Who is William S. Burroughs from The Portable Beat Reader and what is their importance? The_Portable_Beat_Reader English & Literature William S. Burroughs | The Portable Beat Reader

William S. Burroughs is born in Saint Louis in 1914, heir to the Burroughs Adding Machine Company fortune. Burroughs attends college at Harvard and graduates in 1936. During World War II, Burroughs moves to New York City with his friend from Saint Louis Lucien Carr. In New York, Burroughs meets Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and Herbert Huncke, who introduces Burroughs to morphine and heroin. Burroughs is soon an opiate addict and writes his first published book, "Junky," about his experiences with the drugs.