Firecrackers and whistles sounded the advent of the New Year of 1965

in St. Louis. Stripteasers ran from the bars in Gaslight Square to dance in
the street when midnight came. Burroughs, who had watched television
alone that night, was asleep in his room at the Chase Park Plaza Hotel, St.
Louis's most elegant.
Pitos y petardos sonaron con la llegada del Ao Nuevo de 1965 en San
Luis. Artistas del striptease corrieron desde los bares en la Gaslight
Square para bailar en la calle mientras la medianoche llegaba. Burroughs,
que haba estado viendo solo la televisin esa noche, sin dormir en su
cuarto del Chase Park Plaza Hotel, el ms elegante de San Luis.
At noon the next day he was ready for the interview. He wore a gray
lightweight Brooks Brothers suit with a vest, a blue-striped shirt from
Gibraltar cut in the English style, and a deep-blue tie with small white
polka dots. His manner was not so much pedagogic as didactic or forensic.
He might have been a senior partner in a private bank, charting the
course of huge but anonymous fortunes. A friend of the interviewer,
spotting Burroughs across the lobby, thought he was a British diplomat.
At the age of fifty, he is trim; he performs a complex abdominal exercise
daily and walks a good deal. His face carries no excess flesh. His
expression is taut, and his features are intense and chiseled. He did not
smile during the interview and laughed only once, but he gives the
impression of being capable of much dry laughter under other
circumstances. His voice is sonorous, its tone reasonable and patient; his
accent is mid-Atlantic, the kind of regionless inflection Americans acquire
after many years abroad. He speaks elliptically, in short, clear bursts.
Al medioda del da siguiente estaba listo para la entrevista. Portaba
un traje gris y ligero de los Brook Brothers con un chaleco, camisa de
rayas azules de estilo ingls cortada en Gibraltar, y una corbata de
profundo azul con pequeos puntos blancos. Sus maneras no eran tan
pedaggicos como didcticos o forenses. l pudo haber sido un socio
mayoritario en un banco privado, calculando el curso de enormes pero
annimas fortunas. Un amigo del entrevistado, vio a Burroughs en el

lobby, pensado que l era un diplomtico britnico. A la edad de

cincuenta, l est arreglado; a diario realiza un complejo ejercicio
abdominal y camina un buen trecho. Su rostro no lleva carne en exceso.
Su expresin es firme (o tensa) y se caracteriza por su intensidad y
cincelada. l no sonre durante la entrevista y solamente re por una
cosasin, pero l da la impresin de ser caqpazs de una clida risa bajo
otras circunstancias. Su voz es sonora y su tono es razonable y paciente;
su acento es mid-atlantic, el tipo de inflexin sin lugare que los
norteamericanos afquieren despus de muchos aos afuera. l conversa
elpticamente, en resumen, en rfagas claras.
On the dresser of his room sat a European transistor radio; several
science fiction paperbacks; Romance, by Joseph Conrad and Ford Madox
Ford; The Day Lincoln Was Shot, by Jim Bishop; and Ghosts in American
Houses, by James Reynolds. A Zeiss Ikon camera in a scuffed leather case
lay on one of the twin beds beside a copy of Field & Stream. On the other
bed were a pair of long shears, clippings from newspaper society pages,
photographs, and a scrapbook. A Facit portable typewriter sat on the
desk, and gradually one became aware that the room, although neat,
contained a great deal of paper.
En el armario de su cuarto hay un radio europeo; algunas revistas de
ciencia ficcin; Romance, de Jospeh Conrad y Ford Madox Ford; The Day
Lincoln Was Shot, de Jim Bishop; y Ghosts in American Houses, de
James Reynolds. Una cmara Zeiss Ikonen en un forro araado de cuero
reposa en una de las camas gemelas junto a una copia de Field & Stream.
En la otra cama hay un par de tijeras largas, recortes de las pginas de
sociedad de un peridico, fotografas y un lbum de recortes. Un mquina
escribir porttil Facit en el escriorio. Gradualmente uno empieza a ser
consciente en la habitacin, aunque solo contiene una gran cantidad de
papel.
Burroughs smoked incessantly, alternating between a box of English
Ovals and a box of Benson & Hedges. As the interview progressed, the
room filled with smoke. He opened the window. The temperature outside

was seventy degrees, the warmest New Year's Day in St. Louis's history; a
yellow jacket flew in and settled on the pane. The bright afternoon
deepened. The faint cries of children rose up from the broad brick alleys
in which Burroughs had played as a boy.
Burroughs fuma incesantemente, alternado entre una caja de English
Ovals y una caja de Benson & Hedges. A medida que la entrevista
progresaba, el cuarto se llen de humo. l abri la ventana. La
temperatura afuera era de 17 grados, la ms calurosa en la historia del
Ao Nuevo en San Luis; una chaqueta amarilla vol y se organiz sobre el
cristal. La brillante tarde se hiz profunda. Los dbiles chillidos de los
nios subieron desde los callejones de amplios ladrillos en los que
Burroughs haba jugado desde nio.
INTERVIEWER
You grew up here?
ENTREVISTADOR
Creciste aqu?
WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS
Yes. I went to John Burroughs School and the Taylor School, and was
out West for a bit, and then went to Harvard.
WILLIAM BURROUGHS
S. Fui a la escuela de John Burroughs y a la Taylor School, y esutov un
rato fuera del este, entonces fui a Harvard
INTERVIEWER
Any relation to the adding-machine firm?

ENTREVISTADOR
Alguna relacin con la firma de mquinas de sumar?
BURROUGHS
My grandfather. You see, he didn't exactly invent the adding machine,
but he invented the gimmick that made it work, namely, a cylinder full of
oil and a perforated piston that will always move up and down at the same
rate of speed. Very simple principle, like most inventions. And it gave me
a little money, not much, but a little.
BURROUGHS
Mi abuelo. Como ves, l exactamente no invent la mquina de
sumar, pero l invent el truco que la hizo funcionar, a saber, el cilindro
llen de aceite y el pistn perforado que permite siempre moverse hacia
arriba y abajo a la misma velocidad. Es un principio muy simple, como la
mayora de las invenciones. Y l me dio un poco de dinero, no mucho,
pero un poco.
INTERVIEWER
What did you do at Harvard?