Items related to The Stray Bullet: William S. Burroughs in Mexico
William S. Burroughs arrived in Mexico City in 1949, having slipped out of New Orleans while awaiting trial on drug and weapons charges that would almost certainly have resulted in a lengthy prison sentence. Still uncertain about being a writer, he had left behind a series of failed business ventures-including a scheme to grow marijuana in Texas and sell it in New York-and an already long history of drug use and arrests. He would remain in Mexico for three years, a period that culminated in the defining incident of his life: Burroughs shot his common-law wife, Joan Vollmer, while playing William Tell with a loaded pistol. (He would be tried and convicted of murder in absentia after fleeing Mexico.)First published in 1995 in Mexico, where it received the Malcolm Lowry literary essay award, The Stray Bullet is an imaginative and riveting account of Burroughs\u2019s formative experiences in Mexico, his fascination with Mexico City\u2019s demimonde, his acquaintances and friendships there, and his contradictory attitudes toward the country and its culture. Mexico, Jorge Garc\u00eda-Robles makes clear, was the place in which Burroughs embarked on his \u201cfatal vocation as a writer.\u201dThrough meticulous research and interviews with those who knew Burroughs and his circle in Mexico City, Garc\u00eda-Robles brilliantly portrays a time in Burroughs\u2019s life that has been overshadowed by the tragedy of Joan Vollmer\u2019s death. He re-creates the bohemian Roma neighborhood where Burroughs resided with Joan and their children, the streets of postwar Mexico City that Burroughs explored, and such infamous figures as Lola la Chata, queen of the city\u2019s drug trade. This compelling book also offers a contribution by Burroughs himself-an evocative sketch of his shady Mexican attorney, Bernab\u00e9 Jurado.
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Review:
About the Author:
I liked Mexico City from the first day of my visit there. In 1949, it was a cheap place to live, with a large foreign colony, fabulous whorehouses and restaurants, cockfights and bullfights, and every conceivable diversion.
--from William S. Burroughs, Queer
Jorge Garcia-Robles is a Mexican novelist, critic, and translator; he is considered the leading authority on the Beats in Mexico. He translated Jack Kerouac's Lonesome Traveler, Tristessa, Mexico City Blues, and "Cerrada Medellin Blues" and William Burroughs's The Yage Letters into Spanish.
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- PublisherUniversity of Minnesota Press
- Publication date2013
- ISBN 10 0816680620
- ISBN 13 9780816680627
- BindingHardcover
- Edition number1
- Number of pages176
- Rating
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