Goodreads Librarians Group discussion

There are errors that need to be cleaned up with the book Junky by William S. Burroughs.

Because this is a pretty old book with a ton of editions, I’m going to just focus on current English-language editions of the book and older editions that I can find on the Internet Archive.

1. Current US Edition: Junky: The Definitive Text of "Junk" (ISBN 9780802120427)

- Oliver Harris needs to be added with the Editor/Introduction role.

- The publication date is incorrect. It should be October 2, 2012.

- “unknown” needs to be removed from the Editions field.

- The description is incorrect. It should read as follows:

In his raw and most autobiographical novel, Junky, also his debut, Burroughs fictionalized his experiences using and dealing heroin and other drugs in the 1940s. The Burroughs-like protagonist of the novel, Bill Lee, seesaws between periods on junk and off junk, using a panoply of substances including heroin, cocaine, marijuana, paregoric, and goof balls. From the tenements of New York to the queer bars of New Orleans, Junky is a field report from the American postwar drug underground, a cult classic that has influenced a generation of writers, and a critical part of Burroughs’s oeuvre. For this definitive edition, renowned Burroughs scholar Oliver Harris has gone back to archival typescripts to re-create the author’s original text word by word.

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2. Current US Ebook: Junky: The Definitive Text of "Junk" (ISBN 9780802194053)

- The ASIN is missing. As per Goodreads policy, it needs to be the same as the ASIN (0802194052)

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3. 2003 Penguin Edition: Junky (ISBN 9780142003169)

- The description is missing paragraph breaks. It should read as follows, transcribed from the back cover:

The definitive edition of Burroughs’s seminal first novel

Before his 1959 breakthrough, Naked Lunch, an unknown William S. Burroughs wrote Junky, his first novel. It is a candid eyewitness account of times and places that are now long gone, an unvarnished field report from the American post-war underground.

Unafraid to portray himself in 1953 as a confirmed member of two socially-despised under classes (a narcotics addict and a homosexual), Burroughs was writing as a trained anthropologist when he unapologetically described a way of life - in New York, New Orleans, and Mexico City - that by the 1940s was already demonized by the artificial anti-drug hysteria of an opportunistic bureaucracy and a cynical, prostrate media.

For this fiftieth-anniversary edition, eminent Burroughs scholar Oliver Harris has painstakingly recreated the author's original text, word by word, from archival typescripts and places the book's contents against a lively historical background in a comprehensive introduction. Here as well, for the first time, are Burroughs' own unpublished introduction and an entire omitted chapter, along with many “lost” passages, as well as auxiliary texts by Allen Ginsberg and others.

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4. Penguin Mass Market Paperback: Junky (ISBN 9780140043518)

- The entire paragraph starting with “Before his 1959 breakthrough” needs to be removed from the description.

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5. Penguin Essentials Edition: Junky (ISBN 9780241956786)

- The description is incorrect. It should read as follows, transcribed from the back cover:

'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 S. 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.

An original, first-hand account which outraged fifties America, Junky remains one of the most raw and mesmerizing accounts of heroin addiction ever written.

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6. Penguin Modern Classics Paperback Edition: Junky (ISBN 9780141189826)

- Oliver Harris needs to be added with the Introduction/Editor role.

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7. Penguin Modern Classics Ebook Edition: Junky (ISBN 9780141904016)

- The page count is missing. It should be 208.

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All done:)

Thank you for your help. Two more quick issues that seem to have popped up on #5:

- The author is incorrect. It needs to be William Burroughs.

- The format is incorrect. This is a regular paperback, not a mass market paperback.

Drace wrote: "Thank you for your help. Two more quick issues that seem to have popped up on #5:

- The author is incorrect. It needs to be William Burroughs.

- The format is incorrect. This is a regular paperba..."

All done:)

Thanks!!