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/lit/ - Literature

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22215610 No.22215610 [Reply] [Original]

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?

>> No.22215648

>>22215610
cia agents are gay

>> No.22215739

That was pretty much my reaction.
I gave up about halfway through.

>> No.22215830

>>22215610
>>22215739
that isn't a book for normies

>> No.22215934

>>22215830
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?

>> No.22217026

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.

>> No.22217047

>>22215934
Why do you need there to be something to actively “get”?

>> No.22217081

>>22217026
>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.

>> No.22217283

>>22217081
>Only a fool would say that
Do it again

>> No.22217472

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.

>> No.22217495

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

>> No.22217498
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22217498

>>22217047
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.

>> No.22217504

>>22217495
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?

>> No.22217706

>>22215934
>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.

>> No.22217743

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.

>> No.22218410

>>22215610
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 retard. He goes way harder retard afterwards.

>>22217743
You might be thinking about Queer, but honestly it's all one big thing with Burroughs.

>> No.22218637

>>22218410
> Even if you don't like it, rest assured that this is not Burroughs going full retard. He goes way harder retard afterwards.

hearty chuckle 8s2dwt

>> No.22218643

>>22215610
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.

>> No.22218846

I enjoyed the film

>> No.22218879

>>22217283
redditin' the years

>> No.22218925

>>22218846
cool

>> No.22218940

>>22215610
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.

>> No.22219679

>>22218846
I loved the book but I thought the movie was boring as shit

>> No.22219832

>>22217504
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 fuck does that mean?" Any meaning given to the phrase comes afterwards.

>> No.22219863

>>22218846
>>22219679
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.