Introduction

“WILD BOYS 2: Chapter O: An Aspiring Initiate's Letter of Application to Know Mysteries” is part of an ongoing project, WILD BOYS 2, that I intend as a sequel to William S. Burroughs’ queer utopian novel, The Wild Boys, continuing, interpreting and critiquing some of the author’s themes and images. WILD BOYS 2 is about queer desire, magic, masculinity, fraternity, wilderness, violence, catharsis, and the creation/destruction of self. The five drawings comprising this chapter were made with the theme of initiation in mind. Odin, god of magic and secret knowledge, figures explicitly or indirectly in each of them.

I make my drawings with colored pencil in sketchbooks and notebooks that are no larger than 12". These sketchbooks are modeled, in part, on magical diaries or records — journals that catalog the spells, rituals and magical experiments of aspiring mages. I scan the drawings and post them regularly to a blog. I enjoy their oddly occult second life as jpegs on the Internet.

— Elijah Burgher