Naked Lunch - William S. Burroughs

This book was recommended many times to me before I read it, Phrases like 'profound' and 'genius' popped up during conversations about it, so obviously I had to read this marvellous book. Can you imagine my disappointment when I was faced with a leaflet of claptrap. During the recommendations of this "fabulous" book I was told countless times to read and reread, to make sure I was always aware of what was going on, but even though I would consider myself to be very patient with books I just couldn't understand the plot, I read it and reread it three times and it just wasn't making sense. I understand that somewhere ...

Ahhhh...the cliched cult novel....staple of 80s- early 90s students who liked the Smiths, Joy Division, the Socialist Workers Party, putting their thumbs through the hole in the sleeve of their wooly jumper, Jimi Hendrix and Bob Marley posters and Nirvana...obviously. However, as this is now a dying breed and kids these days don't read anymore, I feel perfectly comfortable writing about this work of genius. 'Naked Lunch' was written in a state of withdrawal by William Burroughs, not strung out on heroin as most people think. The novel comprises of the disjointed hallucinations of withdrawal, and Burroughs apparently has no recollection of ever ...

On it’s release Naked Lunch caused an amazing amount of controversy. Banned in many countries due to its supposed pornographic content. It is this censorship and the furore around Burroughs’ novel, which actually bought into the wider public realm, and helped make it one of the classics of modern literature. Naked Lunch is not an easy book to read, its often disjointed style and leaps in context often make it has to find any continuity. This is a reflection of Burrroughs’ “cut-up technique” where previously written texts are literally cut to pieces and reassembled to create new pieces of work. This seems to create an over complex ...