Posted by Snoozy on June 5, 2003, at 18:30:22
In reply to Re: Burroughs and post WW-II America » wendy b., posted by Ritch on June 5, 2003, at 10:25:09
>Then, he tried to join the OSS -- forerunner of the CIA --
Wow, I've been thinking about this one. Given the weird stuff the OSS was into, with the LSD and all, what on earth it would have been like with Burroughs in there! Definitely an interesting what-if.
I love the ferret bit, thanks! It's even more fun to think the course of 20th century history hinged on a pet ferret. I know that's quite a stretch, but I need a good diversion!
>Then, he tried to join the OSS -- forerunner of the CIA -- as a field agent, using a well-connected uncle as his contact. But the Colonel Donovan who conducted the interview brought in a guy named James Phinney Baxter, his director of research and analysis, who it turned out had been Burroughs' house master at Harvard, and get this - he hadn't allowed Burroughs to keep a ferret in his room! (I find this so funny!) And he intensely disliked Burroughs, so he didn't get in there, either. Probably a good thing for us literati, though, cuz can you imagine Burroughs' sensibility getting poisoned by working for the CIA? Now there's an image!
> For one final foray into the service: Bill was drafted in 1942, finally, but his mother was connected enough to pull strings to get him out.
>
poster:Snoozy
thread:228711
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/books/20030426/msgs/231756.html