`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.` Thus, one of the creative visionaries of the Beat movement recites the junk equation, the calculus by which heroin redefines the addict`s world. Burroughs`s quasi-autobiographical narrative makes for a raw, fragmented and disturbing account of hallucinations, ghostly nocturnal wanderings, strange sexual encounters and quests to ease the hunger of the needle. This legendary account of one man`s challenge to turn self-destruction into art is as shocking and powerful as it has ever been.