POST MODERNISM
Naked Lunch (Novel)
William S. Burroughs
Synopsis:
The
book begins with the adventures of William Lee (aka Lee the Agent), who is
Burroughs' alter ego in the novel. His journey starts in the US where he is
fleeing the police, in search of 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, such as Clem, Carl, and Joselito.
A
short section then jumps in space and time to a marketplace. The Black Meat is sold
here and compared to "junk", i.e. heroin. The
action then moves back to the hospital where Benway is fully revealed as a
cruel, manipulative sadist.
Time
and space again shifts the narrative to a location known as Interzone. Hassan,
one of the notable characters 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, and 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.
The
book then shifts back to the market place and a description of the totalitarian government of Annexia. Characters
including the County Clerk, Benway, Dr Berger, Clem and Jody are sketched
through heavy dialogue and their own sub-stories.
After
the description of the four parties of Interzone, we are then told more stories
about AJ. After briefly describing Interzone, the novel breaks down into sub-stories
and heavily cut-up influenced passages.
In a sudden return to what seems to be Lee's reality, two
police officers, Hauser and O'Brien, catch up with Lee, who kills 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.
Analysis:
Postmodernism
is a critical response to existing discourses of predominant systems like politics,
society, philosophy, and economics, which constrain our common perceptions of
our selves, society and language. It maintains that we cannot rely on our
so-called reality anymore because it is a construct of our own minds.
Naked Lunch has become one of the most important novels of the twentieth
century. Exerting its influence on the relationship of art and obscenity, it is
one of the books that redefined not just literature but American culture. For
the Burroughs enthusiast and the neophyte, this volume—that contains
final-draft typescripts, numerous unpublished contemporaneous writings by
Burroughs, his own later introductions to the book, and his essay on
psychoactive drugs—is a valuable and fresh experience of a novel that has lost
none of its relevance or satirical bite
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