The Mucker

Billy Byrne, Chicago tough, shanghaied, wrecked, and rewritten by a woman he was meant only to frighten. Burroughs without the ape-man myth: class, a jungle, a code that starts as fists and ends as refusal. Rawer than Tarzan, and more human. Barbara Harding is not a prize at the end of a fight; she is the force that makes Billy want a language. Burroughs on class with surprising tenderness, and a last refusal that hurts. Class with surprising tenderness, and a last refusal that hurts.