Arena — Season 1, Episode 198: Burroughs
Documentary • 90 min • 3 seasons, 689 episodes • ★ 7.2/10
Episode synopsis
Widely regarded as one of the greatest literary figures of the century, William Burroughs has perfected a unique and terrifying vision of the world. He is, most notably, a savage satirist and a revolutionary stylist and his ideas and experiments with language have had effects far beyond the world of literature. Born into a wealthy family in St Louis, Missouri, he abandoned his background for another kind of life - the central theme of his work comes from his experiences as a heroin addict and a homosexual outlaw. Filmed over five years, tonight's programme is an intimate portrait of this elegant, witty and often shocking man. The film features him reading from his own work, unique footage of his family and his son, William Burroughs Jr , his Beat Generation collaborators Allen Ginsberg and Brion Gysin , younger admirers Terry Southern, Frank Zappa , Laurie Anderson and the great painter Francis Bacon.
About Arena
Arena is a British television documentary series, made and broadcast by the BBC. Voted by leading TV executives in Broadcast as one of the top 50 most influential programmes of all time, it has run since 1 October 1975 with over five hundred episodes made, directed by the likes of Martin Scorsese, Alan Yentob, Roly Keating, Frederick Baker, Volker Schlondorff and Vikram Jayanti. Arena's subjects are a roll-call of the world's best known cultural figures from the 20th and 21st centuries, from singers Bob Dylan and Amy Winehouse to academics Edward Said and Eric Hobsbawm, from writers Jean Genet and V S Naipaul to artists Francis Bacon and Louise Bourgeois. The current series editor is Anthony Wall.