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On July 7, 1966, the Supreme Court of the state of Massachusetts cleared William S. Burrough's novel NAKED LUNCH of obscenity charges, reversing an earlier Superior Court decision. They stated that Burroughs frank descriptions of drug use and graphic sex were protected by the First Amendment, and prevented the book from being banned in the state. The novel has also been declared non-obscene at a trial in 1965 in Los Angeles.
"I awoke from The Sickness at the age of forty-five, calm and sane, and in reasonablly good health except for a weakened liver and the look of borrowed flesh common to all who survive The Sickness.... Most survivors do not remember the delirium in detail. I apparently took detailed notes on sickness and delirium. I have no precise memory of writing the notes which have now been published under the title Naked Lunch. The title was suggested by Jack Kerouac. I did not understand what the title meant until my recent recovery. The title means exactly what the words say: NAKED Lunch - a frozen moment when everyone sees what is on the end of every fork."
-- William Burroughs, from the introduction to NAKED LUNCHThe Novel
by William S Burroughs
Naked Lunch: The Restored Text
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NAKED LUNCH Online
critiques and criticisms, references and resources
- Burroughs, Naked Lunch
- Published in Paris in 1959, The Naked Lunch used unconventional writing techniques to depict an underground world fighting a technological society that was self destructing. It was both praised as literary genius and dismissed as indecipherable garbage because Mr. Burroughs wrote it without standard narrative prose, used abrupt transitions, placed the chapters in random order and wrote in a stream-of-consciousness style.
- LitKicks: Naked Lunch
- This is the definitive Burroughs book. It slips and slides and glides through alleyways and canals of madness, degredation and perversion, ending up nowhere. It's sick and very, very clever.
- Naked Lunch | TIME Magazine - ALL-TIME 100 Novels
- An heir to the Burroughs adding machine fortune, Burroughs the novelist hated the despots of Squaresville and the whole world where money makes its fist. This is his greatest book and the template for all the ones that followed.
- Naked Lunch: The Restored Text - Google Book Search
- Naked Lunch: The Restored Text By William S. Burroughs
- The Sad, But Interesting Truth About Naked Lunch and William S. Burroughs
- If you have never read Naked Lunch, this essay will serve as an appropriate introduction to the work of a man who was both a 20th century genius and a 20th century failure.
- Naked Lunch - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Naked Lunch is a novel by William S. Burroughs. It was the third novel he wrote, but was the second of his novels to see publication.
See Just What's On The End Of The Fork...
performance clips, videos, movie excerpts, interpretations
The Controversy Over NAKED LUNCH
- Alibris: Used, New and Out-of-Print Books, Music and Movies
- Only after Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer was cleared of obscenity charges in 1962 was Naked Lunch published in the U.S. The novel was found obscene in Boston in 1965; however, the finding was reversed by the State Supreme Court in 1966.
- Psychedelic 60s: The Beats: New York
- After a number of unsuccessful attempts to kick his drug habit, Burroughs succeeded with Dr. John Yerbury Dent's apomorphine treatment in London. Returning to Tangiers, fueled by marijuana and coffee, Burroughs began typing at top speed for six hours a day, letting the pages of yellow foolscap fall to the floor as they were finished. He then called for his friends and in 1957 Kerouac, Ginsberg, and Peter Orlovsky arrived in Tangiers to help with the manuscript.
- Naked Lunch - Banned
- NAKED LUNCH, the controversial masterpiece by Beat Generation founding father William S. Burroughs, has the distinction of being the last novel banned in the United States. Decried as obscene, the novel uses frank and extremely graphic depictions of drug use and sex as metaphors for the human condition: all of humanity, Burroughs feels, is victimized by some form of addiction.
The Movie
directed by David Cronenberg
Naked Lunch - Criterion Collection
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Blogs on "Naked Lunch"
- Ginsberg, Kerouac, and Burroughs - The great works of the Beat ...
- Burroughs' "Naked Lunch" was subject to a landmark obscenity hearing that changed the nature of censorship in the United States. As the collection was being imported from the UK printer, it was seized by customs and the publisher of the ...
- Beat Primer, part 2: Burroughs
- Naked Lunch is what Burroughs is most famous for. More than any other writer (except perhaps James Joyce) a page of Burroughs stands alone and obvious. He took the basic themes of Junky and Queer and began building on them. ...
- Movie Trailer Monday - Naked Lunch
- Originally published at Better Living Through Science Fiction. Please leave any comments there. Movie Trailer Monday brings you Naked Lunch. . Add '' to digg Add '' to reddit Add '' to Technorati Add '' to Stumble Upon.
- Naked lunch [videorecording] / 20th Century Fox ; Jeremy Thomas ...
- [Irvington, NY] : Criterion Collection, 2003.
NAKED LUNCH Auctions
first editions, rare publications, signed copies, DVDs, scripts and more
"Naked Lunch" can be anything from a copy of Burroughs' book to a shade of eye shadow by MAC. You might also find items relating to the movie adaptation by David Cronenberg.
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Into The Interzone
what's your opinion of NAKED LUNCH?
More About William S. Burroughs
- William S. Burroughs
- American writer of experimental novels, who lived long times in Mexico City, Tanger, Paris, and London. Burroughs's homosexual themes in THE NAKED LUNCH (1959) and the frankness with which he dealt with his own experiences as a drug addict sparkled the last major obscenity trial in U.S., but won him a following among writers, musicians, and film makers.
- LitKicks: William S. Burroughs
- biography of author william s. burroughs
- The Beat Page - William S. Burroughs
- Perhaps one of the most colorful writers to emerge from the Beat period, William S. Burroughs has led an extremely interesting life.
- Frank Zappa - The Talking Asshole
- Listen to Frank Zappa read The Talking Asshole from William S. Burroughs Naked Lunch. Taken from The Nova Convention Time: 5 min 25 sec December 2, 1978
william burroughs t-shirts
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