The Burroughs File is a collection of short fiction and non-fiction writings by Beat Generation author William S. Burroughs covering a period of more than 20 years. The collection was first published in 1984.
The book incorporates several smaller collections that had previously been published separately: White Subway (1973), Die Alten Filme (The Old Movies) (1979) (most of the material in this book was published in English for the first time in The Burroughs File), The Retreat Diaries (1976) and Cobble Stone Gardens (1976). In addition, the book includes visual excerpts from Burroughs' scrapbooks and notebooks dating back to his early days as a writer.
The subject matter of the various stories and essays range widely from material connected to his earlier works such as Naked Lunch, to autobiographical pieces. The Retreat Diaries is a collection of journal entries made by Burroughs during the summer of 1975. The book includes introductions by Paul Bowles and Alan Ansen.
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