Has anyone read The Naked Lunch

submitted by Yamyam from self.books

Has anyone read The Naked Lunch? I can't seem to understand what it's saying.

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[–]TokLwdSaNthg 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

I’m sure you’re not the only one with questions. I read it 30 years ago and can only recall some disjointed mental pictures now. Have not read anything else like it though - a drug-induced stream of consciousness travelogue. Ground-breaking considering it was published in ‘59. The movie helped shed some light as a semi-autobiographical metaphor for the life of the artist

[–]Yamyam[S] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Oh, so it was a stream of consciousness from a junky. I guess the paragraphs weren't supposed to make sense.

[–]theFriendlyDoomer 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Worse than that. He took the draft and cut the parts out of order, calling it the cut up technique.

[–]Bud223 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

It was weird, surreal and trippy. The plot was supposed to be disjointed to show the effects drugs were having on his mental state. It is an example of the subjective and shifting nature of the way we perceive reality.

[–]theFriendlyDoomer 1 insightful - 3 fun1 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 3 fun -  (0 children)

I stopped after two pages.

[–]paranoid_android3 1 insightful - 3 fun1 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 3 fun -  (0 children)

I tried but it was like my head was spinning, I gave up.