/lit/ - Literature

Considering that NL was written in an opiate fueled stupor, about someone in an opiate fueled stupor, I don't know that there's really anything you are supposed to "get".
inb4 shitstorm, I really feel Burroughs is the most overrated of the Beat writers.

Download an audiobook version of it and listen to it, it will make a lot more sense. It's actually a really funny book. It's one of the few books that has made me laugh out loud--a lot.

but can I carry on without rereading the previouse chapter

Also I am sort of enjoying it(love trthe book fear and loathing)

>>2531355

Naked Lunch is his most recognized work in the same way /b/ is the most recognized 4chan board.

Stop reading that dross and pickup the Nova trilogy.

>>2531464
I've read it.
I still feel he's well overestimated.

>>2531355
ruffled my johnnies bro it really did. it was not written in an opiate stupor..burroughs kicked during and before writing it. it's not even about a junky it's about a lot of other things. there is a lot to ''get'' about it. he wasn't even a beat writer, he was just casually associated with them in a social way. anyway it sounds like you've just watched the movie or something but whatever..

Reading whilst high is quite pointless, imo. I rarely remember anything. Usually just watch films when I'm high.

I have said it before and i hope that someone understands it this time. you must understand that naked lunch is not a novel in many senses, although it resembles one in a few. in fact what burroughs did with naked lunch was to innovate a sort of psychological technology, somewhat influenced by the work of scientology, but also drawing from several other traditions. essentially when you read naked lunch you are taking part in an experiment and the test subject is yourself. burroughs was intentionally creating a text that would exemplify his theories of the language virus, and produce predictable psychic phenomenon in the reader. do not worry, it was an act of altruism and in fact it will bring out in you what you are most defined by. so let it do its work. read it like you would process any stimulus, and don't question it too much.

>>2531496
He is technically considered part of the Beat era, and yes, being socially linked to the other Beats does include him. That's like saying Jasper Johns wasn't a pop artist just because he knew Andy Warhol casually and only hung at his studio a few times.
Also,
"Perhaps most stunning about Naked Lunch isn’t that Burroughs made a stunning contribution to American letters, but that he had written his novel under the influence of heroin. Much of the book, in fact, deals with addiction, and involves scenes of characters doing drugs.

According to legend, Burroughs did not even remember writing large portions of the novel. When Ginsburg and fellow beat writer Jack Kerouac visited Burroughs in Tangier, they found the novel strewn about the apartment carelessly. Burroughs seemed more interested in feeding his heroin addiction than working the material into a proper novel."

>>2531643
you are really an idiot and whatever you are citing is wrong. good job not being able to comprehend a straightforward work of literature and using ad hominem to justify your incompetence.

>>2531669
You called him an idiot.
You, with no justification, called his source material dishonest.
And anyway, you're wrong. Being socially connected with other similar artists within the same era means he is part of that movement.
http://www.rehabinfo.net/blog/famous-works-of-art-created-under-the-influence/