Novel Junky - William S. Burroughs

This is one of the first book written about the subject of heroin addiction. Certainly it has it's precursors, perhaps most famously, De Quincey's Confessions of an English Opium Eater. The book was first published as an Ace double in 1953, along with a strongly anti-drug book called Narcotic Agent by Maurice Helbrant. Burroughs used his mothers maiden name Lee as a pen name. Although the book is dubbed a novel, this is an expedience due to the sensitive nature of the subject matter at the time, and I believe the story to be fully autobiographical, with perhaps some names changed, etc.

The book begins with an introduction that attempts to explain how Burroughs became an addict, essentially because he had no strong motivation in any other direction, and what addiction means. He says, rather tellingly, later on in the book that no one knows what it means to use junk until they become sick (this word is used to mean experience opiate withdrawals in case it's a new use to you).

The style is interesting because I don't think Burroughs ever lapses into emotion but simply documents his experiences for the most part. However every now and again his imagination runs riot and he comes up with incredibly strange views on things. Most strikingly is perhaps the assertion that around junk neighbourhoods there are certain types, probably from Egypt, who work at some unspeakable trade vaguely connected with the dead and who have lips purple in colour like a penis. It is often easy to miss these flights of fancy and confuse them with the generally factual narrative.

So what exactly is the book about? Simply put: how Burroughs first acquires a habit, and what he does after acquiring it. There are, among others, scenes from Florida (where people come to die), Mexico city, where a 300 lb (130-140 kg) Woman is the only pusher in town, and the Lexington Narcotics Farm which was a central treatment centre for all of America in it's day. Interspersed with the facts, and the florid touches are some accurate observations on the nature of addiction. He describes junk-sickness well but also says accurately that no description can do justice to what it's like to experience.

It is a very good book in my view, interesting, short, and easy to read. It may surprise you if you have read the Naked Lunch and especially if you have read The Soft Machine and most of all The Ticket that Exploded. There is no cut-up-and-fold-in (a literary technique Burroughs used where he wrote something, cut it up into phrases, and reassembled the components in a random way) , and apart from the odd flight-of-fancy, which works very well, it stays on focus and is for the most part devoid of graphic homosexuality, which is evident in most of his other work. However Burroughs' ability to tell a story shines through, and it is something of a page turner.

This and De Quincy's Opium Eater were my cat's companions when he first entered into the world of opiates, and remain to this day close to my heart. Burroughs has a unique voice and this is him at his simple best. I refer the interested reader to Wiki if they want to see a more formal review.

Reputation Comments on this post:

	thanks for the book review
	Thanks for the refresher - it's been a while since I read this, but I remember it's a great book.