William S. Burroughs, Jr.

William S. Burroughs Jr.
William S. Burroughs Jr.
Born	William Seward Burroughs III (1947-07-21)July 21, 1947 Conroe, Texas
Died	March 3, 1981(1981-03-03) (aged 33) DeLand, Florida
Occupation	Novelist
Nationality	American
Spouse	Karen Perry (1969-1974)

William Seward Burroughs III (July 21, 1947 – March 3, 1981) was an American novelist, also known as William S. Burroughs Jr. and Billy Burroughs. He bears the name of both his father and his great grandfather, William Seward Burroughs I, the original inventor of the Burroughs adding machine. He wrote three novels, two of which were published as Speed (1970) and Kentucky Ham (1973). His third novel, Prakriti Junction, begun in 1977, was never completed, although extracts from it were included in his third published work Cursed From Birth.

Burroughs Jr. underwent a liver transplant in 1976 after developing cirrhosis. He died in 1981, at the age of 33, from alcoholism and liver failure. Burroughs Jr. appears briefly in the 1983 documentary Burroughs: The Movie, about his father, in which he discusses his childhood, his liver problems, and his relationship with his family. In the documentary, John Giorno calls him "the last beatnik."

Burroughs was born in Conroe, Texas, to William S. Burroughs and Joan Vollmer. His mother was addicted to amphetamines, and his father was a heroin addict. Herbert Huncke, a friend of his parents, relates that when Joan was pregnant he would drive into Houston to obtain Benzedrine, an inhaled amphetamine, for her.

On September 6, 1951 Billy's father accidentally shot and killed his mother in a drunken game of 'William Tell' in Mexico City. In chapter three of his second novel, Kentucky Ham, Burroughs relates his memory of the day his mother was shot dead, as well as the following reunion with his father after he was freed from a Mexico City prison. While his father stayed in Mexico, Billy went to live with his paternal grandparents – Mortimer and Laura Lee Burroughs, in St. Louis, Missouri. In spring 1952, when Billy was nearly 5, he moved with his grandparents to Palm Beach, Florida, where they relocated their store, Cobblestone Gardens. By his own account, Billy said his grandparents were kind and reassuring; yet as they grew older, and he grew into adolescence, they were unable to relate.