Perhaps one of the most controversial and widely lambasted
American novels of the 20th century was beatnik author William S. Burroughs'
Naked Lunch. The piece is a non-linear collection of vignettes that concentrate
on the exploits of drug addict, William Lee. Most readers denounced the work as
loathsome and repugnant with its explicit depictions of the otherwise
unnatural. Despite the criticism, the book garnered a small cult following and
maintained public interest throughout the years.
Although the text was once thought to be completely
impossible to translate into film form, acclaimed director David Cronenberg
delivered the film adaptation of Burroughs' work to the public and was met with
critical praise. Here is a trailer for the film:
Below is one of my favorite excerpts from the book. Despite
the gruesome and somewhat shocking subject matter, note Burroughs' dark sense
of humor that effectively captivates and enthralls the reader.
“Did I ever tell you about the man who taught his asshole to
talk? His whole abdomen would move up and down, you dig, farting out the words.
It was unlike anything I ever heard.
Bubbly, thick, stagnant sound. A
sound you could smell. This man worked for the carnival,you dig? And to start
with it was like a novelty ventriloquist act. After a while, the ass started
talking on its own. He would go in without anything prepared... and his ass
would ad-lib and toss the gags back at him every time. Then it developed sort of teethlike... little
raspy incurving hooks and started eating. He thought this was cute at first and
built an act around it... but the asshole would eat its way through his pants
and start talking on the street...
shouting out it wanted equal rights. It would get drunk, too, and have
crying jags. Nobody loved it. And it wanted to be kissed, same as any other
mouth. Finally, it talked all the time, day and night. You could hear him for
blocks, screaming at it to shut up...
beating at it with his fists...
and sticking candles up it, but... nothing did any good, and the asshole
said to him... "It is you who will
shut up in the end, not me... "because we don't need you around here
anymore. I can talk and eat and shit." After that, he began waking up in
the morning with transparentjelly... Mlike a tadpole's tail all over his mouth.
He would tear it off his mouth and the pieces would stick to his hands... like burning gasoline jelly and grow there.
So, finally, his mouth sealed over...
and the whole head... would have
amputated spontaneously except for the eyes, you dig? That's the one thing that
the asshole couldn't do was see. It needed the eyes. Nerve connections were
blocked... and infiltrated and atrophied. So, the brain couldn't give orders
anymore. It was trapped inside the skull... sealed off. For a while, you could
see... the silent, helpless suffering of the brain behind the eyes. And then
finally the brain must have died...
because the eyes went out... and there was no more feeling in them than
a crab's eye at the end of a stalk.”
- William S. Burroughs, Naked Lunch
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