a book
Naked Lunch
William S. Burroughs · 2004 · 289 pages
Since its original publication in Paris in 1959, Naked Lunch has become one of the most important novels of the twentieth century. Exerting its influence on the relationship of art and obscenity, it is one of the books that redefined not just literature but American culture. For the Burroughs enthusiast and the neophyte, this volume--that contains final-draft typescripts, numerous unpublished contemporaneous writings by Burroughs, his own later introductions to the book, and his essay on psychoactive drugs--is a valuable and fresh experience of a novel that has lost none of its relevance or satirical bite.
recommended by 4 people
sourced from public statements
Anthony Bourdain
“Filthy, dangerous, depraved groundbreaking. And funny as Hell. Not an ideal role model, I grant you. But a writer I very much looked up to and wanted, for better or worse, to emulate.”↗
Emma Thompson
“My third choice, which covers my years from 14 to 21, was a tricky one. I remember where I was when I read it: in my father’s study, in a big chair, with my jaw on my lap. At that stage, I was steeped in Victorian culture (I suppose my greatest pleasures were George Eliot and Jane Austen more than almost anyone else). However, I’ve always been fascinated and inspired by otherness and by the forbidden and, in the case of Naked Lunch, by deviance. I remember in particular a scene where a naked bloke crashes through a plate glass window. The book is about sex, drugs, and…and drugs, really. I can’t remember any rock ‘n’ roll. Certainly, I was shocked and scared by Naked Lunch, but what it did was open my mind up.”↗
