Naked Lunch cover art

Naked Lunch

The Restored Text

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Naked Lunch

By: William S. Burroughs
Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
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About this listen

 Naked Lunch is one of the most important novels of the 20th century, a book that redefined not just literature but American culture.

This is an unnerving tale of a narcotics addict unmoored in New York, Tangiers, and, ultimately, a nightmarish wasteland known as Interzone. The restored text includes many editorial corrections and incorporates Burroughs's notes on the text and several essays he wrote over the years about the book. For the Burroughs enthusiast and neophyte alike, this is a valuable and fresh experience of this classic of our culture.

©2001 William S. Burroughs Trust (P)2009 Blackstone Audio, Inc. Classics Genre Fiction LGBTQIA+ Creators Literary Fiction Psychological Fiction Scary

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Critic reviews

"William was a Shootist. He shot like he wrote - with extreme precision and no fear." (Hunter S. Thompson, Rolling Stone)
"A masterpiece. A cry from hell, a brutal, terrifying, and savagely funny book that swings between uncontrolled hallucination and fierce, exact satire." ( Newsweek)
All stars
Most relevant
I haven't read this for about 30 years, and although I always think that Burroughs's writing doesn't sound right when read by someone else. this is just a result of him having recorded so much of his own writing The narrator of this version is very good, though, and has reminded me just how funny this book can be, especially the Dr Benway stories. The fact that it's also part of the Plus library is a fantastic bonus.

A good rendition, and free!

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Truly disgusting and amazing. The prose is excellent and subject matter not for the faint of heart. A classic.

Excellent narration

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To enjoy this book I had to let go of the concept of following a story and simply revel at the stunning imagery invoked by the insane streams of descriptive prose.
I found I could listen for about an hour in a sitting and then have to take a pause and sift through the broken images stuffed into my head. I have to say, not all of them were pretty images.
I found it hard to imagine this book being written in the late 50's and easy to imagine it causing a moral outrage. I can see how the book split people into two camps and understand people finding it offensive, however, I fall into the camp of people who saw a dark beauty in it. It has some of the most amazing descriptive scenes I can ever remember reading.
I will read it again and have more Burroughs on my wish list.

Defies a pithy title

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Wonderfully read a really full bodied performance of the weirdest, funniest, nastiest most brilliant book of the mid 20th century, terrible fun, 40 years ahead of its time it still shocks, there is nothing but nothing as dark funny, stomach turning and joyous as Naked Lunch

Terrible awful brilliant

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Interzone is the alternative universe of a junkies
world. Its the the place they go when high on, whatever their on. Like any frontier city ( it
borders the consciousness and subconscious ),
you can find pleasure and pain in a multitude of pornographic vices. Its a place of a thousand perversions, told in an almost poetic stream of consciousness that makes no sense and yet you somehow understand it.
Brilliantly narrated by Mark Bramhall, its not an
easy listen on any level. William S Burroughs may have been one of the " Beat Generation ", and yet he was an original. So give "Naked Lunch" a go and whether you have a good trip or a bad one, just ask yourself, "WOULDN'T YOU !".

Nightmarish Trip Into The Mind Of A Drug Addict

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