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Hauser and O’Brien
One day, the narrator observes the Professor giving a lecture to a diverse group of students in an outdoor lecture space at Interzone University. He opens the lecture by talking about his sexual experiences from the previous night before diving into a discussion of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by the English poet Coleridge. While the lecture is for the most part disjointed and confusing, the Professor’s remarks about the Mariner ultimately shed light on Burroughs’s own literary project. Specifically, they highlight how literature can invite the reader to enter certain psychological states, regardless of the actual content of the writing.
The Professor Quotes in Naked Lunch
The Naked Lunch quotes below are all either spoken by The Professor or refer to The Professor. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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4. Benway Quotes
Gentle reader, I fain would spare you this, but my pen hath its will like the Ancient Mariner.
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10. Campus of Interzone University Quotes
“What the Mariner actually says is not important… He may be rambling, irrelevant, even crude and rampant senile. But something happens to the Wedding Guest like happens in psychoanalysis when it happens if it happens.”
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24. Atrophied Preface Quotes
I am a recording instrument… I do not presume to impose “story” “plot” “continuity”… Insofar as I succeed in Direct recording of certain areas of psychic process I may have limited function… I am not an entertainer…
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Naked Lunch is a blueprint, a How-To Book […] …
How-To extend levels of experience by opening the door at the end of a long hall… Doors that only open in Silence… Naked Lunch demands Silence from The Reader. Otherwise he is taking his own pulse…
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The Professor Character Timeline in Naked Lunch
The timeline below shows where the character The Professor appears in Naked Lunch. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
10. Campus of Interzone University
...a variety of ways, including American-style denim, North African djellabas, and medieval European dress. Their Professor arrives on bicycle and right away launches into a story about a back injury he...
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The Professor briefly returns to his sex talk before beginning a lecture on The Rime of the...
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Back at the lecture, the students want the Professor to keep telling stories about his sexual experiences, but he goes back to his discussion...
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