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Junky
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Junky Paperback - 2003

by William S. Burroughs

Before his 1959 breakthrough, Naked Lunch, an unknown William S. Burroughs wrote Junk, his first book, a candid, eyewitness account of times and places that are now long gone. This book brings them vividly to life again; it is an unvarnished field report from the American postwar underground. For this definitive 50th-anniversary edition, eminent Burroughs scholar Oliver Harris has painstakingly re-created the author's original text, word by word, from archival typescripts. Here for the first time are Burroughs's own unpublished Introduction and an entire omitted chapter, along with many "lost" passages and auxiliary texts by Allen Ginsberg and others. Harris's comprehensive Introduction reveals the composition history of Junk's text and places its contents against a lively historical background.


Summary

Before his 1959 breakthrough, Naked Lunch, an unknown William S. Burroughs wrote Junk, his first book, a candid, eyewitness account of times and places that are now long gone. This book brings them vividly to life again; it is an unvarnished field report from the American postwar underground. For this definitive 50th-anniversary edition, eminent Burroughs scholar Oliver Harris has painstakingly re-created the author's original text, word by word, from archival typescripts. Here for the first time are Burroughs's own unpublished Introduction and an entire omitted chapter, along with many "lost" passages and auxiliary texts by Allen Ginsberg and others. Harris's comprehensive Introduction reveals the composition history of Junk's text and places its contents against a lively historical background.

From the publisher

Before his 1959 breakthrough, Naked Lunch, an unknown William S. Burroughs wrote Junk, his first book, a candid, eyewitness account of times and places that are now long gone. This book brings them vividly to life again; it is an unvarnished field report from the American postwar underground. For this definitive 50th-anniversary edition, eminent Burroughs scholar Oliver Harris has painstakingly re-created the author's original text, word by word, from archival typescripts. Here for the first time are Burroughs's own unpublished Introduction and an entire omitted chapter, along with many "lost" passages and auxiliary texts by Allen Ginsberg and others. Harris's comprehensive Introduction reveals the composition history of Junk's text and places its contents against a lively historical background.

Details

  • Title Junky
  • Author William S. Burroughs
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition 50 Anv
  • Pages 208
  • Language EN
  • Publisher Penguin (Non-Classics), E Rutherford, New Jersey, U.S.A.
  • Date April 1, 2003
  • ISBN 9780142003169

About the author

William S. Burroughs (1914-1997)--guru of the Beat Generation, controversial eminence grise of the international avant-garde, dark prophet, and blackest of black humor satirists--had a range of influence rivaled by few post-World War II writers. His many books include Naked Lunch, Queer, Exterminator!, The Cat Inside, The Western Lands, and Interzone.

Oliver Harris edited The Letters of William S. Burroughs 1945-1959. He is currently a lecturer in American Literature at the University of Keele.

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Junky: The Definitive Text of Junk (50th Anniversary Edition)
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Junky: The Definitive Text of "Junk" (50th Anniversary Edition)

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Junky: The Definitive Text of Junk (50th Anniversary Edition)
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Junky: The Definitive Text of Junk (50th Anniversary Edition)
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Junky: The Definitive Text of "Junk" (50th Anniversary Edition)

by William S. Burroughs; Editor-Oliver Harris; Introduction-Oliver Harris; Foreword-Allen Ginsberg

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Junky: The Definitive Text of "Junk" (50th Anniversary Edition)

by Burroughs, William S.; editied & with intro by Oiver Harris

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New York: Penguin Books, 2003. -----The scan you see is the book you get. Large soft cover/trade (roughly) 7 3/4" by 5" (inches), tight clean and square, flat spine, xxxix, 166 pages, Very Good condition with minor edge wear, front cover corner crrease, back cover corner crease. "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 & peddling heroin & 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… Read More
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Junky: The Definitive Text of 'Junk' (50th Anniversary Edition)
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Junky: The Definitive Text of 'Junk' (50th Anniversary Edition)

by William S. Burroughs

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Junky: The Definitive Text of 'Junk' (50th Anniversary Edition)
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Junky: The Definitive Text of 'Junk' (50th Anniversary Edition)

by William S. Burroughs

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Junky: The Definitive Text of "Junk" (50th Anniversary Edition)

by William S. Burroughs

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A tight and unmarked copy-" Before his 1959 breakthrough, Naked Lunch, an unknown William S. Burroughs wrote Junk, his first book, a candid, eyewitness account of times and places that are now long gone. This book brings them vividly to life again; it is an unvarnished field report from the American postwar underground. For this definitive 50th-anniversary edition, eminent Burroughs scholar Oliver Harris has painstakingly re-created the author's original text, word by word, from archival typescripts. Here for the first time are Burroughs's unpublished Introduction and an entire omitted chapter, along with many "lost" passages and auxiliary texts by Allen Ginsberg and others. Harris's comprehensive Introduction reveals the composition history of Junk's text and places its contents against a lively historical background." About the Author: William S. Burroughs (1914-1997) guru of the Beat Generation, the controversial éminence grise of the international avant-garde, dark prophet, and blackest of black… Read More
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Junky: The Definitive Text of Junk (50th Anniversary Edition)
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Junky: The Definitive Text of "Junk" (50th Anniversary Edition)

by William S. Burroughs, Oliver Harris (Editor), Oliver Harris (Introduction), Allen Ginsberg (Foreword)

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