William Burroughs, The Naked Lunch

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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 the mass media, which shape the modern world. The novel's…

712 words

Citation: Murphy, Timothy S.. "The Naked Lunch". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 March 2002 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=121, accessed 19 March 2024.]

121 The Naked Lunch 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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