This largely autobiographical work was the first published novel by the writer. The name is a slang term for an opiate addict. The novel is also known as Junky, and the working title at the time of writing was Junk.
“Kick is seeing things from a special angle. Kick is momentary freedom from the claims of the aging, cautious, nagging, fightened flesh." ― William S. Burroughs, Junky
"Junkie" was created, recorded and released with significant support from Beat founder Allen Ginsberg; Burroughs himself described Ginsberg's role in the creation of the book as "a secret literary agent". Having submitted the idea for starting work on the novel, Ginsberg acted as an editor throughout it. Initially, as part of "Junkie", the manuscript featured a text that later appeared as a separate novel, "Fagot"; in this form, the manuscript was rejected by many publishers as poorly written, uninteresting and provocative. As a result, the publisher for "Junkie" was found by Ginsberg in a mental hospital in New Jersey; Ginsberg himself voluntarily went there after he was kicked out of Columbia University. There he met Carl Solomon, nephew of Ace Books owner A.A.Win. Thanks to the recommendation of his nephew, Win agreed to publish the text, after which Burroughs, on the recommendation of Ginsberg, significantly revised it.
Ace Books was an unauthorized publisher; mostly cheap detective stories and comics were published in it. "Junkie" was published in a two-in-one format along with the book Narcotic Agent by Maurice Helbrant; instead of Burroughs' surname, the book had the pseudonym "William Lee".
In the 1960s and 1970s, after Burroughs gained fame with the publication of "Naked Lunch", "Junkie" was reprinted several times. In 1977, an edited version of the original text was published by Penguin Books with a foreword by Allen Ginsberg. Fragments of the text that speak of Burroughs' homosexual experiments were included in the text for the first time. In 2003, in connection with the 50th anniversary of the publication of the book, Penguin Books published a new edition of the text under an alternative title - Junky: The Definitive Text of "Junk".
Junkie is from Burroughs' early days and has a dry, laconic narrative style. The description of drug experiences, the criminal bottom of society, is sustained in the spirit of "reportage". However, in the part of the novel when the narrator leaves New York, more humane notes appear in the style of the work.
This article was sponsored by Mae Krell.
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