Army to serve during World War II, but was turned down by the Office of Strategic Services and Navy, after which he picked up the drug addiction that affected him for the rest of his life, while working a variety of jobs. He left home in 1932 to attend Harvard University, studied English, and anthropology as a postgraduate, and later attended medical school in Vienna. Burroughs began writing essays and journals in early adolescence, but did not begin publicizing his writing until his thirties. Louis, Missouri, grandson of the inventor and founder of the Burroughs Corporation, William Seward Burroughs I, and nephew of public relations manager Ivy Lee. He also collaborated on projects and recordings with numerous performers and musicians, and made many appearances in films. Five books have been published of his interviews and correspondences. Burroughs wrote eighteen novels and novellas, six collections of short stories and four collections of essays. His influence is considered to have affected a range of popular culture as well as literature.

A primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodernist author who wrote in the paranoid fiction genre, he is considered to be 'one of the most politically trenchant, culturally influential, and innovative artists of the 20th century'. William Seward Burroughs II (/ˈbʌroʊz/ also known by his pen name William Lee Febru– August 2, 1997) was an American novelist, short story writer, satirist, essayist, painter, and spoken word performer.

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