two Lost Interviews With Hubert Selby, Jr’. Music & Literature, 21 Aug. 2012, https://www.musicandliterature.org/excerpts/2013/10/19/lost-interviews-with-hubert-selby-jr.

Hubert Selby Jr.’s cameo as a prison officer in Requiem for a Dream

MUSIC -
The music used in this episode, with the exception of the intro and outro, was sourced from royalty-free music libraries such as the Free Music Archive and YouTube’s Audio Library. The intro features an excerpt from Margaret Fielding’s ‘I Could Write a Book’. The outro includes an excerpt from Artie Shaw and His Orchestra’s ‘I Could Write a Book’.

Hubert Selby Jr. and Anthony Kiedis, lead singer of American rock band Red Hot Chilli Peppers

Discography
“Private Hurricane (Instrumental Version)” by Josh Woodward
“By Request” by Apache Tomcat
“Room With A View” by Jahzzar
“Vladimir Estragon” by Jahzzar
“Drop of Water in the Ocean” by Broke For Free
“In the Museum” by Jahzzar
“Au Coin De La Rue” by Marco Raaphorst
“The Black Cat” by Aaron Kenny
“Rite of Passage” by Kevin MacLeod
“I Knew A Guy” by Kevin MacLeod
“Where Shall We Dine” by Letter Box
“Be-Bop” by Nicolas Chientaroli Trio
“Éclipse (feat. Roger Döring)” by Marsen Jules Trio
“Bass Walker” by Kevin MacLeod
“Laserdisc” by Chris Zabriskie
“El-Ouache-Ouel-Ghorba” by Raoul Journo
“Bullwinkle Part II” by The Centurians
“How the Night Came” by His Name Is Nobody
“Baby Vampire Made Me” by Helium
“Far the Days Come” by Letter Box
“Histoire d'une truite” by Salmo
“Acid Jazz” by Kevin MacLeod
“Intelligent Galaxy” by The Insider
“43 Days” by Kemi Helwa
“Death Valley” by Lobo Loco
“Reliquish” by Podington Bear
“Preachin’ Dem Blues” by The Good Lawdz
“Fast Talkin” by Kevin MacLeod
“Datpiff” by The Good Lawdz
“Stormy Moods Orchestra” by Apache Tomcat
“Sneaky Snitch” by Kevin MacLeod
“The Woods” by Silent Partner
“Melancholia Aftersounds” by Kai Engel
“Cylinder Six” by Chris Zabriskie
“Grimey Patches” by Marco Raaphorst
“Armadillo” by Silent Partner
“Called Upon” by Silent Partner

Other Audio
Clip from William S. Burroughs’s 1981 guest performance on Saturday Night Live
Clip from Hubert Selby Jr.’s cameo in Requiem For A Dream (2000)
Clip from The Simpsons episode ‘Last Exit to Springfield’ (1993)

Hubert Selby Jr. and Henry Rollins, lead singer of American punk band Black Flag.

William S. Burroughs with David Bowie.