In the early 1950s, William Burroughs – drug addict, homosexual and pioneering writer of what would come to be called the Beat generation – found himself in Mexico City. On the run after accidentally shooting his wife, Joan, during a drunken game of William Tell, Burroughs relished the freedom granted by Mexico.
Here, he could indulge his sexual proclivities and drug addiction without the same risks as in the US. Out of this experience came the autobiographical novella Queer (1985). It was an account of his time in Mexico, his passion for a young expatriate man named Allerton, and their failed quest to find the hallucinogenic plant yagé.
Originally written as a sort of sequel or postscript to Junky (1953), his account of heroin addiction, Queer wasn’t published until 1985. Since then, the novella has been seen as a pioneering, if deeply problematic, account of gay desire. Queer explores the tension between personal freedom, transgression and control – themes that endured throughout Burroughs’ work.
