I’m halfway through Naked Lunch. It seems like he is trying to be as edgy as possible with the occasional reflection on American culture. What am I not getting?
Naked Lunch
I’m halfway through Naked Lunch. It seems like he is trying to be as edgy as possible with the occasional reflection on American culture. What am I not getting?
cia agents are gay
That was pretty much my reaction.
I gave up about halfway through.
that isn't a book for normies
Are you saying it’s for drug addicts? I’m a recovering addict and I still don’t get it. Is the book’s value in that he accurately captured the experience of drugs?
Why do you need there to be something to actively “get”?
I thought that’s just how reading works? An author writes words and I understand a concept from them. Is there nothing deeper to this book? Is it just the nonsensical short stories of a drug addict and is a “classic” because he was the first person to document that type of thing and gain widespread popularity? Which I guess would say a lot about society at the time if we were shifting from “traditional American values” to stories about steam-powered dildos pegging young butts.
>Is the book’s value in that he accurately captured the experience of drugs?
Yeah that's my understanding. Also it was super contraversial when it first came out because you weren't supposed to write about drug use.
The only good thing that came out of this book was the name of the marvelous band Steely Dan. They took the name from one of the dildos referenced in the book.
>The only good thing that came out of this book was the name of the marvelous band Steely Dan.
Only a fool would say that.
>Only a fool would say that
Do it again
redditin' the years
Pretty much everything Burroughs wrote besides this is good. I suppose it's because of the writing style that this get talked about so much. It's a shame.
In Desolation Angels Kerouac asks why he's writing all that smut and then Burroughs says so that when he's finished he'll get it all out and he'll be pure and cleansed. That's the only way the book makes sense to me
So the book is like a metaphor for a turd from Burroughs’s spirit. I don’t get the title in that sense, though. I read something saying it’s Naked Lunch because you get to see exactly what you’re eating. I interpreted that as this book is the essence of American life?
The origins of the title resulted from someone, Kerouac I think, mishearing something Burroughs was reading from the manuscript and he interrupted and said "Naked Lunch? What the frick does that mean?" Any meaning given to the phrase comes afterwards.
Is that the book about gay heroin addicts? I think I read that shit a few years back. I remember something about the dude running to Mexico and had a young gay lover.
There are actually some very interesting ideas presented in the cut up technique, but it didn't really have to be a book about ejaculating dead Arab boys for that. There are also some cool sci-fi ideas, especially once you get to the much belated factions of Interzone sequence.
Even if you don't like it, rest assured that this is not Burroughs going full moron. He goes way harder moron afterwards.
You might be thinking about Queer, but honestly it's all one big thing with Burroughs.
> Even if you don't like it, rest assured that this is not Burroughs going full moron. He goes way harder moron afterwards.
hearty chuckle 8s2dwt
Nah you pretty much got it. This sort of thing was a lot more impressive back in the day. But I really did like the ending, after the fog clears a bit. Kinda harrowing.
I enjoyed the film
cool
I loved the book but I thought the movie was boring as shit
The film is amazing, as is Burroughs’ biography, but I’ve given up on the book twice already in the past. I’m picking up a delivery of kratom tomorrow and gonna try it for the third time in corresponding opiate-like state of mind, but that’s my last attempt.
I think it's very entertaining, a reflection of a completely shattered mind due to drug abuse, the chapters are independent from each other and self contained maybe you're not "getting it" because you struggle to find an overarching theme or plot.