WRITER

William S. Burroughs

1914 - 1997

Photo of William S. Burroughs

Icon of person William S. Burroughs

William Seward Burroughs II (; February 5, 1914 – August 2, 1997) was an American writer and visual artist. He is widely considered a primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodern author who influenced both underground and popular culture and literature. Burroughs wrote 18 novels and novellas, six collections of short stories, and four collections of essays. Five books of his interviews and correspondences have also been published. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. William S. Burroughs is the 523rd most popular writer (up from 567th in 2019), the 656th most popular biography from United States (down from 580th in 2019) and the 56th most popular American Writer.

William S. Burroughs is most famous for his novel "Naked Lunch" and for his work as a spoken word artist.

Memorability Metrics

Loading...

Page views of William S. Burroughs by language

Loading...

Among WRITERS

Among writers, William S. Burroughs ranks 523 out of 7,302. Before him are Tibullus, Ivan Goncharov, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ilya Ehrenburg, Michel Houellebecq, and Boris Vian. After him are Novatian, G. K. Chesterton, Jacinto Benavente, Ludvig Holberg, Georg Trakl, and Tennessee Williams.

Most Popular Writers in Wikipedia

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

Contemporaries

Among people born in 1914, William S. Burroughs ranks 22. Before him are Jiang Qing, Richard Widmark, Michael Wittmann, Jack LaLanne, Romain Gary, and Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr. After him are Karl Carstens, Willi Stoph, Bohumil Hrabal, Lída Baarová, Abd al-Karim Qasim, and Joe DiMaggio. Among people deceased in 1997, William S. Burroughs ranks 24. Before him are Paulo Freire, Melvin Calvin, The Notorious B.I.G., Robert Mitchum, Hugo Gunckel Lüer, and Israel Kamakawiwoʻole. After him are Clyde Tombaugh, Isaiah Berlin, Hans Eysenck, Bohumil Hrabal, Roy Lichtenstein, and Fred Zinnemann.

Others Born in 1914

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

Others Deceased in 1997

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

In United States

Among people born in United States, William S. Burroughs ranks 656 out of 20,380. Before him are David Carradine (1936), Gordon Allport (1897), Dian Fossey (1932), Lucy Webb Hayes (1831), William Lipscomb (1919), and Israel Kamakawiwoʻole (1959). After him are Paul Berg (1926), Christian B. Anfinsen (1916), Dave Grohl (1969), Arthur Leonard Schawlow (1921), Chuck Jones (1912), and Clyde Tombaugh (1906).

Others born in United States

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

Among WRITERS In United States

Among writers born in United States, William S. Burroughs ranks 56. Before him are Philip Roth (1933), Dan Brown (1964), Harper Lee (1926), Eugene O'Neill (1888), Louise Glück (1943), and Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804). After him are Tennessee Williams (1911), Richard Bach (1936), Robert A. Heinlein (1907), Tom Clancy (1947), Sidney Sheldon (1917), and Napoleon Hill (1883).

American born Writers

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous