''The Wild Boys: A Book of the Dead'' is a novel by

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 ...

. It was first published in 1971 by

Grove Press Grove Press is an American publishing imprint that was founded in 1947. Imprints include: Black Cat, Evergreen, Venus Library, and Zebra. Barney Rosset purchased the company in 1951 and turned it into an alternative book press in the United S ...

. It depicts a homosexual youth movement whose objective is the downfall of western civilization, set in an apocalyptic late twentieth century.

Film adaptation proposals

In 1972, Burroughs wrote a screenplay based on the novel, with the intent of having it produced as a low-budget hardcore pornographic film, and entered into negotiations with gay porn producer

Fred Halsted Fred Charles Halsted (July 20, 1941 – May 9, 1989) was an American gay pornographic film director, actor, escort, publisher, and sex club owner. His films ''Sex Garage'' and '' L.A. Plays Itself'' are the only gay pornographic movies in the p ...

before abandoning the idea at the end of 1972.

Russell Mulcahy Russell Mulcahy ( ; born 23 June 1953) is an Australian director of film, television, and music videos. He began his career directing music videos for artists like Elton John and Duran Duran, before making his feature directorial debut with the ...

wanted to direct a film adaptation, and talked to

Duran Duran Duran Duran () are an English pop rock band formed in Birmingham in 1978 by singer Stephen Duffy, keyboardist Nick Rhodes and guitarist/bassist John Taylor (bass guitarist), John Taylor. After several early changes, the band's line-up settled ...

about writing the soundtrack, but the project never came to fruition.VH1 interview with John Taylor
/ref> Nonetheless, the novel inspired the Duran Duran song " The Wild Boys".

Allusions in other works

* The clothes, hair, and makeup of

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

's character

Ziggy Stardust Ziggy Stardust was a glam alter ego of musician David Bowie in the early 1970s. It may refer specifically to: * Ziggy Stardust (character) * ''The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars'', often shortened to ''Ziggy Stardust'', a ...

were based on the description of the Wild Boys in the book. According to Bowie, "it was a cross between that and '' Clockwork Orange'' that really started to put together the shape and the look of what Ziggy and the Spiders were going to become. They were both powerful pieces of work, especially the marauding boy gangs of Burroughs's Wild Boys with their

bowie knives A Bowie knife ( ) is a pattern of fixed-blade fighting knives created by Rezin Bowie in the early 19th century for his brother James Bowie, who had become famous for his use of a large knife at a duel known as the Sandbar Fight. Since its first ...

. I got straight on to that. I read everything into everything. Everything had to be infinitely symbolic." *Post-punk band

The Soft Boys The Soft Boys were an English rock band led by guitarist Robyn Hitchcock. The band formed in 1976 in Cambridge, England and released two albums before disbanding in 1981. Though the Soft Boys’ initial career was brief, their style of psyched ...

took their name from a combination ''The Wild Boys'' and ''

The Soft Machine ''The Soft Machine'' is a 1961 novel by American author William S. Burroughs. It was originally composed using the cut-up technique partly from manuscripts belonging to '' The Word Hoard''. It is the first part of ''The Nova Trilogy''. Title a ...

''. * Former

Joy Division Joy Division were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Salford in 1976. The group consisted of vocalist, guitarist and lyricist Ian Curtis, guitarist and keyboardist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris (musici ...

front-man

Ian Curtis Ian Kevin Curtis (15 July 1956 – 18 May 1980) was an English singer, songwriter and musician. He was the lead singer, lyricist and occasional guitarist of the band Joy Division, with whom he released the albums ''Unknown Pleasures'' (197 ...

cited it as one of his favourite books. * Johnny, the protagonist of

Patti Smith Patricia Lee Smith (born December 30, 1946) is an American singer, songwriter, poet, painter, author, and photographer. Her 1975 debut album '' Horses'' made her an influential member of the New York City-based punk rock movement. Smith has fu ...

's ''

Horses The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 milli ...

'', is a reference to the homoerotic protagonist of the novel. * Fraser, the protagonist of

Luca Guadagnino Luca Guadagnino (; born 10 August 1971) is an Italian film director and producer. His films are characterized by their emotional complexity, eroticism, and lavish visuals. Guadagnino has received numerous accolades, including a Silver Lion, alon ...

's ''

We Are Who We Are ''We Are Who We Are'' is a 2020 coming-of-age drama television miniseries co-created and directed by Luca Guadagnino for HBO and Sky Atlantic. A coming-of-age story set on a fictional U.S. military base in Chioggia, Italy, in 2016, the series f ...

'', reads this novel in the first episode.

References

1971 American novels 1970s LGBTQ novels American LGBTQ novels Grove Press books LGBTQ speculative fiction novels Novels by William S. Burroughs Novels about gay topics {{1970s-LGBT-novel-stub