Michael Stevens' the Road to Interzone
“The scholarship surrounding the life and work of William Burroughs is in the midst of a renaissance. Students of Burroughs are turning away from myths, legends, and sensationalistic biographical detail in order to delve deeply into textual analysis, archival research, and explorations of literary and artistic history. Michael Stevens’ The Road to Interzone is an important part of this changing landscape. In a manner similar to Ralph Maud’s Charles Olson’s Reading, The Road to Interzone places the life and literature of “el Hombre Invisible” into sharper focus by listing and commenting on, in obsessive detail, the breadth of literary material Burroughs read, referred to, researched, and reviewed. Stevens reveals Burroughs to be a man of letters and of great learning, while simultaneously shedding light on the personal obsessions, pet theories, childhood favorites, and guilty pleasures, which make Burroughs such a unique and fascinating figure. Stevens’ book provides a wealth of new and important information for those deeply interested in Burroughs and will no doubt prove essential to future scholarship. Like Oliver Harris’ The Secret of Fascination and Robert Sobieszek’s Ports of Entry before it, The Road to Interzone is an indispensable addition to the canon of Burroughs Studies.” -Jed Birmingham “Michael Stevens has created a new kind of biography out of love for William S. Burroughs and love of books. Author worship and bibliophilia become one at the point of obsession, which of course is the point where they become interesting. Burroughs’ reading was intense and far flung, and Stevens has sleuthed out a portrait of that reading--the books Burroughs lent his name to in the form of introductions and blurbs, the books in his various libraries, the books he refers to, the books that found their way into his writing, and much more! Along with lively notes from Stevens, we have Burroughs throughout--his opinions, perceptions, the ‘grain of his voice.’ That in itself makes Stevens’ book a notable achievement.
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