Overview

Beginning as surprisingly formal notes from the road to his friends Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac, the letters gradually deepen in substance and style.

Content and Significance

Burroughs's letters show the development of both the man and the writer, vividly documenting his (often turbulent) personal and cultural history.

Importance of the Collection

The collection provides a key to opening up and contextualizing Burroughs's fiction, but more than that it shows how letter-writing was itself integral to his life and creative process.