Naked Lunch

Fifty years ago, Olympia Press in Paris issued a book that redefined not just American literature, but American culture. Naked Lunch, the U.S. edition of which soon followed from Grove Press, is one of the most important and influential novels of the twentieth century. An unnerving tale of an addict unmoored in New York, Tangier, and ultimately a nightmarish wasteland known as Interzone, Naked Lunch’s formal innovation, formerly taboo subject matter, and tour de force execution has exerted its influence on the works 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 in general. On the fiftieth anniversary of its first publication, Grove Press is proud to issue a special hardcover edition featuring the restored text that is faithful to Burroughs’s original composition, an introduction from David Ulin, book editor of the Los Angeles Times, as well as reproductions of original manuscript pages and drawings.