Alan Burns

Alan Burns (1929-2019) was a British avant-garde novelist known for innovative works like Europe After the Rain (1965), inspired by painters such as Max Ernst and employing collage and cut-up techniques influenced by William Burroughs. Born in London, he studied at Merchant Taylors' School, was called to the bar in 1956, and held various roles including barrister, legal manager at Beaverbrook Newspapers, and professor of English at the University of Minnesota before lecturing at Lancaster University. His fiction, marked by surrealism and themes of death stemming from personal losses, challenged traditional novel forms while maintaining a humanist perspective.