Heroin / Heroine: Addiction as Narrative and Transgression in Junky and Trainspotting

• Název práce v češtině: Heroin / hrdinka: Závislost jako vyprávění a transgrese v románech Feťák a Trainspotting
• Název v anglickém jazyce: Heroin / Heroine: Addiction as Narrative and Transgression in Junky and Trainspotting
• Klíčová slova: heroin|hrdinka|zneužívání návykových látek|závislost|transgrese|unikání před skutečností|samota|vyprávění jako závislost
• Klíčová slova anglicky: heroin|heroine|substance abuse|addiction|transgression|escapism|solitude|narrative as addiction
• Akademický rok vypsání: 2018/2019
• Typ práce: bakalářská práce
• Jazyk práce: angličtina
• Ústav: Ústav anglofonních literatur a kultur (21-UALK)
• Vedoucí / školitel: Mgr. Miroslava Horová, Ph.D.
• Řešitel: skrytý - zadáno a potvrzeno stud. odd.
• Datum přihlášení: 20.05.2019
• Datum zadání: 20.05.2019
• Schválení administrátorem: zatím neschvalováno
• Datum potvrzení stud. oddělením: 27.05.2019
• Datum a čas obhajoby: 05.09.2019 08:30
• Datum odevzdání elektronické podoby: 14.08.2019
• Datum proběhlé obhajoby: 05.09.2019
• Odevzdaná/finalizovaná: odevzdaná studentem a finalizovaná
• Oponenti: Colin Steele Clark, M.A.

Zásady pro vypracování

In my bachelor thesis I will analyze and compare two texts representing drug literature, Junky by William Burroughs (1977) and Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh (1993), both also representing transgressive fiction - a genre exploring the notion that knowledge is gained at the edge of the experience. The term was coined by the American literary critic Michael Silverblatt. The two texts have one common denominator - heroin - but they are of completely different narrative form, background, length and style. Nevertheless, they both show the destructiveness of heroin addiction and at the same time provide insight into the delicate world of enhanced consciousness and represent the variety of its possible literary representation. Drug literature spread rapidly after WWII, many texts inspired by substances changing consciousness entering the literary canon, but the roots of drug literature date long before WWII. A short overview of the history of drug literature will be given, from the nineteenth century onwards.
The attitude of the male protagonists towards the female characters will be discussed. Heroin plays a major role in both novels chosen for analysis and it occupies the textual position of the heroine. The term heroine suggests a strong woman character of extraordinary qualities; it is somebody who is traditionally influential, powerful – thematically, conceptually, psychologically, discursively. And so is the homophone heroin. Whom and what did heroin push aside in these texts or whose presence does heroin block? In Junky the presence of female figures is crucially neglected. The main protagonist has a wife but she is mentioned for the first time only half-way through the novel, only briefly. There are no emotions expressed when it comes to women. More precisely, there are almost no emotions at all throughout the whole novel. The narrator in Junky sees his wife as a source of money which he uses to appease his only permanent passion - heroin. Heroin is the point of reference most of the time, the narrator's wife is sidelined. When she talks, her words are ignored and ridiculed. She is marked by absence and disinterest in the novel. The position of the narrator's life partner is occupied by heroin but heroin is not feminized. The narrator expresses his feelings only to the drug and to some of his male sexual partners. The aspect of sexualised addiction will be discussed. Similarly, in Trainspotting the majority of female figures are downgraded to sexual objects but most of the main male characters recognize their own inability to form relationships, they are able to verbalize this problem and even regret it, whereas in Junky, the main character is not aware of his ineptitude to nourish a relationship. In Junky heroin represents the main life choice, the protagonist identifies himself with it, he and heroin become inseparably and deliberately bound together. Theoretically, heroin acts as a doppelgänger, an evil twin, the harbinger of misfortune. In Trainspotting, heroin serves as a temporary escape from life, it is the time of transition and transgression, time of growing up and sorting out priorities. Trainspotting is a book about relationships; its overt brutality and harshness is put in contrast with the shallowness of conformity.
In the next part, selfishness imposed by heroin addiction and its textual repercussions will be examined. Heroin is a selfish substance. It is extremely jealous and holds its victim firmly in its embrace. Any attempt to escape from its snares is punished by withdrawal effects and feelings of emptiness and the impending void. The exclusive connection between heroin and its user makes the user utterly solipsistic, ruthless and insensitive towards the outside world. This form of selfish behaviour is particularly connected with substances causing physical addiction and heavy withdrawal effects, heroin being a prime example of such a substance. Every relationship of the heroin user is marred and twisted, the only relationship that exists is the one between heroin and its user. This is described in detail in Junky, where everything outside the heroin world loses importance. Burroughs ends up describing one heroin binge after another, the plot loses momentum and descends to bare description of feeling high and feeling low. It becomes rather dull, without a drive, and the selfish view of oneself translates into the novel completely by repetitive description of ordeals connected with acquiring the drug, repetitive use of vocabulary and limited plot development. Trainspotting has more connection with society outside the junky world. Family members interfere with the various narrators and offer their view, often as gloomy as the view of a drug addict. Society is seen as cruel, unhelpful, depressing, boring and limited. The narrators of the novel come across as ruthless and selfish. The narrative is fragmented, focused on transgression on many levels. Their selfishness derives from the conditions they were brought up in. Dysfunctional families and grim reality of growing up in poverty play an important role in the narration. Applying voices of different narrators and their different points of view makes the novel less monotonous, with a strong element of graphic naturalism. Transgressive techniques corroborate the topic of addiction as transgression.
The last part of my thesis will analyse the specific embodiment of "heroine" in the two texts. Both novels describe relationships of a young narrator / narrators. A relationship usually stipulates at least two parties and some emotional involvement. In a traditional sense, the counterpart of a hero is a heroine - in this case, the position of the heroine is taken up by heroin, the closest friend and fiend, exemplifying transgression on multiple levels. When we follow the journey of the main character in Junky, the addiction prevails and heroin becomes a part of his life by choice, it becomes his heroine of extraordinary qualities, it becomes a personification of somebody who is important, influential, powerful. Heroin gradually becomes the heroine. In Trainspotting, heroin becomes only a temporary crutch, an escape from one void to another and with the maturing of the main characters, heroin loses its grip and doesn't become the heroine. The heroine, the female counterpart of extraordinary qualities, the important, influential and powerful one, is Scotland. A place interwoven with love and belonging, a place to which all the main characters eventually re/turn to. Trainspotting is a transgressive novel, the narrators are confined by society and rebel against its expectations. The protagonists are trying to find their identity by transgression. They test the boundaries of the society, law, and body. The identity of the narrators in Trainspotting is enhanced by the use of Scots. The language (Scots) and the setting (Edinburgh) are essential parts of their and the text’s identity. It demarcates a place of belonging, it distinguishes the narrators from the English, it anchors them. In Junky the narrator opts for vocabulary used specifically amongst drug users in America. The use of the specific vocabulary helps the narrator to identify himself with the drug underworld. Again the narrator transgresses the boundaries of society, law and body.

Seznam odborné literatury

Primary sources:
Burroughs, William. Junky. New York: Penguin Books. 2003.
Welsh, Irvine. Trainspotting. London: Vintage Books. 2001.

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