Naked Lunch is William S. Burroughs' most famous and influential experimental novel, originally published in Paris in 1959 but not available until 1962 in the USA and 1964 in the UK due to publishers' fears of obscenity prosecution. Director David Cronenberg made a film based very loosely on it in 1991, and a restored and corrected edition of the novel has been announced for publication in 2002. Jack Kerouac, who helped Allen Ginsberg edit the book into shape, provided the title, which Burroughs interpreted to mean “a frozen moment when everyone sees what is on the end of every fork.” This perspective highlights the book's stated intention of revealing the many hidden forms of manipulation, from police surveillance to th

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Published 21 March 2002

Citation: Murphy, Timothy S.. "The Naked Lunch". The Literary Encyclopedia. 21 March 2002.
[http://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=121, accessed 20 November 2009.]