Naked Lunch: The Restored Text » (Reprint)

A wanderer and a literary experimentalist, William S. Burroughs is the Beat writer who outlived most of his contemporaries to become the literary symbol of a dispossessed, rock n' roll mentality. His rollercoaster existence made for good semifictional reading, but he also innovated the narrative form with his fragmentary, brash style.

Naked Lunch is one of the most important novels of the twentieth century. Exerting its influence on the work of authors like Thomas Pynchon, J. G. Ballard, and William Gibson, on the relationship of art and obscenity, and on the shape of music, film, and media generally, it is one of the books that redefined not just literature but American culture. Reedited by Burroughs scholar Barry Miles and Burroughs's longtime editor James Grauerholz, Naked Lunch: The Restored Text includes many editorial corrections to errors present in previous editions, and incorporates Burroughs's notes on the text, several essays he wrote over the years about the book, and an appendix of 20 percent all-new material and alternate drafts from the original manuscript, which predates the first published version. For the Burroughs enthusiast and the neophyte, this volume is a valuable and fresh experience of this classic of our culture.

Publishers Weekly

William S. Burroughs's classic tale has been fully restored by his longtime editors, Grauerholz and Miles, and is invigorated by this enthusiastic reading. Mark Bramhall offers a professional performance peppered with every trick of the actor's trade to make it a resonating effort. He approaches the work with such energy that the story seems like a new entity, freshly relevant and timely. Listeners will lose themselves in the journey of junkie William Lee as he makes his way from bizarre destination to even more bizarre destination in this unforgettable novel. A Grove paperback. (Feb.)

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	Naked Lunch	1
	And Start West	3
	The Vigilante	8
	The Rube	9
	Benway	19
	Joselito	39
	The Black Meat	43
	Hospital	47
	Lazarus Go Home	58
	Hassan's Rumpus Room	62
	Campus of Interzone University	70
	A.J.'s Annual Party	74
	Meeting of International Conference of Technological Psychiatry	87
	The Market	89
	Ordinary Men and Women	101
	Islam Incorporated and the Parties of Interzone	121
	The County Clerk	141
	Interzone	148
	The Examination	155
	Have You Seen Pantopon Rose?	165
	Coke Bugs	166
	The Exterminator Does a Good Job	169
	The Algebra of Need	172
	Hauser and O'Brien	174
	Atrophied Preface	182
	Quick ...	195
	Original Introductions and Additions by the Author	197
	Deposition: Testimony Concerning a Sickness [1960]	199
	Post Script ... Wouldn't You? [1960]	207
	Afterthoughts on a Deposition [1991]	211
	Letter from a Master Addict to Dangerous Drugs [1956]	213
	Burroughs Texts Annexed by the Editors	231
	Editors' Note	233
	Letter to Irving Rosenthal [1960]	249
	The Death of Mel the Waiter [undated]	252
	Outtakes: The Vigilante	254
	Outtakes: The Rube	257
	Outtakes: Benway	264
	Outtakes: The Black Meat	266
	Outtakes: Hospital	269
	Outtakes: A.J.'s Annual Party	270
	Outtakes: Islam Incorporated and the Parties of Interzone	272
	Outtakes: The Examination	272
	Outtakes: Coke Bugs	279
	Outtakes: Hauser and O'Brien	281
	Outtakes: Atrophied Preface	282