[Item #4244] Mentored by a Madman: The William Burroughs Experiment. A. J. Lees, William S. Burroughs.
Mentored by a Madman: The William Burroughs Experiment

Mentored by a Madman: The William Burroughs Experiment

ISBN: 9781910749104
London, England: Notting Hill Editions, 2016. First Edition. Hardcover. "A fascinating account by one of the world's leading neurologists of the profound influence of William Burroughs on his medical career. Lees relates how Burroughs, author of Naked Lunch and troubled drug addict, inspired him to discover a ground-breaking treatment for Parkinson's Disease. Lees journeys to the Amazonian rainforest in search of cures, and through self-experimentation seeks to find the answers his patients crave. He enters a powerful plea for the return of imagination to medical research." (back cover) In this profound, stranger-than-fiction volume, Dr. Andrew J. Lees describes how William S. Burroughs impacted his medical career & discoveries. WSB, Founding Father of the Beat Generation & one of the most influential literary & cultural figures in all history, famously created the demented character of Dr. Benway in his breakthrough work Naked Lunch. Dr. Lees does not emulate this macabre, symbolic, satiric creation- he was inspired by WSB's questing, imaginative life (as with his search for Yage in the jungles of South America famously recounted in The Yage Letters, & his search for cures to his drug addiction) & work. Admittedly, one's first reaction to the idea of WSB as a medical mentor would understandably be puzzlement to say the least, but Dr. Lees convinced this writer of the validity & even profundity of his claim- I was privileged to attend his live presentation about this book & WSB's influence on him at a conference of the European Beat Studies Network (ebsn.eu). With a foreword by James Grauerholz, WSB's closest friend & associate for the last quarter-century of his life, the foremost authority & keeper of the WSB legacy. A beautiful, exemplary production of the Notting Hill Editions imprint, hardcover in printed cloth boards without dust jacket as issued. First hardcover edition, likely a first printing although sealed in publisher's shrink-wrap, which we do not care to remove. A unique WSB-related collectible that articulates the perspective of a highly acclaimed, actual physician. As new, still sealed in shrink-wrap as noted above. As new. [Item #4244]

Price: $40.00