Junky

Junky is a semi-autobiographical novel by American author William S. Burroughs. Originally published in 1953, under the pseudonym William Lee, the story centers on a young man's drug experiences and ever-evolving dependence on heroin or “junk.” The novel is both a landmark work of the Beat generation and a defining testimony in the history of drug-related literature, ranking alongside Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting as a gritty and realistic picture of twentieth-century addiction.

Thirty-year-old William "Bill" Lee is a native Midwesterner living in New York City. The novel opens in 1945 with his first experience shooting morphine. It doesn't take long for Bill to develop a full-fledged addiction. "I drink a lot of coffee," he says, "but you know what's really addictive? Heroin." His habit propels him through the dark underworld of New York City. He engages in petty crime and becomes a small-time dealer himself to support his growing dependence.

Meanwhile, Bill's wife and children are still in his life. Not surprisingly, they take a backseat to his drug use and are rarely among his primary concerns.



The steady things keeping Bill afloat—his family, a consistent job, respectable friends and colleagues—diminish until his life is totally consumed by shadier types and the quest for more junk. His journey leads him to a group that turns out to be police informers, and legal troubles come crashing down around him. To escape the law, Bill flees New York City, but before he does, he attempts to get sober.

He moves to the Brownsville area of Texas and manages to stay sober for a few months. Nevertheless, he faces a problem he wasn't prepared for—boredom. His dissatisfaction with his new, sedate life takes him to New Orleans, where he starts having regular sex with men. However, that, too, eventually loses the novelty factor, and within a few months, Bill is using heroin.

Though he goes down a dark path, Bill is aware of his actions and the consequences they have; namely, the loss of humanity that one experiences when in the throes of an addiction. And while he understands that getting clean is a necessary pain for the addict who wants to become sober, it's one he struggles to make peace with. "Junk turns the user into a plant. Plants do not feel pain since pain has no function in a stationary organism. Junk is a painkiller," he said. "Perhaps the intense discomfort of withdrawal is the transition from plant back to animal, from a painless, sexless, timeless state back to sex and pain and time, from death back to life."



The seedy side of New Orleans proves to be perfectly suited to every vice in Bill's playbook, and he takes full advantage of the debauchery the city has on offer. His life of petty crime and drug-pushing resumes, interspersed throughout with generous amounts of shooting-up.

However, little does Bill know that New Orleans has recently become a target of the feds, and a citywide crackdown on drug users leads to his arrest. After getting out of jail, while awaiting trial, Bill heads back to Texas. There, he makes a valiant attempt to control his drug use—though, now again in the grips of a full-fledged addiction, he does not surrender the habit completely.

With his trial date nearing, Bill learns that he will more than likely receive a long prison sentence. Unable to face this possibility, he leaves the country and goes to Mexico City, where, again, he makes a genuine effort to get his drug use under control.



For nearly a year, Bill remains sober. He maintains a low-key life away from chemical temptation, wiling away his days reading newspapers in the city's cafes and generally lying low. But old habits die hard, and once more the more humdrum aspects of a sober life begin to grate on him. He continues having sex with men, both with male prostitutes and other partners. However, that, too, pales in comparison to junk.

Then, Bill falls in with a group of heroin users and his addiction returns.

Almost a year goes by, and Bill makes a vow to quit heroin. His initial attempts at sobriety meet with failure, so he devises a plan of substitution. He quits the junk, switching it out for heavy drinking and prescription amphetamines. Inevitably, these take a toll on his health, and his mental stability starts to falter.



Over a period of months, his health returns, he gets a hold of his out-of-control drinking and amphetamine use, and he stays away from heroin. A group of friends he knows from New York City arrives in Mexico, and his wife subsequently leaves him. Nevertheless, Bill is undeterred and unbothered by any of this. He hears that there is a new drug which has the mind-altering ability to awaken dormant telepathic and mystical powers in the user. As the novel ends, Bill travels to South America on a quest to find this miraculous drug.