The Wild Boys
Published in 1971 and subtitled A Book of the Dead, The Wild Boys is an experimental novel by William S. Burroughs. Set in a near-future world sliding into chaos, it imagines roaming bands of feral young men who reject conventional society and form their own violent, homoerotic tribes. Burroughs constructs the book from disjointed episodes rather than a linear plot, moving across shifting settings and dreamlike scenes of war, sex, and transformation. The novel reflects his experiments with cut-up and montage techniques, though it is more readable than some of his earlier work. Its imagery of rebellious youth tribes influenced later countercultural and punk aesthetics. The book is characteristic of Burroughs in its provocation, its hostility toward authority and control, and its willingness to push the boundaries of form and subject matter.
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What you might want to know about The Wild Boys
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
A surreal, fragmented vision of a future overrun by roving bands of feral, rebellious young men.
No; it is built from fragmented, dreamlike episodes rather than a linear plot, in Burroughs's experimental style.
Its imagery of rebellious youth tribes helped shape later countercultural and punk aesthetics.
The Wild Boys was written by William S. Burroughs, published in 1971 by Grove Press.
The Wild Boys is 184 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, The Wild Boys takes most readers 3 to 4 hours to finish.
The Wild Boys is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.