Editor's note :: Whatever one might think of William S. Burroughs, he was one of the most widely known residents of Lawrence. Before his death in 1997, Burroughs -- whose work included 'Naked Lunch' and 'Junky' -- lived in a modest house on Learnard Street in east Lawrence. The well-traveled author lived more years in Lawrence, Kansas than in any other location in the United States or abroad.
His attachment to this town mystified many who appreciated his work. Burroughs' long-time friend and trustee of the writer's estate, James Grauerholz, tells what kept him here: "He poeticized it as 'Learn Hard Avenue,' the place where he would make his life-review and face all the postponed lessons of his long life, and face as well the unknowable mystery of his death, which he knew he would meet here' ... read on
By James W. Grauerholz, Dept. of American Studies, The University of Kansas. Prepared for the Fifth Congress of the Americas at Universidad de las Americas / Puebla (October 18, 2001.
