The Place of Dead Roads - Softcover

‘In the English language, William Burroughs is the greatest writer alive. His imagination has tackled head-on the post-war world, with its huge bureaucracies and sinister complexes. He has a paranoid vision, but as he himself said: the psychotic is someone who knows what’s really going on.’ JG Ballard, Sunday Times

‘“The Place of Dead Roads” is Burroughs at his very best, with the same remarkable ear for dialogue and effortless originality.’ Guardian

Burroughs’ classic, surreal reworking of the myth of the Old West.

William Burroughs’ surreal fable set in America’s Old West features a cast of notorious characters: The Crying Gun, who breaks into tears at the sight of his opponent; The Priest, who goes into gunfights giving his adversaries the last rites; and The Nihilistic Kid himself, Kim Carson, who, with a succession of beautiful sidekicks, sets out to challenge the morality of smalltown America.

With a narrative of fantastical proportions and a rich, dry, growling humour, ‘The Place of Dead Roads’ continues Burroughs’ exploration of society’s controlling forces – the State, the Church, women, literature, drugs – with a style utterly unique in 20th century literature.