Once a junky, always a junky

‘Junk is not, like alcohol or weed, a means to increased enjoyment of life. Junk is not a kick. It is a way of life’ states William Burroughs in ‘Junkie, confessions of an unredeemed Drug Addict', credited to William Lee in its first edition in 1953. (pictured on the left hand side). In ‘Junky’ –the final title of the book, this time credited to William S Burroughs- Burroughs depicts in a raw way what is to be a heroin addict like, I just found very interesting how the story grips the reader from page number one till the last word. ‘Why does an addict get a new habit so much quicker than a virgin, even after the addict has been cleaned for years? I do not accept the theory that junk is lurking in the body al the time –the spine is where it supposedly holes up- and I disagree with all psychological answers. Once a junky, always a junky. You can stop using junk, but you are never off after the first habit’ writes WB later on.

I think raw may be the proper word to catalogue this book, there is not much room for poetry or beautiful descriptions, yet it is rich in terms of language and stile.



It shows you a character that fights and realises what junk is doing to him, but he just cannot stop it, all the attempts fail.
This character reminds me so much of Alexei Ivanovich in Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s the gambler , when I thought "...come on man… you are ruined you cannot make it again...!", but he manages to hole himself up in his vice.

In the same way Bill Lee is totally hooked but tries –sometimes timidly- to get off junk, and when things seem to be all right, fatality shows up.

A really, really good book. Also, browsing for some images to sex up this post I found a very interesting catalogue on Burroughs covers over the years as well as in various languages.

The image above on the right hand side corresponds
to the cover of the version I was reading. (Penguin).