You’ve been asking for it (and by “you” we mean “nobody”), so here’s Naked Lunch (1959)! It’s almost unfair to accuse Burroughs of having written this “high,” because there’s really no version of a Burroughs novel that isn’t about being absurdly high and abject. This nightmare account of heroin, orifices, evil doctors, and grime gets us talking about noveliness and what isn’t a novel, the humor of the grotesque, and the question of literary nihilism. We consider if Allen Ginsberg was to Burroughs as Hawthorne was to Melville: helping him keep his sh*t together in order to write a non-insane novel and if he just gave up on this one. We also talk about Olympia Press, which published this along with The Ginger Man and Lolita, and why filthy-minded publishers are necessary.

We read the Grove Press 2013 restored edition. We recommend Jennie Skerl’s writings on Burroughs, particularly the collection William S. Burroughs at the Front: Critical Reception, 1959-1989. We also recommend Burroughs’s letter collections, published in two volumes by Ecco Press. Check out some of the weird side-projects he did, including collaborations with Kurt Cobain and Laurie Anderson.

Find us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook @betterreadpod, and email us nice things at [email protected]. Find Tristan on Twitter @tjschweiger, Katie @katiekrywo, and Megan @tuslersaurus.