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  • Published: 12 June 2012
  • ISBN: 9780241956786
  • Imprint: Penguin General UK
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 144
  • RRP: $22.99

Junky




New edition of the Penguin Essential of the most mesmerising account of heroin addiction ever written

'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'

William Burroughs, legendary drug addict, founder member of the Beats and author of Naked Lunch, relates with unflinching realism the addict's life: from initial heroin bliss to an unabated hunger for the needle, and the horrors of cold turkey and back again.

  • Published: 12 June 2012
  • ISBN: 9780241956786
  • Imprint: Penguin General UK
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 144
  • RRP: $22.99

About the author

William S Burroughs

William S. Burroughs was born in 1914. His first published novel was the largely autobiographical Junky, which remains a classic depiction of the constant cycle of drug dependency, cures and relapses he was victim to for most of his life. In 1951, in a drunken William Tell stunt, he accidentally shot and killed his common-law wife. He is most famous for his use of the 'cut-up' technique of writing and the novel Naked Lunch. His other major works included Queer, Exterminator! The 'Nova Trilogy' (The Soft Machine, Nova Express and The Ticket That Exploded) and the 'Red Night Trilogy' (Cities of the Red Night, The Place of Dead Roads and The Western Lands). He died in 1997.

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Praise for Junky

Reads today as fresh and unvarnished as it ever has

Will Self

As vital and visceral as ever

Daily Telegraph