The Letters of William S. Burroughs: Volume I: 1945-1959

A dozen or so letters to Jack Kerouac, several to Paul Bowles, Neal Cassaday and others, but the overwhelming bulk are to Allen Ginsberg. From the back cover: "Beginning as surprisingly formal notes from the road to his friends Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac, the letters gradually deepen in substance and style. Then, in Tangier, comes a dramatic shift in voice and vision [culminating] in the explosive, distinctive letters that will become NAKED LUNCH. Letters were lifelines for Burroughs the outcast and works in progress for Burroughs the writer . . . ."