William S. Burroughs: Commissioner of Sewers

This film looks at the life and works of counter culture literary icon William S. Burroughs. Burroughs became a hero to the Beat Generation and its spiritual descendants down to the present day. He is best known for his book, The Naked Lunch, which chronicles his life as an addict. His style of writing, with its prismatic, erratic, hallucinatory quality, has been a major influence on subsequent writers. Burroughs' off beat and often cynical views are presented in the film, in conversations with the author. The topics include the importance of language, time and space travel, the function of dreams, life, death, and consciousness, presented in Burroughs' inimitable style.