SOURCE: "Beats' Burroughs Survives in Pop, Gay Culture," in Chicago Tribune (online publication), August 4, 1997.

[In the following obituary, Obejas appreciates Burroughs's influence on modern music and art.]

"But I'm dying," says William Burroughs in his flat, unflinching voice on the song, "Interlude 3 (The Vultures are Gone and Will Never Come Back)," a collaboration with the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy. Then, with just a hint of a smirk in his voice, Burroughs adds, "No, you're not."

Burroughs, one of the founding figures of the Beat Generation, actually died Saturday in Lawrence, Kan., after a heart attack. He was 83. But anyone who thinks that's the end of him doesn't understand the effect Burroughs continues to have on literature and popular culture.

"He's turning out to be have been enormously influential, especially on artists who go into the inferno and report back," said James McManus, author of the novel Going to...