So i picked up Junky by William S. Borroughs (50th anniversay edition)

[Cliche Guevara]

I was reading the new intro, and it says this books is radically different in style than his other books like naked lunch or queer.

also, i did not know he was gay, it hasnt turned me off of reading it (infact just the opposite), but i hoep there isnt like indepth gay sex scene in it.

anyways i was just wondering, if you think this is a good first introducion to his work.

I hear he was very good friends jack kerouac, and kerouac was the one who kept encouraging that that `he really was writer`.

I havent gotten into the book yet as im still reading the intro (which consists of how the book was assembled and the history of the times around which teh book was written)

anyway, is this a reccommended read, is this your favourtie?

[Dionysus]

I read Naked Lunch first, but yeah Junky is a really good book. If your going to start reading Burroughs, that's a good place to start.

And no, I can't remember many in depth gay sex scenes.

[Cliche Guevara]

Oh man i cant put this book down, you know that feeling when you read something really amazing, and you start tingling kinda. I dont even care everyone in the book has a 'partner'

[Ford Prefect]

also, i did not know he was gay, it hasnt turned me off of reading it (infact just the opposite), but i hoep there isnt like indepth gay sex scene in it.

I'd like to point out that, if the gay content in the book hasn't turned you off and infact the opposite has happened, it is inferred that you are then turned on by it.

*obligatory lol fag comment*

:)

Jk, jk... It's a wonderful book. When you've finished I'd see if you can find some recordings of Burroughs reading it too. He's real fun to listen to.

[Dionysus]

I have really wanted to hear a live reading! The guy has the most hypnotic voice :D

[Ford Prefect]

I have really wanted to hear a live reading! The guy has the most hypnotic voice :D

Its true. The audio book it pretty alright too.
http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/4259150/William_S._Burroughs_-_Junky

[Euda]

The book has true grit. It's an impressive work, by any stretch. I've already got the audiobook; it's stunning to hear it read with such passion.

[Cliche Guevara]

Yeah it really is a "rare artifact" of the New York underground scene of the 40-50's

lso the 50th edition has a whole bunch of appendices that were removed, you guys may have read them as you are all more Burroughs savvy than i am. but the part where he talks about how he talks about William Reich and his views on addictions and "orgone collectors"
very interesting even he admits that he may have been wrongly smitten by a lunatic.

I just read something very curious.. (page 60, after he gets out of the Lexington)

"In the French Quarter there are several queer bars so full every night the fags spill out on to the sidewalk. A room full of fags gives me the horrors. They jerk around like puppets on invisible strings, galvanized into hideous activity that is the negation of everything living and spontaneous. The live human being has moved out of these bodies long ago. But something moved in when the original tenant moved out. Fags are ventriloquists' dummies who have moved in and taken over the ventriloquist. The dummy sits in a queer bar nursing his beer, and uncontrollably yapping out of a rigid doll face"

I don't get it I thought he was a poo pusher, how can he talk so disparagingly about his own people. (or is he referring to a certain type of homosexual)

[Euda]

He was married twice, though he accidentally shot and killed one of his wives.

[Cliche Guevara]

Yeah, i read something about how his editors at Ace wanted something about his wife's death into his manuscript, he refused.

so he only became gay later on in life eh?

[Dionysus]

I think he was always at least a closet homosexual, although I personally think he was 4 or something on the Kinsey Scale; prefers homosexuals but occasionally bends the other way. I think that much of his hostility towards other gays was due to a certain level of self loathing, plus he probably wasn't fond of the gay stereotype at the time.

[Village Idiot]

Burroughs was in fact gay, but he never came out of the closet until he got into heroin. Was the drug the bridge? Probably. But regardless, the man is a genius.

I recommend seeing Cronenberg's movie, Naked Lunch. While it doesn't go by the book very well (how can it?) it does explore how Burroughs got into writing in a very quirky way.

[Cliche Guevara]

Did anyone find it very odd how when he gets arrested in New Orleans, there is sudden mention of him having wife and kids. I read a few pages back to see if missed a sentence or something. But yeah that came as quite a shock.

anyway, i just finished reading it, I thought it was a fantastic read (I pretty much read it in one or two sittings), very gritty indeed and bone chillingly accurate in the way it describes heroin addiction.

and did anyone else notice how he would repeat details in his narrative perspective and as a statement someone would say, one example (there are several), Old Ike would mention how when users replace their habit with drinking, they never last more than a few years. A few pages later, he mentions in his narrative voice, how he has seen people 'hit the lush' after they kick the habit and never last more than a few years.

I guess, one explanation could be the gaps he took in between writing it. Something interesting, the new intro says says half of the middle portion (mexico) was actually a light reworking of first half of queer (ive never read queer)

I'm probably going to reread this, then maybe pick up Naked Lunch, or On the Road Again by Kerouac

[Dionysus]

Defiantly pick up Naked Lunch. If you thought Junky was gritty then Naked Lunch is several times grittier, and on acid :D

[Cliche Guevara]

yeaah i love how at the end of junky he goes to colombia to find a new fix. the last of words of book being "yage may be the final fix" so i see he makes the move to psychedelia.

[jailbaitjenkum]

One of my favourite books. In regards to the wife and family thing where he mentions them when he gets arrested Burroughs said that he left his family out of the book purposely - he wanted it to deal with gear exclusively and didn't see how his family had anything to do with addressing the world of the addict. "Queer" follows on pretty much after Junky, although I recommend reading "The Yage Letters" aswell as it fills you in on more stuff. This is also an interesting read as Burroughs leaves out the whole shooting his wife in Mexico bit:http://old.lawrence.com/burroughs/deathofjoan-full.pdf