Ginsberg Vs Burroughs

At the end of World War II, the world saw an opening and boom of literature, self-expression and liberalism, and this was gravely manifested in the 40’s and 50’s in the United States by the Beat Movement, which later paved the road for the hippie movement. This Neo-American movement was one in which both pioneer writers and artists, primarily by white-bread, middle class background individuals, sought to notice, fight and rise up against the oppression and struggles of society as seen from their perspective. Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs laid the foundation of the Beat Movement and, along with other visionary writers and artists, forged the cornerstone of a modern American cultural movement. Burroughs shocked the world

Junkie was one of the most revolutionary works of the Beat generation, in which Burroughs openly sets himself and acknowledges his life as a drug addict. In Junkie, he writes about the ‘drug culture’ and reality in America, which the government tried so hard to hide and abolish. With Junkie, Burroughs marks a horrid truth which he lived with for almost two decades. He says, “The junk merchant doesn't sell his product to the consumer, he sells the consumer to his product. He does not improve and simplify his merchandise. He degrades and simplifies the client.” Burroughs continues his perspective and analysis of ‘junk’ culture through Naked Lunch, which was even more traumatizing to the public. It was a highly publicized governmental ban which delayed its publication until 1960. Naked Lunch was all the more Harrowing and grotesque, and featured nonlinear narrative with elements of sadomasochism satire and metamorphoses. He makes clear here his homosexual preference, and it is apparent that the sexual tendencies of the Beats, only brought them closer together creating a form of brotherhood open to those only of similar background. Conservative America had never seen such controversial and harsh writing, which impacted the public all the more. After this novel many people thought Burroughs was crazy, others admired him for his bravery and determination in writing in what he lived and believed in, and still others considered him a pure genius, a rebel who fought to have his word heard. As it turns out Burroughs was all of these and more and he was finally popular among European and American literary critics. On another note, Naked Lunch is also important since its manuscript proved to be of support in writing other works such as The Soft Machine (1961), The Exploded