The Ticket That Exploded

[IdleRich]

Junky nailed it and how old is that and I don’t subscribe to disease allusions, it’s escaping from emotional scarring and trauma at a basic, fundamental level of existence

If Burroughs had pstd from either childhood sexual abuse, or unintentionally killing a wife, I mean the Ugly Spirit metaphor is beyond accurate and Sheffield put the title to work too

You can see it, partially, with the dianetics flirtation, the need to self-audit/edit out something

I don't really get the disease thing I gotta say.

Read Junky again recently. A lot of true and interesting stuff but also a lot of it is his personal experience extrapolated to the universal in a way that can frustrate - junkies do x or y and a junky feels like whatever - well some do and some don't, you might be the most famous junky but you aint the only one.

 

[IdleRich]

Yeah, obviously people pick up harmful habits that are extremely hard to break, but if you call it 'addiction' it suggests that they have no personal control or free will at all, like it's completely out of their hands. Not very helpful.

I hear what you're saying here. I've heard several people say "As soon as someone says it or I think of it, that's it I'm picking up, I have no control" - but would they say that sort of thing if they hadn't been reassured it was ok to say that?

 

[Benny Bunter]

I hear what you're saying here. I've heard several people say "As soon as someone says it or I think of it, that's it I'm picking up, I have no control" - but would they say that sort of thing if they hadn't been reassured it was ok to say that?

Exactly.

And also what about all the people who were supposedly 'addicts' who ended up kicking it for whatever reason? There's millions of them.

 

[IdleRich]

Is junky a pejorative term now? Maybe one they reclaim. About ten years back I remember going with my friend to get her subutex from the chemist - which you have to take in front of them to prove you're taking it and are serious about coming off - and he made her wait for his "more respectable" customers and she stood up for herself saying "cos I'm a junky you think you can treat me worse than everyone else who comes in here".

 

[IdleRich]

Exactly.

And also what about all the people who were supposedly 'addicts' who ended up kicking it for whatever reason? There's millions of them.

But people say you're always an alcoholic right? Even if you're an alcoholic that doesn't drink.

 

[Benny Bunter]

That's what I was saying before, the Burroughs worldview tends to abdicate personal responsibilty to outside control

 

[Murphy]

I don't really get the disease thing I gotta say.

Read Junky again recently. A lot of true and interesting stuff but also a lot of it is his personal experience extrapolated to the universal in a way that can frustrate - junkies do x or y and a junky feels like whatever - well some do and some don't, you might be the most famous junky but you aint the only one.

yeah but between Confessions of an English Opium Eater and today, it’s stood the test of time

you could do an entire anthropological study of just laudanum alone

my favourite Burroughs morphine reference is in Cities of the Red Night, early on, when the jungle adventurer’s entire supply for his mission comes away in this hessian bag as the river current catches him off guard

that “oh jfc”, swap it for fine scotch and it’s not a million miles away in terms of capturing the disappointment of a major stash loss

 

[Benny Bunter]

Not to say he wasn't a genius and worth reading, cos he was/is, but still...

 

[Murphy]

That's what I was saying before, the Burroughs worldview tends to abdicate personal responsibilty to outside control

 

[IdleRich]

yeah but between Confessions of an English Opium Eater and today, it’s stood the test of time

you could do an entire anthropological study of just laudanum alone

my favourite Burroughs morphine reference is in Cities of the Red Night, early on, when the jungle adventurer’s entire supply for his mission comes away in this hessian bag as the river current catches him off guard

that “oh jfc”, swap it for fine scotch and it’s not a million miles away in terms of capturing the disappointment of a major stash loss

Yeah Junky is fucking brilliant don't get me wrong, I just like the anecdotes and personal bits more than the bits where he extends to the universal. Or not like them more, I believe them more. But yeah it's hard to see Junky dropping out of sight and people will still read it cos it's still relevant like the De Quincy which is also brilliant of course - though after I read it I found out there were two versions and so I don't know which one i read.

That's always my worst nightmare though losing your stash in somewhere you have no fucking chance of replacing it. I even felt sorry for Jack Black in Tropic Thunder despite I'd always hated him prior to that. I like/hate/fear the bit in that Nico book where they play somewhere in Eastern Europe and the agent tells the booker she needs "special fuel" wink wink to perform can you sort it? And when they turn up he's got two barrels of contraband petrol or something....

 

[Benny Bunter]

But people say you're always an alcoholic right? Even if you're an alcoholic that doesn't drink.

Yeah they do. But why label it like that? It doesn't seem very helpful to anyone trying to break a bad habit to tell them that. And I don't think it has any objective basis as a diagnosis really. If alcohol wasn't freely available and there as a temptation, if you lived on a desert island, you'd soon get over it. I think the real problem is human weakness in the face of temptation.

 

[IdleRich]

Yeah they do. But why label it like that? It doesn't seem very helpful to anyone trying to break a bad habit to tell them that. And I don't think it has any objective basis as a diagnosis really. If alcohol wasn't freely available and there as a temptation, if you lived on a desert island, you'd soon get over it. I think the real problem is human weakness in the face of temptation.

I think it's helpful to some people which doesn't mean it's a) helpful to everyone or b) true - which is kinda important.

You're right about the desert island analogy, in Portugal I smoke about 30 cigarettes a day but now I'm back in England and I realised (again) that it's about five times the price I just thought fuck that and stopped. From one or two packs a day to none instant cut-off and not smoked for a few weeks now, no cravings that are stronger than my desire to not part with 20 plus euros for a pack. The only time I think of tabs are when someone smokes on telly or I chat to a friend and they're like "just a sec, lighting a cig".

 

[Benny Bunter]

I've read junky but it was years ago and can't remember anything about it now. He definitely keeps coming back to it and Queer in the cut up era books.

¡Oye! Are any of you lot gonna read Ticket? I've already started it.

 

[Benny Bunter]

I think it's helpful to some people which doesn't mean it's a) helpful to everyone or b) true - which is kinda important.

You're right about the desert island analogy, in Portugal I smoke about 30 cigarettes a day but now I'm back in England and I realised (again) that it's about five times the price I just thought fuck that and stopped. From one or two packs a day to none instant cut-off and not smoked for a few weeks now, no cravings that are stronger than my desire to not part with 20 plus euros for a pack. The only time I think of tabs are when someone smokes on telly or I chat to a friend and they're like "just a sec, lighting a cig".

Had almost exactly the same experience last time I was in england visiting my parents, didn't smoke the whole time i was there, didn't even miss it. Should have just kicked the habit then, but I started again as soon as I got back to Spain

 

[version]

A lot of true and interesting stuff but also a lot of it is his personal experience extrapolated to the universal in a way that can frustrate - junkies do x or y and a junky feels like whatever - well some do and some don't, you might be the most famous junky but you aint the only one.

This goes for a lot of people's models. You look at someone like Foucault or Andrea Dworkin and you can clearly see how the theory's their particular traumas and fixations blown up into a system. The same goes for Ballard. It's clear everything he wrote was shaped by those childhood experiences in the Japanese internment camp.

 

[Benny Bunter]

This goes for a lot of people's models. You look at someone like Foucault or Andrea Dworkin and you can clearly see how the theory is their particular traumas and fixations blown up into a system projected onto the rest of the world. The same goes for Ballard. It's clear that everything he wrote was shaped by those childhood experiences of the Japanese internment camp.

And if they're a great writer it can be so convincing you can end up losing your own perspective on things.

 

[IdleRich]

Had almost exactly the same experience last time I was in england visiting my parents, didn't smoke the whole time i was there, didn't even miss it. Should have just kicked the habit then, but I started again as soon as I got back to Spain

I will too no doubt

 

[IdleRich]

Version's and BB's posts both good, together they excellently summarise the situation.

 

[version]

That's what I was saying before, the Burroughs worldview tends to abdicate personal responsibilty to outside control

He spent his whole life ducking responsibility: for his wife's death, for his son and his death, for all sorts of things. I suppose it's a logical outcome of growing up rich enough to be bailed out whenever necessary, likewise his libertarian politics.

There's a bit of tension there, actually. He's got the libertarian thing of being able do whatever you want without anyone fucking with you, but he also seemed to view people as essentially machines to be programmed, so are you ever really doing what you actually want?

 

[Benny Bunter]

.

There's a bit of tension there, actually. He's got the libertarian thing of being able do whatever you want without anyone fucking with you, but he also seemed to view people as essentially machines to be programmed, so are you ever really doing what you actually want?

He was way ahead of his time in this respect, it's the same tension that the counterculture of the late 60s into the 70s had. No wonder that's when he became really influential.