Edward D. Pacheco Collection on Beat Poets (Ms.2015.025)

Biographical/Historical Note

These materials were originally collected and owned by Edward D. Pacheco of Fall River, MA who died on January 29, 2014. Bernard A.G. Taradash and Martha Mullen Taradash purchased the collection from the estate of Edward D. Pacheco in 2014 and donated it to Brown University in 2015.

William S. Burroughs (1914-1997) was an American novelist often associated with the writers of the Beat Movement. Best known for his 1959 novel, Naked Lunch, Burroughs’ writing vividly depicted drug abuse and the various social worlds that surrounded it. His novels, including The Soft Machine (1961), The Wild Boys (1971), Exterminator! (1973), Cities of the Red Night (1981), Place of Dead Roads (1983), Queer (1985), The Western Lands (1987), and My Education: A Book of Dreams (1995) were often noted for employing experimental structures and evocative language that greatly impacted American literature. Having grown up in St. Louis, Burroughs would later move to New York City where he first met many members of the Beat Movement. Late in his life he settled in Lawrence, Kansas.

Herbert Huncke (1915-1996) was a member of the Beat Movement best known for coining the group’s name and serving as inspiration for notable characters in the work of William S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, and Jack Kerouac. Although he wrote numerous books of his own, he is often remembered more for his drug use, criminal activity, and his effect on the influential writers who befriended him. Huncke grew up in Chicago, became a drifter as a teenager, and eventually moved to New York City.

Brion Gysin (1916-1986) was a visual artist and writer who was also a longtime friend of and collaborator with William S. Burroughs. Gysin is known for the cut-up technique which he used in his written, sound, and visual works, and his novel The Process (1969). Gysin was born in England, grew up in Canada, and died in Paris, France.