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/lit/ - Literature

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[ERROR] No.2033865 [Reply] [Original]

/lit/, i've just started reading Naked Lunch, and im really lost. What's the background to the book, and what exactly is the plot, and so on. plz help.

>> No.2033892

he goes to morocco to write a story and then some bugs and such.

>> No.2033900

>>2033892
Also, heroin.

>> No.2033912

>>2033892
>and such
this is the important part of the novel

>> No.2034099

I couldn't finish Naked Lunch myself.
Perhaps if I did copious amounts of heroin it might approach making a sliver of sense, but I have my doubts.

>> No.2035185

Naked Lunch isn't meant to be read straight through like a regular books, it's a collection of short stories, so don't expect it all to just come together. Burroughs made it so you could pick up the book, open it and just start reading from any page.

I've read, Junkie, Queer, and Naked Lunch by Burroughs and it is more difficult to get a hold of mentally then his other books. Give it another chance and try reading it again.

>> No.2035203

I read the first few chapters and then just skimmed through the rest. I figure I got as much out of it as anyone else could. It's sort of like a Pollock painting imo, it's the main idea that counts, not the particular details. He wrote it, and that's why it's important.

>> No.2035258

I feel like people who post these threads are just really stupid. I read it and understood almost all of it. It is no worse than trying to decipher shakespeare in my opinion.

Most of it is very straight forward. Like the dr benway parts, or the county clerks office chapter. If you guys can fucking read Ulysses you can read this shit, it's much easier than that.

What's funny is that his Nova Trilogy after that, is 10x harder to decipher. Soft Machine is nearly impossible in some parts.

>> No.2035270

I have nothing to add to this thread asides from the fact that Burroughs was a cool motherfucker