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Originally Posted by Richard Pryor on Fire

The Sadism is in the shock value, the things he says in this book are deliberate and horrible and nightmarish. With that extreme content he creates powerful satire. The quote I used is from Naked Lunch and I believe it to be a gross caricature of American narcissism and proud ignorance. If we look at the last line in particular “He plummets from the eyeless lighthouse, kissing and jacking off in the face of the black mirror…” In this passage he speculates on America’s downfall as a result of our unwillingness look inward, or look outward with any sort of real foresight or depth, we are blinded by an unyielding self satisfaction, because we are American, and extremely nationalistic and xenophobic. With the crass nature of his metaphor he brings over that same level of shock and disgust to the issue that he really is speaking on. So as unnerving as some of his material is, that’s how Burroughs wants us to feel about what ever his metaphor is supposed to be parallel for. So that sadism, that pleasure he gets in making people uncomfortable while they read the horrible hellish things that take place in his work, is there for a reason. He wants you to feel that horrible and ugly about the things that are taking place everyday in this world and if he has to use some ugly language to make his point .

But differnt strokes for different folks...

see, i don't know, i can't be bothered with interpretations when i read a novel; i'd rather pick up a nonfiction book in social psychology, you know what i mean? maybe only with ulysses i've found it worthy to sit with the text and a reference book, but not to figure out "what joyce meant". otherwise-- meh!

notice however i haven't said burroughs is a bad writer; he was certainly good, it's just that he's not sooooo fucking woooonderful!!!! he did some curious things with text with his cutups, but i think his biography & public persona are more interesting than his prose. (same with kerouac.)

the highest archangel of the beat generation is by far allen ginsberg. but that's an unfair comparison, i know.