Naked Lunch

[Jack_Aubrey]

So I bought William S. Burrough's timeless classic Naked Lunch last night, and I'm about 40 pages in now. But I'm having a problem... I have no clue what is going on! For a few pages I'll get what the narrator (who is also the lead character, and NAMELESS!!!) is talking about, and then he'll do drugs and the narration becomes completely unintelligble.

So I come to you, my friends on the Literature Network, and I ask those of you who have read the book to PLEASE FILL ME IN. Thank You.

[papayahed]

I've made 3 attempts and have yet to finish the book.

[Jack_Aubrey]

Have you made any conclusions?

[papayahed]

My opinion is that it is simply the ramblings of a druggie that doesn't mean much and I'm quite surprised that it was even published, But then again I'm not much for getting at the deeper meaning of things.

[Jack_Aubrey]

Hmm, well I appreciate your opinion, and hearing it makes me wonder why it's considered to be "one of the most important books of the 20th century." Thanks. No one else has taken a stab at it?

[papayahed]

Hmm, well I appreciate your opinion, and hearing it makes me wonder why it's considered to be "one of the most important books of the 20th century." Thanks. No one else has taken a stab at it?

oh cool, were can I find that list?

[wanderlust_ox]

Naked lunch.. I've never heard of it. But there is a MAC eyeshadow in that shade.. haha.

what is it about?

[Jack_Aubrey]

oh cool, were can I find that list?
You can't, it was a quote on the back of the book. :P


What is it about?

Oh, if I only knew. That's kind of why I started this thread.

[mister_noel_y2k]

i swear to god, naked lunch along with on the road are the two most overrated books of all time. you can literally flick to any page you want to in naked lunch and get reading without worrying about missing any stuff in the preceding pages.

the book is actually a conglomeration of notes that burroughs scribbled while coming off of heroin and ginsberg collected and put together into a "book". kerouac came up with the title.

i read the book over 2 years ago and i cannot remember a thing. its nonsense. it should never have been a book. it is just notes from a guy who was literally sick and was far too ill to come up with a coherent story. if you saw the 1991 david kronenberg film you might understand some of what is in the book but on the whole its all just hype and nonsense. its boring. my god is it boring. get it away from me! if you want to read an actually good william burroughs book then get junky, which is just great. naked lunch is for wannabe poets and pretentious fools.

:banana:

[mister_noel_y2k]

i forgot to mention why people think this book is important. i met a friend from the high school days who went to uni and studied the beats and he is a huge fan of burroughs. he didnt really explain why he was so great but the one interesting thing he said about the book was that it broke social taboos at the time, it talked about pederasts, drugs, beatnik culture, drugs, drugs and more drugs, and i forget what else. but apparently before this book such things weren't published and this book broke all social barriers. so there you have it, its not actually a good book after all its just a publishing and social phenomenon.

ps. naked lunch sucks.

:banana:

[mister_noel_y2k]

and i forgot to mention its unreadable garbage. thank you.


:banana:

[papayahed]

hey mister noel, you shouldn't keep things bottled up, let it out.... :lol: :banana:

[Jack_Aubrey]

I don't hate it, and I certainly like it more than Noel here.

[mister_noel_y2k]

what do you like about it


:banana:

[Jack_Aubrey]

First of all stop with the banana...haha. I like how it's different, it doesnt tell the conventional story of one character and what he does. It's very original in the way we aren't really filled in on what's going on, and as a reader I can be frustrated by that, but If I do I'm not focusing on the direction of the book.

:banana:

[Jack_Aubrey]

Ugh, the more disgusting and vulgar this book gets, the more I feel like I don't want to read all of it.

[PeterL]

It has been a few years since I read Naked Lunch, so I don't remember the details, but I consider it to be worth reading. It is unconventional, but the stream of consciousness makes sense in many places, and it gives, or is said to give, something of the thinking of an intellectual heroin addict. Burroughs' use of symbolism isn't clear, but much of Naked Lunch shouldn't be understood literally, and some can't be understood at all.

[mister_noel_y2k]

so it should be worth reading because its different and its different because its unreadable? i bet if none of you had the printed blurb on the back of the book you wouldnt be able to give me a summary of what the book is about.

[Jack_Aubrey]

I don't feel that way, because I read the book and some guy from the New York times calls it "Satire....excruciatingly funny." I can't agree with that because I don't know what the speaker is talking about yet. And I never said that it was worth reading for those reasons, I named those reasons because you asked what I liked about the book. And if those reasons make it worth reading then it only makes it worth reading for me.

[mister_noel_y2k]

well duh of course those reasons for reading it are yours thats what i asked you why it was worth reading for. at any rate, anyone who says naked lunch is "excruciatingly funny" has obviously led a closed life and is probably on prescription medication


:banana:

[Scheherazade]

We all interpret things differently; that is especially so when it comes to literary works and, I believe, it is wonderful to have this diversity of reactions and interpretations. However, please avoid resorting to personal attacks when disagreements arise.

[Jack_Aubrey]

I'll take a mental note of that Scher, sorry.

[mister_noel_y2k]

i think people here are old enough to put up with the odd criticism mr administrator.

and anyway that was a contradiction scher. have the right to have your own opinion but if people disagree then its censored. hmm

[Scheherazade]

Noel,

We are all entitled to our own opinions but that does not give us to ridicule/demean/belittle others. And I am sorry to hear that you consider this cencorship. We hope to create a welcome atmosphere here for everyone. People are hardly criticised here for their views but maybe for the way they express themselves.

[Jay]

There's criticism and there's saying one has to be sick to like a book you disaprove of.

[Jack_Aubrey]

Well, I'm finished with the book, now I'm just entertaining some of the extra stuff in the back of the book. Editor's note and the like.

[PeterL]

Now that you have finished reading it, do you have a firm opinion about it?

[Jack_Aubrey]

Yeah, it's a compilation of notes that were taken down by the author during his time as a junky from 1950-59, when the book was published. They were taken during what he calls "The Sickness," or in lehmans terms, the time when the junk was wearing off and the user started to hallucinate/leave his state of conciousness. Burroughs says that he does not remember taking the notes because of his state of mind.

Knowing that, it's easy to conclude that these notes are so unintelligble that it's hard and very frustrating to try and take something away from reading it. But you get a sense of what it's like to be an addict, and how lunatic tendencies take over when an addict doesn't have drugs. It also is a prime example of how to do things differently, this book is classified as a novel but has no plot, no understandable dialogue, and no named main character or antagonist. What I took away from that is the idea that writing does not always have to be so formal. You don't have to do it exactly one way, you can get a point across in any way possible. Some people might not get it (and in the case of Naked Lunch, many didn't get it) and some will.

Jack Kerouac chose the title for this book upon Burroughs request, and for many years Burrough's didn't know what it meant. But in a note in the afterword Burrough's explains that "it's exactly what it says it's a Naked Lunch, it's sitting there and realizing that everything on the end of the fork looks the same."

[PeterL]

I took "Naked Lunch" to be essentially autobiographical, rather than a novel, so the central character is Burroughs. It has some interesting imagery, but, as you noted, no plot, but there is a definite central theme: heroin. Some of his other books have a strong theme of , I started to write paranoia but that isn't the right word because the fear is rational, but the fear extends far beyond where it is ratioonal, so paranoia may be right. Anyway, there is that kind of umbrella of fear in Naked Lunch also. For that reason it has some of the feeling of 1984.

[Jack_Aubrey]

I couldn't sense it.

[PeterL]

I may be thinking of the wrong book by him. Several of his books are rather similar to Naked Lunch. I have to reread some.

[Jack_Aubrey]

Yeah. There really wasn't any clear theme.

[mister_noel_y2k]

jack, there wasn't a clear anything.

"There's criticism and there's saying one has to be sick to like a book you disaprove of."
jay

and when did i say that jay? i just disagreed with someone when they said that they liked a book they didn't understand. i mean whats the point if its all gibberish and "tells you what its like to be coming off of heroin" when its just random scrawlings that add up to nothing. what does that tell you? that coming off of heroin is hard? well duh.

i would suggest looking at "trainspotting" the movie for that great scene with the baby crawling across the ceiling while ewan mcgregor's character is coming off of heroin. that scene says more than the entirety of naked lunch.

as for burroughs, if you want to read something great by him read "junky" which is a far better book and shows burroughs' talent off wonderfully. it's also one of my favourite books just in case anyone thinks i hate burroughs personally.

:banana:

[Jay]

Noel, I was talking about this post (http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showpost.php?p=94960&postcount=20) and didn't know what else to call a person on medical prescribtions, I wasn't quoting you directly.

[genoveva]

Suprisingly I haven't read Naked Lunch yet- although I have it. Or did I? Anyhow, I do agree that Junky is a worthwhile read. Also, The Yage Letters , which is a small collection of letters between Burroughs and Ginsberg as they search for the South American (I believe) naturally growing hallucinogenic drug they name "Yage", is a nice follow up to that read.

In addition to the previous comments about why reading Naked Lunch might be worthwhile, I think there is value to reading writings created by persons in alternate states of minds/consciousness. From the descriptions, it seems like Naked Lunch might be more of a surrealistic compilation. And in that case, no plot or main characters would be expected.

And he is of course, a major figure in the Beat Generation!

(Wondering when I'm going to find the time to read this book, now...)

[Cartier789]

naked lunch is much more than drugged up ramblings, its a satire of societys obsession with power and control and of the government. the fantasy worlds government parties- liquefactionists, divisionists, senders, they're all parodys of something in our world like totalitarianism, dictatorship, racism,even homosexuality. the power is expressed through the doctors and the 'human virus'. ADDICTION is a HUGE part of it--humans addiction to power, and drugs. that is why it is an important piece of literature from the 20th century.

[Shalot]

I bought Naked Lunch and I started to read but I got bored. I want to try it again but I sold the book to a used book store so that I could buy something better. Now, after reading all the comments I want to try reading it again.

Someone made the comment about how the scene from Trainspotting conveys the difficulty of coming off drugs better than this book. That's the difference between visual images and words. Sometimes, a writer can put it down better than any movie can ever capture. I just really want to read this book now so that I can decide for myself.

[rabornj]

'Naked Lunch', a horrible waste of reading time. There are thousands of books out there that will move your soul. Why waste time on a drug addict's senseless ramblings?

[Babbalanja]

'Naked Lunch', a horrible waste of reading time. There are thousands of books out there that will move your soul. Why waste time on a drug addict's senseless ramblings?Oh, please. Naked Lunch is the sickest, most outrageous satire of the twentieth century. And it's funny as hell.

[Demian]

My suggestion to you is to pick up the movie version starring Peter Weller and let this inform your analysis. This is like cheating to some, but I did this with Interview with the Vampire (ad. before first reading) and with Henry and June as a prelude to reading Henry Miller--not to mention The Last Temptation of Christ Etc... I love to read and I love the cinema. When cinema is done well and it was inspired by a famous piece of Lit it can be a great source of inspiration. I don't remember the quote verbatim but I can parapharse the Muse that drove Burroughs...'As appaling as the thought may be, all of my life and my writing was derived from a single incident in my life--and that was the accidental death of my wife by my own hand. I do not think that I would have become a writer if it were not for this tragic and fateful event...'

[Ryan_002]

float on the words. Don't worry about whether or not mugwumps are real. Just sit back and watch the images fly by. :yawnb:

[Mortis Anarchy]

So I bought William S. Burrough's timeless classic Naked Lunch last night, and I'm about 40 pages in now. But I'm having a problem... I have no clue what is going on! For a few pages I'll get what the narrator (who is also the lead character, and NAMELESS!!!) is talking about, and then he'll do drugs and the narration becomes completely unintelligble.

So I come to you, my friends on the Literature Network, and I ask those of you who have read the book to PLEASE FILL ME IN. Thank You.

Same thing is happening to me!!!! Thank goodness this thread is here!

[rob91]

I picked it up in the bookstore once, read a couple of pages said "wtf" and put it down. I think at some point it may be worth a read, but there's just so much other stuff I want to get to. Interesting to see it blasted so much around here.

[hampusforev]

Naked Lunch IS a masterpiece, I'm quite surprised how many here seems to look their noses down upon it. But that's why I love it though. It's brutal, bizarre, unconventional and macabre. As a concept it's genius, is it a "good" read? Nah, not really, doesn't have any narrative as already stated. But the story about the man who taught his rectum to speak is so incredible hilarious. I also think the book has a certain amount of beautiful language in it. Just the fact that it was banned on act of censorship (last major censorship in America btw) makes it an interesting read.

[Hank Stamper]

i think a healthy smack habit probably helps

i read it about five or six years ago so cant really remember much detail, other than i dont think i really had a clue what was going on.. might have to revisit it and see if i can make any sense of it now

[blp]

So I bought William S. Burrough's timeless classic Naked Lunch last night, and I'm about 40 pages in now. But I'm having a problem... I have no clue what is going on! For a few pages I'll get what the narrator (who is also the lead character, and NAMELESS!!!) is talking about, and then he'll do drugs and the narration becomes completely unintelligble.

So I come to you, my friends on the Literature Network, and I ask those of you who have read the book to PLEASE FILL ME IN. Thank You.
Same thing is happening to me!!!! Thank goodness this thread is here!

I read this first when I was nineteen and got nothing from it except a feeling of nausea. At the end of my Paladin edition there's a correspondence from the Times of London, following a negative review of the book titled simply 'Ugh'. Numerous people wrote in for and against the book including Michael Moorcock, Edith Sitwell and Anthony Burgess. I read this and it made me want to go back and try again and, surprisingly, I immediately enjoyed it much more.

It does look like meaningless chaos at first, but if you spend enough time with it, it resolves into several distinct episodes, linked by subject matter and theme. Some of these are very funny and the first, dreamlike but relatively realistic chapter, is very beautifully written.

The chaos remains, but I don't think it's meaningless. I think Burroughs uses it quite deliberately, teasing us with the promise of order, narrative order specifically, only to plunge us repeatedly back into the squelchy nightmare of effluvia, sexual violence, drugs, power games and monstrosities that represent everything society both disavows and depends upon, the dark underworld that runs the show. it keeps coming back like a bad penny. The desire for narrative order that it disrupts is the desire to ignore all this. Burroughs doesn't let us.

A better cinematic equivalent than Cronenberg's adaptation of the book is Godard's Weekend, as unwatchable to many as the book is unreadable.

[blp]

at any rate, anyone who says naked lunch is "excruciatingly funny" has obviously led a closed life and is probably on prescription medication


Careful not to shoot the messenger. Just because Burroughs describes sickness doesn't mean he or his appreciative readers are mentally ill themselves.

[blp]

Jack Kerouac chose the title for this book upon Burroughs request, and for many years Burrough's didn't know what it meant. But in a note in the afterword Burrough's explains that "it's exactly what it says it's a Naked Lunch, it's sitting there and realizing that everything on the end of the fork looks the same."

Sorry, can't resist correcting this, just because the quote as it actually reads is so good:

"The title means exactly what the words say: naked lunch, a frozen moment when everyone sees what is on the end of every fork."

[blp]

Just been browsing in the book and, must say, it's hard to find a bad sentence.

Sounds about two decades ahead of anything else from that time and still amazingly relevant as satire:



I have not seen Benway since his precipitate departure from Annexia, where his assignment had been T.D. - Total Demoralization. Benway's first act was to abolish concentration camps, mass arrest and, except under certain limited and special circumstances, the use of torture.
"I deplore brutality", he said, "It's not efficient. On the other hand, prolonged mistreatment, short of physical violence, gives rise, when properly applied, to anxiety and a feeling of special guilt...."


MEETING OF INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF TECHNICAL PSYCHIATRY

Doctor "Fingers" Schafer, the lobotomy kid, rises and turns to the Conferents the cold blue blast of his gaze.
"Gentlemen, the human nervous system can be reduced to a compacted and abbreviated spinal column. The brain, front, middle and rear, must follow the adenoid, the wisdom tooth, the appendix... I give you my Master Work: The Complete, All-American Deanxietized Man...."
Blast of trumpets: the Man is carried in naked by two Negro Bearers, who drop him on the platform with bestial, sneering brutality.... The Man wriggles.... His flesh turns to viscid, transparent jelly that drifts away in green mist, unveiling a monster black centipede. Waves of unknown stench fill the room, searing the lungs, grabbing the stomach....
Schafer wrings his hands, sobbing: "Clarence! How can you do this to me?? Ingrates!! Every one of them ingrates!!"
The Conferents start back muttering in dismay:
"I'm afraid Schafer has gone a bit too far...."
"I sounded a word of warning...."
"Brilliant chap Schafer, but...."

[S.MacConmidhe]

The book is a genius piece of satire. Brilliantly written. One of the most important books of the 20th Century.

[AshleyEliz]

I've read it - and I felt the same way.

I was fascinated, though, by reading how the human mind operates while under the influence of such hard drugs. There is an obvious difference in the writing between coherent narrator, and drugged-out narrator.

So while some may think it is overrated, and I would actually agree, if you're in any field where you study the effects of drugs on the human psyche and body - the book is an interesting read.

Edit -

And I do realize our author was not likely using heroin, but he did a good job emulating it.