''Kentucky Ham'', published in 1973, was the second novel by William S. Burroughs, Jr., the son of

Beat Generation The Beat Generation was a literary subculture movement started by a group of authors whose work explored and influenced American culture and politics in the post-World War II era. The bulk of their work was published and popularized by members o ...

author

William S. Burroughs William Seward Burroughs II (; February 5, 1914 – August 2, 1997) was an American writer and visual artist. He is widely considered a primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major Postmodern literature, postmodern author who influen ...

. Like its predecessor, ''

Speed In kinematics, the speed (commonly referred to as ''v'') of an object is the magnitude of the change of its position over time or the magnitude of the change of its position per unit of time; it is thus a non-negative scalar quantity. Intro ...

'', the book is an

autobiographical novel An autobiographical novel, also known as an autobiographical fiction, fictional autobiography, or autobiographical fiction novel, is a type of novel which uses autofiction techniques, or the merging of autobiographical and fictive elements. The ...

based upon Burroughs' own life. It covers his time spent in a

prison farm A prison farm (also known as a penal farm) is a large correctional facility where penal labor convicts work legally or illegally on a farm (in the wide sense of a productive unit), usually for manual labor, largely in the open air, such as in ...

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

, working on a fishing boat in

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

, and visiting his father's old haunt,

Tangiers Tangier ( ; , , ) is a city in northwestern Morocco, on the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The city is the capital of the Tanger-Tetouan-Al Hoceima region, as well as the Tangier-Assilah Prefecture of Morocco. Many c ...

, among other events. Burroughs Jr. went on to write a third novel, ''Prakriti Junction'', but it was never completed. Jennie Skerl, the academic who has published critical reviews of Burroughs' father's work, the Beats and

Jane Bowles Jane Bowles (; born Jane Sydney Auer; February 22, 1917 – May 4, 1973) was an American writer and playwright. Early life Born into a Jewish family in New York City on February 22, 1917, to Sydney Auer (father) and Claire Stajer (mother), Jan ...

, befriended Billy and reported that his third novel included material about his liver transplant in 1976. Material from the third novel was edited into his third published work, '' Cursed From Birth''. As with ''Speed'', ''Kentucky Ham'' is often erroneously listed as part of the Burroughs, Sr. literary canon. In 1993, it was republished in an omnibus edition alongside ''Speed''.

References

Novels by William S. Burroughs Jr. American autobiographical novels 1973 American novels E. P. Dutton books {{1970s-novel-stub