Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs (Book Analysis): Detailed Summary, Analysis and Reading Guide
4/5
()
About this ebook
This engaging summary presents an analysis of Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs, a seminal work of literature associated with the Beat Generation. It tells the story of a drug addict’s bizarre experiences in a dreamlike landscape, which is populated by grotesque creatures known as Mugwumps, and where taboo acts such as rape and murder are committed constantly with no consequences. Naked Lunch is one of the best-known works by William S. Burroughs, largely due to its reputation as one of the most ‘obscene’ pieces of literature ever published. Burroughs was even taken to court over it, but his eventual victory in that trial actually played a key role in the overturning of American obscenity laws.
Find out everything you need to know about Naked Lunch in a fraction of the time!
This in-depth and informative reading guide brings you:
• A complete plot summary
• Character studies
• Key themes and symbols
• Questions for further reflection
Why choose BrightSummaries.com?
Available in print and digital format, our publications are designed to accompany you on your reading journey. The clear and concise style makes for easy understanding, providing the perfect opportunity to improve your literary knowledge in no time.
See the very best of literature in a whole new light with BrightSummaries.com!
Read more from Bright Summaries
Fifty Shades Trilogy by E.L. James (Book Analysis): Detailed Summary, Analysis and Reading Guide Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus (Book Analysis): Detailed Summary, Analysis and Reading Guide Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Lord of the Flies by William Golding (Book Analysis): Detailed Summary, Analysis and Reading Guide Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (Book Analysis): Detailed Summary, Analysis and Reading Guide Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Crucible by Arthur Miller (Book Analysis): Detailed Summary, Analysis and Reading Guide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBeloved by Toni Morrison (Book Analysis): Detailed Summary, Analysis and Reading Guide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett (Book Analysis): Detailed Summary, Analysis and Reading Guide Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck (Book Analysis): Detailed Summary, Analysis and Reading Guide Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger (Book Analysis): Detailed Summary, Analysis and Reading Guide Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (Book Analysis): Detailed Summary, Analysis and Reading Guide Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams (Book Analysis): Detailed Summary, Analysis and Reading Guide Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace (Book Analysis): Detailed Summary, Analysis and Reading Guide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGiovanni's Room by James Baldwin (Book Analysis): Detailed Summary, Analysis and Reading Guide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOne Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Marquez (Book Analysis): Detailed Summary, Analysis and Reading Guide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTo Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (Book Analysis): Detailed Summary, Analysis and Reading Guide Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin (Book Analysis): Detailed Summary, Analysis and Reading Guide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRebecca by Daphne du Maurier (Book Analysis): Detailed Summary, Analysis and Reading Guide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLolita by Vladimir Nabokov (Book Analysis): Detailed Summary, Analysis and Reading Guide Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (Book Analysis): Detailed Summary, Analysis and Reading Guide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHarry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling (Book Analysis): Detailed Summary, Analysis and Reading Guide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (Book Analysis): Detailed Summary, Analysis and Reading Guide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSlaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut (Book Analysis): Detailed Summary, Analysis and Reading Guide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDeath of a Salesman by Arthur Miller (Book Analysis): Detailed Summary, Analysis and Reading Guide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs (Book Analysis)
Related ebooks
Junky: The Definitive Text of "Junk" Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole (Book Analysis): Detailed Summary, Analysis and Reading Guide Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Confessions of an English Opium-Eater Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Acid for the Children: A Memoir by Flea and Patti Smith: Conversation Starters Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Soft Machine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cities of the Red Night: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (Book Analysis): Detailed Summary, Analysis and Reading Guide Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fear and Loathing in America: The Brutal Odyssey of an Outlaw Journalist Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Finnegans Wake Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStoner by John Williams (Book Analysis): Detailed Summary, Analysis and Reading Guide Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Big Sur Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Don't Hide the Madness: William S. Burroughs in Conversation with Allen Ginsberg Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rum Diary: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fear and Loathing at Rolling Stone: The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Justine Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Brothers Karamazov Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOn the Road by Jack Kerouac (Book Analysis): Detailed Summary, Analysis and Reading Guide Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey (Book Analysis): Detailed Summary, Analysis and Reading Guide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Ticket That Exploded Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Best Minds of My Generation: A Literary History of the Beats Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut (Book Analysis): Detailed Summary, Analysis and Reading Guide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSpeed and Kentucky Ham Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Summary of Mark Lanegan's Sing Backwards and Weep Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHell Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWilliam S. Burroughs and the Cult of Rock 'n' Roll Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Understanding Chuck Palahniuk Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLast Exit to Brooklyn: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bukowski For Beginners Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Diary of a Drug Fiend Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Study Aids & Test Prep For You
Behold a Pale Horse: by William Cooper | Conversation Starters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Verity: by Colleen Hoover | Conversation Starters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of Seduction: by Robert Greene | Conversation Starters Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The 48 Laws of Power: by Robert Greene | Conversation Starters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Secret History: by Donna Tartt | Conversation Starters Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSummary of The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFinish What You Start: The Art of Following Through, Taking Action, Executing, & Self-Discipline Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/512 Rules For Life: by Jordan Peterson | Conversation Starters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Man's Search for Meaning: by Viktor E. Frankl | Conversation Starters Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5How to Study: The Program That Has Helped Millions of Students Study Smarter, Not Harder Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fluent in 3 Months: How Anyone at Any Age Can Learn to Speak Any Language from Anywhere in the World Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Barron's American Sign Language: A Comprehensive Guide to ASL 1 and 2 with Online Video Practice Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5One Hundred Years of Solitude: A Novel by Gabriel Garcia Márquez | Conversation Starters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself by Michael A. Singer | Conversation Starters Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Do the Work: The Official Unrepentant, Ass-Kicking, No-Kidding, Change-Your-Life Sidekick to Unfu*k Yourself Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain | Conversation Starters Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The Power of Habit: by Charles Duhigg | Conversation Starters Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Between the World and Me: by Ta-Nehisi Coates | Conversation Starters Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Circe: by Madeline Miller | Conversation Starters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How To Change Your Mind: by Michael Pollan | Conversation Starters Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts.by Brené Brown | Conversation Starters Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Great Alone: by Kristin Hannah | Conversation Starters Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs (Book Analysis)
1 rating0 reviews
Book preview
Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs (Book Analysis) - Bright Summaries
AMERICAN WRITER
Born in St. Louis, Missouri (United States) in 1914.
Died in Lawrence, Kansas (United States) in 1997.
Notable works:
Junkie (1953), novel
The Soft Machine (1961), novel
Cities of the Red Night (1981), novel
A key figure of the Beat Generation literary movement, along with Allen Ginsberg (American poet, 1926-1997) and Jack Kerouac (American writer, 1922-1969), Burroughs is renowned for his unflinchingly graphic prose addressing a range of topics considered taboo at that time, from his homosexuality to his experiences on the wrong side of the law, specifically in relation to drugs. Following a privileged upbringing in St. Louis, Missouri and studies in English and later anthropology at Harvard University, Burroughs fell into a life of drug addiction and crime, both of which feature amongst the central themes of his work. Junkie (1953) is his first published novel, preluding his seminal and most celebrated Naked Lunch (1959), both of which are considered semi-autobiographical. Burroughs’ legacy has endured long after his sudden death in 1997, following a heart attack: he is often credited with bringing about significant change to the United States’ once rigid Obscenity Laws through his unapologetically ‘obscene’ works, and many musicians have