William S. Burroughs at the Front Critical Reception, 1959-1989

Jennie Skerl and Robin Lydenberg have selected twenty-five critical essays on Burroughs that reflect the historical reception of his work, both positive and negative, decade by decade, and that represent the best essays written about him. The essays cover Burroughs' major novelsincluding the cut-up and new trilogiesthe censorship issue, and his work in film and painting. The chronological organization brings into critical focus the shift from moral questions raised by the novels' content, through examinations of Burroughs' relationship to humanism and modernism, and finally to more focused literary and linguistic issues. In their introduction, the editors survey the progress of Burroughs' critical reception and examine the reasons for the varied and intense responses to the work and the theoretical assumptions behind those responses. The reviewers include prominent figures such as Mary McCarthy and Marshall McLuhan as well as major academic critics such as Cary Nelson, Tony Tanner, and Ihab Hassan.Skerl, Jennie is the author of 'William S. Burroughs at the Front Critical Reception, 1959-1989', published 1991 under ISBN 9780809315864 and ISBN 0809315866.