The Place of Dead Roads

The Place of Dead Roads by William S. Burroughs, published in 1983, is the second book of the trilogy that begins with Cities of the Red Night and concludes with The Western Lands. It chronicles the story of a homosexual gunfighter in the American West, beginning with the gunfighter’s death in 1899, incorporates contrasting themes and time travel episodes, and makes use of Burroughs’ extensive knowledge of firearms. Non-linear in construction, it makes use of vivid imagery and repetition but does not employ the famous “cut-up” method of literary collage used in his earlier novels.