A Thanksgiving prayer from William S. Burroughs

[GulliverFoyle]

I realize you’re being sarcastic but posting the reading of a poem by a dead writer isn’t celebration, and accusing @pesco of celebrating Burroughs is inaccurate. Don’t like Burroughs or his work? Excellent, I don’t like Burroughs either and from what I know of him he was in the balance a rotten person, although I appreciate some of his work and don’t have to worry about him profiting from that appreciation. But if one is snide to someone else for liking problematic works or the works of problematic authors then they open themselves to a little pushback. Your implication that that pushback is apology for the author is likewise inaccurate.

ETA: for added context, here are my comments about Burroughs over the past couple years this was posted…

Killer gets 180-day sentence for YouTube stunt gone wrong

True. I’m ordinarily against taking away custody of parents’ kids, but it’s hard to argue with in this case. There’s also the part about the deceased husband being equally culpable. William Burroughs got 13 days. But at least Joan Vollmer’s death inspired a couple of beatniks. /bitter-sarcasm Well really, intentionality has nothing to do with it. In practice, cops are above the law. /merely-bitter

A Thanksgiving prayer from William S. Burroughs

I don’t like Burroughs as a person, but I like this poem. I get why some aren’t willing to accept his work though.

William S. Burroughs: "A Thanksgiving Prayer" (1986)

[1] Burroughs was a lowlife. The operative word is was. Were he alive to benefit from my appreciation of his prose, I’d be a lot more circumspect. But I’m thankful Burroughs is dead and can’t profit from my clicks. And what’s Thanksgiving for if you can’t be thankful silver-tongued scum are dead? If you feel differently, I wholeheartedly support your choice to do so. But do not conflate love of the writing of a dead fucker with love of that same dead fucker.