Burroughs > I only read The naked lunch, but it was a revelation. In my presentation topic, I said that before Bukowski, I never read such crude words. But actually, I did ; I just forgot to quote Burroughs (and also Lautréamont).
Nabokov > Lolita.
Le Clézio > I rediscovered and appreciated him thanks to his Nobel Prize. The fact is that when I was 11 or 12, I read some of the short stories he wrote for youngsters and they didn't please me, so that I totally neglected him for years. After he obtained the Nobel, I wanted to give him a second chance, and I chose a book everyboby suggested me : Désert, which deeply captivated me.
This Nobel being attributed to a French writer of course delighted me, especially at a time where it has become fashionable to talk about the so-called decline of French culture (see the famous Time Magazine's article in 2007 which gave birth to a book one year later...). Authors who receive it all write books dealing with issues that have a universal dimension, i.e. books transcending borders of all kind. It turns out that Le Clezio's work is perfectly in line with that "world literature", his books mainly developing such themes as humanity, identity, civilisations, and cultural diversities. He's a real citizen of the world who travels a lot, his trips feeding his work. His sober and poetical style also contributes to his universality.
Two other French names circulated : Patrick Modiano and Annie Ernaux. But these ones are too "Franco-French" writers, they had no chance to win it compared with Le Clézio.
One of my professors published one of his books in the early 90s. She described him as a very agreeable and humble person and enjoyed working with him.