AIDS and its representation in the works of William S. Burroughs

Abstract

In 1983, when the discovery of AIDS was publicly disclosed, many readers and admirers of William S. Burroughs pointed out how he had described the disease in his work. AIDS is very similar to the scarlet fever of Cities of the Red Night as reported by Burroughs (Cities of the red night, Picador, London 1981). Those who spoke of prophecy highlighted that the B-23 virus Burroughs described originated in Africa and is sexually transmitted, like HIV. This led to the idea that Burroughs had anticipated the spread of the virus. Burroughs played on this coincidence and commented that it is part of a writer’s job to “shape” reality, but there are significant differences between the characteristics of the two viruses. In the first decades of the AIDS epidemic, there were alternative theories and disputes concerning the official aetiology at the same time that there was, as Burroughs represents, diffidence towards government healthcare systems. Many other plagues have been described in American fiction, and Burroughs might have invented his B-23 virus starting from these earlier examples. Thus, Burroughs’s viruses, rather than foreshadowing the physical symptoms of AIDS, foreshadow the pseudo-scientific theories, thoughts and beliefs arising from the spread of the disease.