Naked Lunch

I recently read Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs. I had to read it for class and we got a little bit of a warning before hand, so I new it was going to be something. I did not expect to like it but I love it. It is an interesting novel and not for the squeamish or those with low tolerance. The hallucinogenic novel is about drugs, homosexuality and death. It is an incredible work of creative writing and I would recommend this to anyone who is willing to try it.

Naked Lunch is told in small vignettes. It is very descriptive and, in many cases, there are graphic descriptions of drug use, sex and death. The vignettes describe a hallucinogenic world that often doesn't seem to have a common thread, except for the same place, Interzone. The world is fascinating and mesmerizing and the descriptions are captivating and strangely kind of sensual. 50 pages went by quickly but sometimes you do need a small break from the content of the book but then you get back to it and it grabs hold of you again.

This is such a weird work to talk about and it can be really difficult to actually summarize the plot. It follows a character called Bill Lee, I don't remember if he is ever named by name but it is in the blurb on the back, and his journey's through Interzone. It is written in a kind of stream of consciousness-ish text or a kind of journal-ish text without the dates. It doesn't really have a regular plot and is mostly a collection of vignettes. The blurb on the back is an interesting read.

The blurb on the back of my copy of Naked Lunch

David Cronenberg said that this book is one that you can read however you like. You don't have to start at the beginning, you can start at the end or the middle or wherever you like. It is not really something that has to be read in a certain way and it is a book that has been said to be unadaptable. David Cronenberg adapted the atmosphere, mood and the place to the screen with a huge part of Burroughs own life as well as a part of Cronenberg himself. The film is therefore, not as crazy as the book is and does not really reference that much from the book itself. Cronenberg's vision is to "speak the unspeakable, show the unshowable" and in many ways that is what the book does.

Still from Naked Lunch (1991)

Naked Lunch has had its troubles getting to the printers and to the people. Many vignettes were written on napkins and if it wasn't for his friends, mostly Alan Ginsberg but also the other Beats, this work would not have been published. In 1966 Naked Lunch faced the Massachusetts Supreme Court and won it's case. It was a turning point in literary censorship where the unspeakable had become speakable. For an interesting read and more info on this case, you can read this article by Frederick Whiting, "Monstrosity on Trial: The Case of Naked Lunch" which talks about the Massachusetts Supreme Court decision and what lead up to it.

Naked Lunch is a fascinating piece of literature. I love it. I feel like I shouldn't love it but I do. It is engaging and I started it and was slightly puzzled and then I continued and it was difficult to put the book down. It is really good and incredibly written, and honestly I think it is in my top 10 favourite books. It is really something that I have not been able to get out of my head.