Burroughs appears in the first part of '' The Illuminatus ! Trilogy '' by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson during the 1968 Democratic National Convention riots and is described as a person devoid of anger , passion , indignation , hope , or any other recognizable human emotion . He is presented as a polar opposite of Allen Ginsberg , as Ginsberg believed in everything and Burroughs believed in nothing . Wilson would recount in his '' Cosmic Trigger II : Down to Earth '' having interviewed both Burroughs and Ginsberg for '' Playboy '' the day the riots began , as well as his experiences with Shea during the riots , providing details on the creation of the fictional sequence
1968 Democratic National Convention
1968 Democratic National Convention
William S. Burroughs