The Western Lands

infobox Book |
name = The Western Lands
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = 1987 Viking Press hardcover edition.
author = William S. Burroughs
cover_artist =
country = United States
language = English
series = Cities of the Red Night trilogy
genre = Novel
publisher = Viking Press
release_date = 1987
media_type = Print (Hardcover and Paperback)
pages = 258 pp
isbn = ISBN 0670813524
preceded_by = The Place of Dead Roads
followed_by =

The Western Lands by William S. Burroughs, published in 1987, is a novel which is the final part of the trilogy that begins with "Cities of the Red Night" and "The Place of Dead Roads". The title refers to the western bank of the Nile River, which in Egyptian mythology is the Land of the Dead. Inspired by the Egyptian Book of the Dead, it explores the after-death state by means of dream scenarios, hallucinatory passages, talismanic magic, occultism, superstition, and Burroughs’ characteristic view of the nature of reality.

The prose is notable in that shifts back and forth between Burroughs characters and episodes clearly drawn from his own life. Scenes that are unmistakably auto-biographical include vignettes where Burroughs takes out evidence of amphetamine prescription bottles his mother gave him to sink with a large stone at the bottom of Lake Worth, Florida. The bottles were evidence his mother found in her grandson’s, Burroughs own son, bedroom. While Burroughs is ankle deep in the water, his aged mother is stalling police investigators in her home. Yet the novel also dives backwards into ancient history giving the plot a perspective on death that attempts to transcend Christian theology. Burroughs acknowledges being inspired by Norman Mailer’s "Ancient Evenings", an expansive novel published in 1983 about ancient Egypt set a thousand years before Christianity. Nevertheless, there are unmistakable references to contemporary culture, for instance Mick Jagger appears in some episodes- again perhaps drawn from the author’s own recent biography.

Despite the narrative challenge of the historical framework, the novel is often regarded as Burroughs' best late work and a gratifying culminating episode of the "Cities" trilogy. According to The Guardian, it is his best work after "Naked Lunch". ["Guardian Unlimited". "Books" [http://books.guardian.co.uk/authors/author/0,,-29,00.html William S. Burroughs] . "The Guardian" and Media Limited 2007. (Accessed 12 May 2007).] .

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