Speed (novel)

Speed (novel)

infobox Book |
name = Speed
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption =
author = William S. Burroughs, Jr.
cover_artist = Ira Cohen (photo)
country = United States
language = English
series =
genre = Autobiographical novel
publisher = Olympia Press
release_date = 1970
media_type = Print (Paperback & Hardback)
pages = 160
isbn = ISBN 0-7004-0050-8 (first edition, paperback)
preceded_by =
followed_by = Kentucky Ham

"Speed", first published in 1970, was the first of two published novels by William S. Burroughs, Jr., the son of the Beat Generation author William S. Burroughs.

"Speed" is an autobiographical novel about the ins and outs of the life of a methamphetamine addict. It starts out with Burroughs in his grandmother's house in Florida and moves to the streets of New York. It is written in the straight narrative style. Throughout the book the life of the speed addict is explored and the stories of how Burroughs got from being a teenage speed-freak to getting arrested and tried for forging a prescription is touched upon.

Burroughs' other work, "Kentucky Ham" is similar in some aspects to "Speed" and elucidates on the other adventures had by him after "Speed" was written.

Due to the author having an almost identical name to his more famous father, and because the book deals with themes often featured in his father's writings, "Speed" is often erroneously credited to the elder Burroughs.


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