Mention Books Toward Junky
| Original Title: | Junky |
| ISBN: | 0142003166 (ISBN13: 9780142003169) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Characters: | William S. Burroughs |
William S. Burroughs
Paperback | Pages: 208 pages Rating: 3.83 | 53589 Users | 1533 Reviews
Specify Regarding Books Junky
| Title | : | Junky |
| Author | : | William S. Burroughs |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | 50th Anniversary Definitive Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 208 pages |
| Published | : | April 1st 2003 by Penguin (first published April 15th 1953) |
| Categories | : | Fiction. Classics. Novels. Literature. American. Contemporary. 20th Century |
Explanation Supposing Books Junky
Before his 1959 breakthrough, Naked Lunch, an unknown William S. Burroughs wrote Junky, his first novel. It is a candid eye-witness account of times and places that are now long gone, an unvarnished field report from the American post-war underground. Unafraid to portray himself in 1953 as a confirmed member of two socially-despised under classes (a narcotics addict and a homosexual), Burroughs was writing as a trained anthropologist when he unapologetically described a way of life - in New York, New Orleans, and Mexico City - that by the 1940's was already demonized by the artificial anti-drug hysteria of an opportunistic bureaucracy and a cynical, prostrate media. For this fiftieth-anniversary edition, eminent Burroughs scholar Oliver Harris has painstakingly recreated the author's original text, word by word, from archival typescripts and places the book's contents against a lively historical background in a comprehensive introduction. Here as well, for the first time, are Burroughs' own unpublished introduction and an entire omitted chapter, along with many "lost" passages, as well as auxiliary texts by Allen Ginsberg and others.Rating Regarding Books Junky
Ratings: 3.83 From 53589 Users | 1533 ReviewsNotice Regarding Books Junky
William Burroughs' hypnotically poignant writing was excellent in Naked Lunch, and Junkie is no different in that regard. This gripping story of the ugliness and confusion of drug addiction in the post-war 1950's is slightly dated but still relevant even today.This could be the best anti-drug book ever written. It is certainly the odd-boy out in the Burroughs family of novels.This is not the William S. Burroughs of The Wild Boys: A Book of the Dead (Burroughs, William S.) and certainly not the same guy who wrote Naked Lunch: The Restored Text. This is a Burroughs who's not talking to himself or talking to his admirers. Instead this an author who is stretching to reach the reader with the actual smelly, lonely, desperate, empty reality of the junky.
I want to point out that my low rating for this one is based from a perspective of someone who, unfortunately, grew up around a lot of junkies. I can only guess that for those who have not experienced it, this story could be poignant, shocking even. As for me, not only was there nothing disturbing about this book for me, but there just seemed to be no story here. It felt like reading the journal of an addict who daily described how he did his drugs, how he scored, and the prices he paid for his
Well holy shit, high-five to you, early teens me! Though I may have mixed feelings about some things I loved back in my formative, pointlessly cynical years, this rereading experience was actually, well, kinda rad. Can I say that at almost 30? Rad? Or am I getting to where it's like when your folks n' grandfolks try to quote "the hip lingo of the kids these days" and it enters your brain like aural chipboard? This novel held up, is my point. Maybe I'm just an asshole (probable), but Burroughs
Reading Junky as a college student was a revelation: it was the first time I felt I heard an authors authentic voice. Burroughss clipped sentences, his directness, his matter-of-fact statements about what things were really like, his view of a world I didnt know about began a life-long fascination. Its easy to dismiss Junky because of its subject matter of heroin addiction; that its just a fad or something young adults might think is cool. But he does it with such artistic depth. Even the
The life of a heroin addict30 July 2011 When I first bought this book I thought it was written by the same guy that wrote Tarzan (yes they have the same last name, but that is about it). It turns out that it wasn't, and Burroughs was not a fiction writer, but rather, as the introduction to the version that I read, the father of the beat generation. However, one does wonder how he ended up becoming a writer because from reading this book one wonders how he ever actually amounted to anything.
Well-written, but numb, heading nowhere in a world where the uplifting hope written in at the end of the book feels like yet another trap. It's enough to turn sane people away from drugs, with its silent warnings and constant feeling of bleakness and dullness.It made me wonder why the policemen who showed up at our school to explain how we shouldn't do drugs felt compelled to lie and make it sound like we'd be dead a few months after the first shots, when Burroughs would have done the trick much
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