Читать книгу Last Words - William S. Burroughs - Страница 1

Praise for Last Words:

“Burroughs considers his old age with a mix of wry humor, scattershot rancor, and intimate rue.... Precious to all Burroughs devotees.”—Publishers Weekly

“Burroughs’ claim to literary greatness is inextricably tied to the shocking inhumanity of his fiction, its quality of notes found in outer space.... If Last Words reveals Burroughs dreaming of the ’war,’ it also reveals a gentler, more intimate side.”—Salon

“This book helps transform a Beat icon into a human being.... In these pages he faces the deaths of friends, of beloved animal companions, and, finally, his own end. And he confronts it all with grace, although certainly not without heartache.”

—The Kansas City Star

“A curious bit of sweetness, coming from one of literature’s greatest misanthropes ... both courageous and heart-breaking.”

—The Stranger

“They called him the priest, but William S. Burroughs was so much more: guru, visionary, abhorred by the right-wing controlling elements of society against which he railed, and a literary seed-planter for the American countercultural movement. ... Last Words[shows] a deep appreciation for life and a profound sorrow almost beyond words. ... Reason enough for anyone ... to pay heed to the legacy that is Burroughs.”—In Pittsburgh

“As close to a Burroughs autobiography as we’re likely to see. He reconstructs his life in the form of a long and tangled dream.”

—New York Press

“Damned if the old gentleman didn’t make it sound beautifully macabre, right up until the end.”—San Francisco Reporter

“It might be hard to imagine what the tender, vulnerable side of William S. Burroughs ... would look like without the last work he left behind: his journals ... an entertainingly arch and ultimately poignant peek into the private life of one of the more mercurial American writers of the last century.”

—Washington Blade

“Burroughs’ unrelenting cry of defiance against the established order comes through loudly and clearly. ... Burroughs’ fans might very well take this account of the author’s ultimate journey on earth as a holy text of sorts, Burroughs’ Book of the Dead.”

—Express (Berkeley)

“If anyone doubted Burroughs’ humanity, there is ample proof of it in Last Words.”—The Washington Post Book World

“Last Words is filled with memories and reminiscences delivered in staccato poignancy.... In the journals, a full and vibrant life is described and evoked.”—The Scotsman (Edinburgh)