Queer

Review

Any opinion of William S. Burroughs’s novella Queer is almost inextricably linked to one’s opinion of beat literature in general. Continuing the exploits of his creation Lee from a previous novel, Junkie (which I have yet to read), Queer may not exactly be the best introduction to works from the beat era for those interested in checking them out, but it still encompasses all the main elements of the genre nevertheless.

The narrative meanders along with the main character, and exists more as a study of Lee’s expatriat experience in Mexico City rather than a linear story with a cohesive beginning, middle, and end. Like other protagonists from beat literature, Lee wanders from country to country, bar to bar, bed to bed, and drug to drug in search of some sort of overall meaning to existence. After abandoning a debilitating heroin addiction, he turns towards exploring his homosexuality as a means of alleviating his anxieties, eventually fixating his attractions on a young Navyman named Allerton. Burroughs relates Lee’s story – a fictious depiction of his own life experiences – with a hallucinogenic, surrealist series of barroom discussions and laconic liasons.

I thought the novella stood as an adequate example of beat literature. While I generally enjoy literature from that particular era, I found Queer - by and large - admittedly somewhat boring when compared to other works in the genre. It is, however, certainly worth reading for its significance to the movement, and as one of the few pieces of literature with an honest, frank portrayal of a homosexual protagonist and the struggles that stem from his involuntary persuasion. But those disinterested in beat literature or queer theory would likely not find much to their enjoyment or curiousity with this book.

Bibliographical Information

Burroughs, William S. Queer. New York: Viking, 1985.

Further Reading

Any readers seeking to explore works from the beatnik era ought to begin with the works of Jack Kerouac. On the Road and The Dharma Bums are both classics that transcend the genre and have recently enjoyed something of a resurgence in popularity. And I maintain that none of the books discussed in this entry could have come into existance without Ernest Hemingway’s masterpiece from The Lost Generation, A Moveable Feast. Though shirking the surrealist tones of its progeny in favor of a more modernist approach, A Moveable Feast nevertheless incorporates many of the common themes and elements found in abundance amongst the later beat scene.

~Riot. A very, very exhausted Riot.