The Stray Bullet

August 19, 2013
Mexican novelist, critic, and translator García-Roble's account of Burroughs's time in Mexico from 1949 to 1952, which included the accidental shooting of his common-law wife Joan Vollmer, proves absorbing, but ultimately unsatisfying. García-Robles first introduces Burroughs's relationships to fellow Beats Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and Vollmer, among others, before attempting, with varying degrees of success, to differentiate Burroughs's Mexican experience from the Mexican experience of other authors. The book is less about the "stray bullet," and more about how the shooting of Vollmer influenced Burroughs's writing. Depending on the reader, the majority of the book may prove unpleasant because of its depiction of Vollmer, with her death painted as something she wanted, without giving her much of a voice in a voice-filled text. Burroughs fans may enjoy this look at his experience in Mexico (first published in Mexico in 1995), but others will be troubled by the portrayal of Vollmer's death as a fated part of Burroughs's evolution as a writer. 7 b&w photos.

December 1, 2013

Mexican writer, translator, and Beat historian Garcia-Robles (translator, Jack Kerouac's Lonesome Traveler) first published this short work in Mexico in 1995, where it received the Malcom Lowry literary essay award. In 1949, a 35-year-old Burroughs (Naked Lunch) flees to Mexico City from New Orleans on drug charges, dreaming of a free and rural existence with his then common-law wife Joan Vollmer, but it was in Mexico that Burroughs fatally shot Joan while supposedly playacting William Tell and also where he became an author. Garcia-Robles colors the background of these and other significant episodes in Beat history and lays bare the events of three influential years on his subject's life. Readers are introduced to characters in Burroughs's novels (e.g., Lewis Marker in Queer) and locations that became prevalent in his early works. Beat icons Jack Kerouac, Neal Cassady, and Allen Ginsberg (as Burroughs's literary agent) make appearances, often with unexpected results. Readers may be familiar with the drug-addicted, degenerate, gun-toting Burroughs, and he indeed appears throughout this work. But also well represented is a man unable to obtain citizenship papers, who experiences prolonged unrequited love, meticulously counts his earnings from publications, and considers himself responsible for providing for his household. VERDICT Burroughs's relationship with Mexico was a complicated mesh of idyllic dreams and frustration with the country's bureaucracy. Garcia-Robles successfully shows how the writer's life mirrors this relationship. Recommended for fans of Burroughs, Beat writers, biography, and 1950s Mexico.--Benjamin Brudner, Curry Coll. Lib., Milton, MA

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