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Junky

The Definitive Text of "Junk"

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eBook published by Grove Press (Grove/Atlantic, Inc.)

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About This Book
Junk is not, like alcohol or a weed, a means to increased enjoyment of life. Junk is not a kick. It is a way of life.

In his debut novel, Junky, Burroughs fictionalized his experiences using and peddling heroin and other drugs in the 1950s into a work that reads like a field report from the underworld of post-war America. The Burroughs-like protagonist of the novel, Bill Lee, see-saws between periods of addiction and rehab, using a panoply of substances including heroin, cocaine, marijuana, paregoric (a weak tincture of opium) and goof balls (barbiturate), amongst others. For this definitive edition, renowned Burroughs scholar Oliver Harris has gone back to archival typescripts to re-created the author's original text word by word. From the tenements of New York to the queer bars of New Orleans, Junky takes the reader into a world at once long-forgotten and still with us today. Burroughs’s first novel is a cult classic and a critical part of his oeuvre.
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Junk is not, like alcohol or a weed, a means to increased enjoyment of life. Junk is not a kick. It is a way of life.

In his debut novel, Junky, Burroughs fictionalized his experiences using and peddling heroin and other drugs in the 1950s into a work that reads like a field report from the underworld of post-war America. The Burroughs-like protagonist of the novel, Bill Lee, see-saws between periods of addiction and rehab, using a panoply of substances including heroin, cocaine, marijuana, paregoric (a weak tincture of opium) and goof balls (barbiturate), amongst others. For this definitive edition, renowned Burroughs scholar Oliver Harris has gone back to archival typescripts to re-created the author's original text word by word. From the tenements of New York to the queer bars of New Orleans, Junky takes the reader into a world at once long-forgotten and still with us today. Burroughs’s first novel is a cult classic and a critical part of his oeuvre.
Product Details
eBook (256 pages)
Published: October 2, 2012
Publisher: Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
Imprint: Grove Press
ISBN: 9780802194053
Other books byWilliam S. Burroughs
  • Naked Lunch

    Naked Lunch
    The Restored Text
    Since its original publication in Paris in 1959, Naked Lunch has become one of the most important novels of the twentieth century. Exerting its influence on the relationship of art and obscenity, it is one of the books that redefined not just literature but American culture. For the Burroughs enthusiast and the neophyte, this volume—that contains final-draft typescripts, numerous unpublished contemporaneous writings by Burroughs, his own later introductions to the book, and his essay on psychoactive drugs—is a valuable and fresh experience of a novel that has lost none of its relevance or satirical bite.

    And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks

    And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks
    In the summer of 1944, a shocking murder rocked the fledgling Beats. William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, both still unknown, we inspired by the crime to collaborate on a novel, a hard-boiled tale of bohemian New York during World War II, full of drugs and art, obsession and brutality, with scenes and characters drawn from their own lives. Finally published after more than sixty years, this is a captivating read, and incomparable literary artifact, and a window into the lives and art of two of the twentieth century’s most influential writers.

    The Place of Dead Roads

    The Place of Dead Roads
    A Novel
    A good old-fashion shoot-out in the American West of the frontier days serves as the springboard for this hyperkinetic adventure in which gunslingers, led by Kim Carson, fight for galactic freedom. The Place of Dead Roads is the second novel in the trilogy with Cities of the Red Night and The Western Lands.

    The Job

    The Job
    Interviews with William S. Burroughs
    The Job is William S. Burroughs at work, attacking our traditional values, condemning what he calls "the American nightmare," and expressing his often barbed views on Scientology, the police, orgone therapy, history, women, writing, poitics, sex, drugs, and death. His conversation splices images of death-by-hanging with elevators and airports, the story of his drug addiction and cure with ideas on the use of hieroglyphs.

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BookReviews
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  • July 02, 2012
    LibraryThing User

    Junky, William S. Burroughs' first published novel, displays none of the experimental writing techniques that characterize Naked Lunch and other later novels. It is simply a straightforward, hard-boiled autobiographical novel about drug addiction. It begins with the narrator, William Lee's, first experience with morphine. It follows his career as an addict and occasional dealer in New York City, New Orleans, the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, and Mexico City, ending abruptly when Lee decides to leave for South America."Junk" is the term Burroughs uses for all opium derivatives. The novel dwells extensively on the various forms of the drug, the culture of addicts and pushers, laws and enforcement practices, and the various methods for breaking an addiction. He develops and expounds his own theories on the physiology of addiction and withdrawal, which he calls "junk sickness." He addresses a number of what he calls myths about drugs, explaining, for example, that marijuana and cocaine are not physically addictive and claiming that it takes at least two months of regular use to create a heroin addiction. He also castigates a society that treats addiction as a crime rather than a "condition of being."Though Burroughs based Junky closely on his experiences, he screened out anything that wasn't directly related to drugs. He mentions a wife a couple of times, but we have no idea who she is or how she came into his life. Later there is a reference, and only one, to "the children." Nor is there ever the slightest hint that the protagonist is an intellectual associating closely with other poets and writers. The writing in Junky is mostly cold, clinical and detached. The narrator provides extensive descriptions of his symptoms, but scarcely any of his feelings. Occasionally, however, when describing a setting such as the forlorn landscape of the Texas border, the lineup of addicts in a New Orleans jail, or the shady characters in a Mexican bar, Burroughs' prose ascends to powerful and poetic heights.

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    Junky, William S. Burroughs' first published novel, displays none of the experimental writing techniques that characterize Naked Lunch and other later novels. It is simply a straightforward, hard-boiled autobiographical novel about drug addiction. It begins with the narrator, William Lee's, first experience with morphine. It follows his career as an addict and occasional dealer in New York City, New Orleans, the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, and Mexico City, ending abruptly when Lee decides to leave for South America."Junk" is the term Burroughs uses for all opium derivatives. The novel dwells extensively on the various forms of the drug, the culture of addicts and pushers, laws and enforcement practices, and the various methods for breaking an addiction. He develops and expounds his own theories on the physiology of addiction and withdrawal, which he calls "junk sickness." He addresses a number of what he calls myths about drugs, explaining, for example, that marijuana and cocaine are not physically addictive and claiming that it takes at least two months of regular use to create a heroin addiction. He also castigates a society that treats addiction as a crime rather than a "condition of being."Though Burroughs based Junky closely on his experiences, he screened out anything that wasn't directly related to drugs. He mentions a wife a couple of times, but we have no idea who she is or how she came into his life. Later there is a reference, and only one, to "the children." Nor is there ever the slightest hint that the protagonist is an intellectual associating closely with other poets and writers. The writing in Junky is mostly cold, clinical and detached. The narrator provides extensive descriptions of his symptoms, but scarcely any of his feelings. Occasionally, however, when describing a setting such as the forlorn landscape of the Texas border, the lineup of addicts in a New Orleans jail, or the shady characters in a Mexican bar, Burroughs' prose ascends to powerful and poetic heights.


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  • December 30, 2010
    LibraryThing User

    An incredibly accurate description of the life of an addict, whether now or 50 years ago. A must read for any lover of literature. One of my favorite books, and the first I have read of William S. Burroughs, but I'm hoping to add more of his work to my library now that I have discovered this work.

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    An incredibly accurate description of the life of an addict, whether now or 50 years ago. A must read for any lover of literature. One of my favorite books, and the first I have read of William S. Burroughs, but I'm hoping to add more of his work to my library now that I have discovered this work.


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  • December 30, 2009
    LibraryThing User

    This book is the record of a dangerous filled with the glamor of filth and the grime of suffering. The narrative neither decries nor glamorizes "junk", but rather lays out a picture for the reader to absorb with his own eyes. This picture is often desperate and disturbing, but also humorous. The antics of the jonesing narrator keep the reader interested, and the plot is easily moved along by his need. The cast of characters around him, comprised by pushers, needy pests, and easily unlikable cops adds a good dose of humor. I find that these elements aide in presenting a more readable and quality work than "On the Road", by Burrough's contemporary Kerouac. Burroughs' debut novel gives us a fascinating glimpse into a world that many of us will never see. Perhaps that is to our benefit.

    Show less

    This book is the record of a dangerous filled with the glamor of filth and the grime of suffering. The narrative neither decries nor glamorizes "junk", but rather lays out a picture for the reader to absorb with his own eyes. This picture is often desperate and disturbing, but also humorous. The antics of the jonesing narrator keep the reader interested, and the plot is easily moved along by his need. The cast of characters around him, comprised by pushers, needy pests, and easily unlikable cops adds a good dose of humor. I find that these elements aide in presenting a more readable and quality work than "On the Road", by Burrough's contemporary Kerouac. Burroughs' debut novel gives us a fascinating glimpse into a world that many of us will never see. Perhaps that is to our benefit.


    Was this review helpful to you? Helpful|Not Helpful


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