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> > **Authors Background:** William S. Burroughs was born in St. Louis, MO in 1914. His mother Laura Lee was a direct descendant from Robert E. Lee and his grandfather was the inventor of the adding machine. As an adolescent he read Jack Black's //You Can't Win// an autobiographical account of hobo life - which Burroughs later claims influenced "Naked Lunch". He graduated in English Literature from Harvard University in 1936. He joined the army as a glider pilot but was discharged due to his relationship with a hustler named Jack Anderson. Burroughs had cut-off his pinky finger after Anderson left him. Burroughs then fell into an alternative lifestyle of drugs, odd jobs, and bisexuality. While working in the shipyards of New York he became addicted to heroine; a possible source of his character "The Sailor". > Although Burroughs was a homosexual he married a German immigrant woman so she could gain citizenship in the United States. Ironically Burroughs and his wife ended up moving to Mexico in order to escape the legal complications of growing marijuana. There, in 1951, he accidentally shot his wife in the head whilst reenacting Wilhelm Tell's shot. Burroughs admits that he perhaps may have never became a writer if his wife never died. He was never tried for her death (another benefit of living in Mexico?). > Burroughs became friends with writers Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsburg. He moved to a male brothel in Tangiers for a time in 1957. It was in 1959 that he publish //Naked Lunch//. Around this time he also kicked his drug addiction. Since then Burroughs has published many books and has been a major influence on pop-culture, and a advocate for non-conformity. He is credited for coining the term "heavy metal", has collaborated with Kurt Cobain, The Ministry, and U2 doing spoken word work, and appeared in several movies - most notably "Drugstore Cowboys". Burroughs died in 1997 from a heart-attack. > > __Bill Lee__: Most directly based off of Burroughs himself. He is a morphine addict on the run from police - traveling to the many settings of the book and eventually Interzone. > __Doc Benway:__ Is a manipulative, uncaring, and abusive monster. He is a medical doctor but seems to think little of saving patients or helping them in any way - other than to suit his own cruel and unusual experiments with drug addicts. Many characters are sent to him without any reason. > __AJ:__ Is a chaotic, bisexual, and flamboyant mastermind/villain. He is the cause for much disturbance in Interzone. > __The Vigilante:__ A man dressed as a cowboy of sorts. He is called the vigilante because of his insane tendency to lynch "fags".
 * Literary File: //Naked Lunch// by William S. Burroughs
 * **Literary Period/Country**: Burroughs started his literary career at the beginning of what was called the "beat" movement, during the 1950's - 60's in America, associated with it's growing counter-culture. His novel //Naked Lunch// used Brion Gysin's non-linear "cut-up" method of writing - which involved snipping sentences down and placing scenes in with little regard for narrative. Strangely enough this work predicted many cultural events such as the spread of AIDS, the Crack Epidemic, and autoerotic deaths. Even liposuction.
 * **Setting:** The Setting of //Naked Lunch// constantly changes. It starts quite normally on the Eastern United States then moves west to Texas and Mexico -- all the way to Tangiers/the Middle East - and finally in the fictional world of Interzone - a strange world filled with sexual deviance and drug addiction.
 * **Characters:** The Characters of //Naked Lunch// are separate but Burroughs explains that they can all eventually be coalesced into one type of persona. Namely the different lives of Burroughs himself.
 * **Themes:** Major themes include Drug Addiction, Morphine, Sodomy, Homosexuality/sexuality (all of which reflect Burroughs point of view and experiences while in Tangiers), Insects (Burroughs uses "insect" to describe many things, mostly people, even having some people turn into centipedes. This could perhaps reference how many people's behavior resemble that of insects while addicted to drugs), and overall anti-conformism a rebellion of standard values Burroughs had grown up with.

Naked Lunch is a non-linear narrative that is difficult to describe in terms of plot. The following is just a summary of some of the events told in the book that could be considered as "the most relevant". The book begins with the adventures of William Lee (aka Lee the Agent) who is Burroughs' alter ego in the novel - as well as his pen name for //Junky//. His journey starts in the US where he is fleeing the police, in search of drugs and his next fix. There are short chapters here describing the different characters he travels with and meets along the way. Eventually he gets to Mexico where he is assigned to Dr. Benway for what, he is not told. Benway appears and he tells about his previous doings in Annexia as a "Total Demoralizator". The story then moves to a state called Freeland—a form of limbo—where we learn of Islam Inc. Here, some new characters are introduced; Clem, Carl, Joselito amongst others.A short section then jumps in space and time to a market place. The Black Meat is sold here and compared to 'Junk', i.e. morphine. The action then moves back to the hospital where Benway is fully revealed as a manipulative, uncaring and corrupt monster. >> Time and space again shifts the narrative to a location known as Interzone. Hassan, one of the notable caricatures of the book and "a notorious liquefactionist," is throwing a violent orgy. AJ crashes the party and wreaks havoc, decapitating people and imitating a pirate. Hassan is enraged and tells AJ never to return, calling him a "factualist bitch" - a term which is enlarged much later when the apparently "clashing" political factions within Interzone are described. These include the Liquefactionists, the Senders, the Factualists, the Divisionists, who occupy "a midway position". A short descriptive section tells us of Interzone University, where a professor and his students are ridiculed; the book moves on to an orgy that AJ himself throws. In a sudden return to what seems to be Lee's reality, two police officers, Hauser and O'Brien, catch up with Lee, who manages to kill both of them. Lee then goes out to a street phone-booth and calls the Narcotics Squad, saying he wants to speak to O'Brien. A Lieutenant Gonzales on the other end of the line claims there's no one in their records called O'Brien. When Lee asks for Hauser instead, the reply is identical; Lee hangs up, and goes on the run once again. > "The world spins towards random insect doom," *note this quote also makes use of the theme of insects. > "Your mind will answer most questions if you learn to relax and wait for the answer." *okay this isn't really cut-up method - but it's a cool quote - I mean come on. > "The way is long. Hard-ons and let-downs are frequent," *this is classic cut-up method if I've ever seen it (which I've read an entire books worth of it) > "The whole room was exploding out into space." *Hyperbole, metaphor, need I say more? > "'But you can score.' Diddle diddle 'you scored off him last week didn't you?' Diddle???" *Onomatopoeia, dialogue, exaggerated punctuation is another device used frequently. Sometimes he has quotations within quotations and many asides (like this one). > If I didn't know any better I think this book rubbed off on me. > The book also included very graphic descriptions of homosexual sex with young men and even autoerotic death. For a few chapters in a row Burroughs of nothing but ejaculating penis'. I never imagined so many unique descriptions one could use for the penis and it's liquids and anal sex. And now I know why. Obscenity aside - in all honesty it really didn't bother too much - it's disturbing but nothing new I suppose. If anything it made the book slightly more interesting. Burroughs situations are so surreal and over-the-top you can't help but laugh or deny that he was probably well under the influence while writing this story too. Overall I liked it though. I'm just glad it was only 200 pages. I don't think I could take much more of the strangeness.
 * "Plot" Summary:**
 * **Unique Literary Devices:** Since Burroughs most prevalent literary device was the cut-up method I will expound upon that method and give a list of quotes that best demonstrate it's structure:
 * **Personal Review:** I found Burroughs Naked Lunch an interesting piece of fiction. Other books I've read do not even really compare to this. It by no means follows the conventional formula for a novel. This is because of the "cut-up" method he uses through-out. Reading the book was a daunting task because of how frequently the story jumps around. It has a very eccentric and even cryptic tone which, although interesting, disoriented me almost constantly. Some sections are more normal than others - but overall there is little evidence of a central plot or story. Burroughs himself wrote it so that you could start anywhere in the book. The chapters can be read in any order. The chapters are connected by the appearance of re-occurring characters and ideas or phrases.
 * **Bonus:** What is the Naked Lunch? Jack Kerouac came up with the title which is defined as "The title means exactly what the words say: //naked// lunch, a frozen moment when everyone sees what is on the end of every fork."