Tony Tanner
THE NEW DEMONOLOGY
". . . human aggregates disinteg–
rating in cosmic insanity, random
events in a dying universe."
-Junkie
William Burroughs is an addict turned diagnostician, a
vIctim of sickness now devoted to the analysis of diseases. He has
lived a nightmare and, in a series of books, he is now transforming
it into a vision. He has created a vivid and recognizable fictional
universe and there is no doubt at all that through this he is concerned
to convey a distinct series of warnings and prescriptions. Not for
nothing do so many of his scenes revolve around doctors, surgeons,
hospitals, sanitariums, etc. (common images in the fiction of this
century) ; the possibilities of healing are a matter of real concern to
his haunted, horror-struck imagination. The paradox of Burroughs
the man-namely, an almost irresistible urge to explore ever more
extreme forms of addiction counteracted by a fierce impulse for
cure-has provided the vital impetus for Burroughs the writer. His
work certainly deserves to be taken seriously and before considering
its significance it is worth trying to outline the world he has created,
to participate, as far as one can, in his vision.
It helps to start with
Junkie,
his first book, written in the early
fifties under the name of William Lee (who remains
his
persona
in
later work). Burroughs now speaks disparagingly of this early work
and it certainly bears little trace of the technical experiments which
have absorbed him in more recent years. Yet its autobiographical
candor and its uncomplicated narrative simplicity provide many
