Naked Lunch (film)

Naked Lunch is a 1991 Canadian-British-American-Japanese science fiction drama film written and directed by David Cronenberg and starring Peter Weller, Judy Davis, Ian Holm, and Roy Scheider. It is a film adaptation of William S. Burroughs' 1959 novel of the same name. It was made as a co-production by film companies of Canada, the United Kingdom, and Japan.

Plot

William Lee is an exterminator who finds that his wife Joan is stealing his insecticide (pyrethrum) to use as a drug. When Lee is arrested by the police, he begins hallucinating because of "bug powder" exposure. He believes he is a secret agent with two handlers or controllers in the forms of a talking insectoid typewriter and an alien "Mugwump". The bug assigns him the mission of killing Joan. She is allegedly an agent of an organization called Interzone Incorporated. Lee dismisses the bug and its instructions and kills it. He returns home to find Joan having sex with Hank, one of his writer friends. Shortly afterwards, he accidentally kills her while attempting to shoot a drinking glass off her head in imitation of William Tell.

Naked Lunch

Naked Lunch (sometimes The Naked Lunch) is a novel by American writer William S. Burroughs, originally published in 1959. The book is structured as a series of loosely connected vignettes. Burroughs stated that the chapters are intended to be read in any order. The reader follows the narration of junkie William Lee, who takes on various aliases, from the US to Mexico, eventually to Tangier and the dreamlike Interzone.

The vignettes (which Burroughs called "routines") are drawn from Burroughs' own experience in these places, and his addiction to drugs (heroin, morphine, and while in Tangier, majoun (a strong marijuana confection) as well as a German opioid, brand name Eukodol, of which he wrote frequently).

The novel was included in Time magazine's "100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005". In 1991, David Cronenberg released a film of the same name based upon the novel and other Burroughs writings.

Title origin

The book was originally published with the title The Naked Lunch in Paris in July 1959 by Olympia Press. Because of US obscenity laws, a complete American edition (by Grove Press) did not follow until 1962. It was titled Naked Lunch and was substantially different from the Olympia Press edition, because it was based on an earlier 1958 manuscript in Allen Ginsberg's possession. The article "the" in the title was never intended by the author, but added by the editors of the Olympia Press 1959 edition. Nonetheless The Naked Lunch remained the title used for the 1968 and 1974 Corgi Books editions, and the novel is often known by the alternative name, especially in the UK where these editions circulated.

Naked Lunch (disambiguation)

Naked Lunch is a novel by William S. Burroughs

Naked Lunch may also refer to:

Naked Lunch (Austrian band)

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Naked Lunch is a band from Klagenfurt, Austria, founded in 1991. They started out as an alternative rock band mixing hard rock guitars and fragile vocals. In the nineties, they connected with the German The Notwist/Weilheim musical scene with whom they still have their ties. In fact, their producer, Olaf Opal, is also working for The Notwist.

The Carinthian group's album Songs for the Exhausted was recorded after a long hiatus (a time when the band nearly collapsed) and saw the band abandon their rock roots and turn to a more experimental, electronic approach to their songs.

Today, they have a cult following in Austria and Germany. In 2007, a new album, This Atom Heart of Ours, was released.

History

Early days (1991-1996)

Naked Lunch was named after the novel by William S. Burroughs. The first incarnation of the band was made up of Oliver Welter (vocals and guitar), Georg Timber-Trattnig (bass) and Peter Hornbogner (drums).