Junky by William S. Burroughs

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 and peddling heroin and 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 original text word by word. From the tenements of New York to the queer bars of New Orleans, Junky takes the reader into a world at once long-forgotten and still with us today. Burroughs’s first novel is a cult classic and a critical part of his oeuvre.

- Google

The 821st greatest fiction book of all time


This book is on the following lists:

  1. - The Best Classics (The Times)
  2. - 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die (The Book)

Buy This Book

Name Binding Sales Rank Lowest New Lowest Used Published
Junky Mass Market Paperback 10341160 $9.00 1999
Junky (Penguin Essentials) Paperback 5394848 $5.81 $4.94 2012
Junky: The Definitive Text of "Junk" Kindle Edition 20720 2012
Junky: The Definitive Text of "Junk" (50th Anniversary Edition) Paperback 171549 $11.14 $1.15 2003
Junky Audio CD 2497869 $173.13 $50.00 2000
Junky Audible Audio Edition 7023 $17.95 2013
Junky Paperback 830055 $5.22 $0.01 1977
Junky (Collection Folio) (French Edition) Paperback 8821935 $6.98 $4.58 2008
[(Junky)] [Author: William S. Burroughs] published on (April, 2012) Paperback 8475608 $15.93 2012
William Burroughs Junky (Penguin Modern Classics) /anglais Paperback 1018866 $8.17 $1.49 2008
Yonqui Paperback 8275685 $19.37 $19.36 2006
Modern Classics Junky (Penguin Modern Classics) Paperback 2919792 $2.07 2002
Junky: The Definitive Text of "Junk" Paperback 67897 $8.98 $7.48 2012