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Content snapshot
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Violence
A lot
Significant; graphic violence throughout the surreal narrative
Language
Very heavy
Extreme language; one of the most profane books in literary history
Sexual Content
Very heavy
Graphic sexual content throughout
Substance Use
Very heavy
Extreme; heroin addiction is the novel's central metaphor and subject
Emotional Intensity
Very heavy
Extreme; the novel is a sustained descent into nightmare logic and psychological dissolution
What this book is about
William S. Burroughs's 1959 avant-garde novel — the subject of an American obscenity trial and one of the most extreme books in the Western literary tradition — is a fragmented, non-linear descent through drug addiction, surreal landscapes of control and depravity, and the extremes of human experience. Naked Lunch is a literary landmark and a genuinely difficult, disturbing read that contains graphic content across every category.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
Graphic sexual content
Extreme drug use throughout
Graphic violence
Not for general audiences — literary landmark for mature readers only
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