Naked Lunch 50th Anniversary Weekend

City Lights, SFAI Film Department, & Grove Press
celebrate William S. Burrough's Naked Lunch @ 50 Years: A weekend of critical analysis and commemorative readings.
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Friday, November 20th, 2009, 7:00 P.M.
William S. Burroughs: An Evening about the author of The Naked Lunch
Location: SFAI Lecture Hall - 800 Chestnut Street - San Francisco - CA - 94133
Hosted by Jonah Raskin & Peter Maravelis
presentations by Bill Berkson, Diane di Prima, Oliver Harris, Lynn Hershman-Leeson, Ron Loewinsohn, Jonah Raskin, DJ Spooky, and others, followed by a roundtable discussion.
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Saturday, November 21, 2009, 1:00 P.M.
From Interzone To The Western Lands: William S. Burroughs Remembered
Location: SFAI Lecture Hall, 800 Chestnut Street, San Francisco, CA 94133
hosted by Peter Maravelis
William S. Burroughs and Naked Lunch are remembered by friends and afficionados of his work.
Participants: Charles Gatewood, V. Vale, Mel Clay, and Kathelin Gray
To be followed by a sampling of William S. Burroughs films and performance videos
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Sunday, November 22, 2009, 7:00 P.M.
Naked Lunch REDUX
Location: Amnesia Bar, 853 Valencia Street, San Francisco, CA 94110, in SF's Mission District
hosted by Peter Maravelis
Local authors read excerpts from The Naked Lunch
Participants: Mindy Bagdon, Stephen Elliot, Marcus Ewert, Daphne Gottlieb, Alan Kauffman, Michael McClure, Johnny Strike, and more to be announced
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In the light of the 50th anniversary of The Naked Lunch, a book that is as relevant now as it ever was, this program attempts to encourage a new public appreciation of the author and the work through a weekend of critical analysis and public readings. The historic, literary, socio-political, and biographic elements shall be explored bringing contemporary readers closer to this important author and his greatest novel. Brought together will be poets, writers, scholars, artists, and musicians in an attempt to plumb the depths of this seminal and on the whole "revolutionary" work. We will explore the influence of the Beats upon Burroughs - the literary connection and friendship with Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac. Also explored will be how Naked Lunch relates to Howl and On the Road. Other themes that will be discussed: The trial of Naked Lunch and the obscenity issue. Drugs and Naked Lunch and Burroughs. Burroughs as a father of the counterculture - influence on Lou Reed, Stones, Patti Smith, punk. Burroughs as an experimental writer of the avant garde - connections to surrealism, use of the cut-up.
-Jonah Raskin, Peter Maravelis, event curators
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for other Naked Lunch commemorative events happening around the world visit Oliver Harris & Ian McFadyen's site:
http://nakedlunch.org/