Naked Lunch: Difference between revisions

My God, how do you summarize the 1959 novel ''Naked Lunch'' in mere words? The seminal work of [[The Beat Generation|beat generation]] author, [[William S Burroughs]].

 

 

Some editions of the book include an author's foreword, where Burroughs [[Don't Explain the Joke|explains the title]]. The phrase "naked lunch" is meant to describe the [[Cassandra Truth|unvarnished truth about what people do to survive in society]]. The specific lunch that Burroughs wants to unclothe is the custom of [[Thou Shalt Not Kill|capital punishment]]. He objects to the fact that many [[Judge, Jury, and Executioner|people who endorse capital punishment]] are still reluctant to pull the switch, throw the first stone, or otherwise take on the moral responsibility for what he considers murder. In a sense, "naked lunch" is the opposite of euphemism. Thus his famous quote, "Let them see what is at the end of that long newspaper spoon." Of course, Burroughs, by his own admission, [[This Is Your Premise On Drugs|doesn't remember writing most of the actual text of the book]], so the author's foreword could very well be [[Retcon]].

* [[Fantastic Caste System]]: The Parties of Interzone.

* [[Fantastic Racism]]: Thanks to the Divisionists. "If some citizen ventures to express a liberal opinion, another citizen invariably snarls: 'What are you? Some stinking nigger's bleached-out replica?'"

* [[Foreshadowing]]: Hassan is referred to by several of his many aliases ('The Shoe Store Kid', 'Placenta Juan the Afterbirth Tycoon') before actually appearing.

* [[Fur and Loathing]]: 'Guard in a uniform of human skin...'

* [[Gorn]]: Lots of it.

* [[Sociopathic Hero|Heroic Sociopath]]: A.J. again. He's not actually heroic at all, but he's slightly less evil than most of the other characters (with the exception of Lee himself).

* [[I Just Shot Marvin in The Face]]: Subverted. In the film, Clark Nova explains that Lee was 'programmed' to shoot his wife, Joan. Although this is based on a tragically straight [[Real Life]] example.

** Burroughs went on to write the book for ''[[The Black Rider]]'', a stage musical (with songs by [[Tom Waits|Tom goddamn Waits]]) whose plot also revolves around a man being supernaturally manipulated into shooting his own wife. In the opera on which it's based, ''[[Der Freischutz]]'', the bullet is deflected by the wife's wedding wreath and there's a happy ending. In the Burroughs' version... not so much.

* [[Word Salad Title]]: Created accidentally by Burroughs' friends Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac; while the work was still in progress, Ginsberg was reading aloud from the book (a portion, ironically, that was cut in later drafts), and Kerouac misheard two words and blurted out something like: '"Naked ''lunch?''" What the hell does ''that'' mean?'

* [[Writer On Board]]: Burroughs isn't afraid to express his opinions on whatever he wants, usually in the form of condemning farce. Also, the entire movie is about writers talking about writing; and at one point a typewriter sprouts an erect penis-like appendage when pornography is written on it.

 

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