Home Feed
Home
Search
Search
Add Review, Blurb, Quote
Add
Activity
Activity
Profile
Profile
Queer
Queer | William S. Burroughs
10 posts | 17 read | 11 to read
Set in Mexico City during the early 1950s, Queer follows William Lee's hopeless pursuit of desire from bar to bar in the American expatriate scene. As Lee breaks down, the trademark Burroughsian voice emerges, a maniacal mix of self-lacerating humor and the Ugly American at his ugliest. Originally written in 1952 but not published until 1985, Queer is an enigmaboth an unflinching autobiographical self-portrait and a coruscatingly political novel, Burroughs' only realist love story and a montage of comic-grotesque fantasies that paved the way for his masterpiece, Naked Lunch. Edited from the original manuscripts and introduced by renowned Burroughs scholar Oliver Harris, Queer is a haunting tale of possession and exorcism, a key to the Burroughsian oeuvre, and a novel with a history of secrets.
Amazon Indiebound Barnes and Noble WorldCat Goodreads LibraryThing
blurb
GatheringBooks
Queer | William S. Burroughs
post image

#ReadingResolutions Day 19: Just a few of the amazing #BookFace(s) I chanced upon the Internet. Awesomesauce.

TheLibrarian Ooo those are pretty good!! 6y
94 likes1 comment
blurb
Tex2Flo
Queer | William S. Burroughs
post image

#riotgrams. #queerreads
...too literal?...

8 likes1 stack add
blurb
Soubhiville
Queer | William S. Burroughs
post image

Who can help me out?

Bonus points for YA, but adult books too.

MCYmermaid Not Your Sidekick etc. by C.B. Lee 6y
DivaDiane Not YA but 6y
See All 16 Comments
Broke_Girl_Reads Also, let me introduce you to https://lgbtqreads.com — you can search #queerbooks by genre, age group, or romance tropes. You can also send asks to the tumblr page and get more specific recs! 6y
Rudis Every Heart A Doorway by Seanan McGuire! The rest of the series also features non-straight protagonists 6y
Redwritinghood I think my current audiobook qualifies. 6y
Owlizabeth If you‘re into fantasy 6y
Bklover Just what I was looking for! Thanks! 6y
55 likes16 comments
blurb
Jabberwocky
Queer | William S. Burroughs

Okay hi again friends, sorry to clutter up everyone‘s feeds. I‘m really struggling with the google forms for the queer valentines swap so it is cancelled and I am taking down the last posts. Sorry guys!!

Kaye Do you mean people are signing up that don‘t want to take part ? Sorry it didn‘t work out 😕 6y
Jabberwocky @Kaye no, im just not technologically savvy enough to make the form work. It wasn‘t allowing anyone to fill it out even if they wanted to do so 6y
Kaye Oh. Well I wouldn‘t be much help in that area myself. I‘d have no clue how to do it. Do you think any of the others who have run swaps before could give you instructions to help ? 6y
Wife Sounds frustrating!😖 6y
21 likes4 comments
blurb
Jas16
Queer | William S. Burroughs
post image
blurb
DeborahSmall
Queer | William S. Burroughs

I see the term and tags #queerreads #queerbooks etc a lot on Litsy. In Glasgow/Scotland it would be very offensive, my brother is gay and suffered a homophobic attack 10 years ago, stabbed in the thigh outside a gay nightclub, and called a 'queer' by attacker. My sister is also gay. She lived in Ireland with me for over 10 years, she said if she was labelled queer she'd find it offensive too. So I'm just wondering what people in uk/Ireland think?

DeborahSmall My brother is 34 he said maybe younger generation is different but the 2 words he finds most derogatory when referring to gays would be, a queer or a faggott. So I don't know if it's an American term or it a generation thing?? 7y
jpmcwisemorgan That's interesting. I see queer a lot in the US but I don't know if there's a generational difference in usage. 7y
tpixie I'm a 54 yo in USA. I wouldn't call anyone queer- it was a derogatory term for me growing up. Lol. I'm 56! Oops! 7y
See All 18 Comments
LectricSheep I feel like it's a way of reclaiming a derogatory term. But I don't think people usually use the term to refer to individuals, since that seems like it could still be offensive. I see it used to talk about groups/communities most often, just as shorthand for "not focused on straight/cis people." 7y
Yamich49 I live in the US but I think it's probably a generational thing (here at least) - like @LectricSheep mentioned, it's a reclaiming thing. It's the term I use when describing myself and I know lots of other folks my age or younger (20s or teens) who prefer to use it as well. I wouldn't call anyone else queer unless I know they refer to themselves that way since I know some folks still consider it a slur. I do see it used a lot in the book community. 7y
Lindy In Canada, "queer" is often used as an umbrella term, broader and more inclusive than LGBT (or even longer strings of letters). 7y
DeborahSmall @LectricSheep @Yamich49 @Lindy @tpixie @jpmcwisemorgan Thanks guys. I just wince every time I see it and asked my brother last night about his thoughts, he said it was 100% derogatory, I found it hard to explain that the people using it 100% weren't using it in that way. He couldn't understand that word being used as a positive, when it's been a slur to him his whole life. 7y
Lindy @DeborahSmall Thank you for inspiring me to do a lot of Internet searching on this topic. It reminds me how important it is to remain respectful to the hurtful power of words, and specifically, not to use the word queer when I'm in Scotland. I've been a lesbian activist for over 30 years, so I have seen a lot of shifting semantics. Meanwhile, this website has a good article on North American attitudes http://queergrace.com/queer/ 7y
Lindy @DeborahSmall I have a vivid memory of an encounter with a young Scot in Montreal in 1981. I was wearing a button with the word "dyke," and there was some initial confusion on both sides until I asked him what the word meant to him. "A prostitute" was his answer. 7y
DeborahSmall @Lindy Thank you for the article and for informing me! 💞 7y
DeborahSmall @Lindy Wow! Dyke is actually another slur. Aimed at lesbians who are butch looking. One of my sisters is gay, Eileen has very long hair but is sporty and has often been referred to as a dyke. Her ex wife is 10 years older she had very short hair. The ignorant would ask her 'so is heather the dyke in the marriage' words or rather, the misuse of them are very powerful 7y
DeborahSmall @Lindy when I was talking with my brother last night he said the word 'dyke' along with 'queer' and 'faggott' were his most hated words. 7y
jpmcwisemorgan @DeborahSmall I know there have been attempts to take back a word, if you will - something that's been used in a derogatory way. I don't know if that's what's happened in the US. I think that this discussion highlights how important communication is because we might say something one way that is acceptable where we are but that's not true elsewhere. 7y
Lindy @jpmcwisemorgan @DeborahSmall Reclaiming a slur is a long process. Among lesbians, "dyke" can be used casually & comfortably (depending on the group) but these same people can perceive the word as hurtful when directed towards them by someone outside. Even the word "woman" can be used as an epithet, in some contexts. 7y
jpmcwisemorgan @Lindy Woman can definitely be used as an epithet. Reclaiming slurs is definitely a long hard road and I think recent political events are going to make it harder. 7y
DeborahSmall @Lindy @jpmcwisemorgan I definitely agree with you both. I find it crazy that the word 'dyke' and 'queer' could ever be acceptable but I understand the idea of taking that word back and turning it into a positive. 7y
tpixie @jpmcwisemorgan yes exactly And it's a constantly moving target. Depending on each persons experience. We just try and apologize when needed and keep learning! 7y
Bibliogeekery I identify as queer. The term has a painful history for sure. In my community it has been reclaimed and is now a term that is more inclusive than gay or even LGBT because it includes more gender variance, cultural variance and diverse sexualities. 7y
36 likes18 comments
quote
NovelGirl82
Queer | William S. Burroughs
post image

RIP William S. Burroughs #theeleventhcommandment #hesgotjokes

review
FaisalJ
Queer | William S. Burroughs
post image
Pickpick

Recovering American junkie in Mexico struggling to cope with withdrawal. Filling his void with casual male partners and drinking. It's about loneliness, dreams and dead ends. Frank and honest description of 50s expat gay life in Mexico. It shows how sad and lonely that lifestyle can be. 8.5/10.

3 likes1 stack add
quote
FaisalJ
Queer | William S. Burroughs
post image

"No one is really alone. You are part of everything alive." It's a calming way to see the world. Everyone has the fear of being alone. Being a part of everything makes life a little bare able.