"Well, It’s all in the day’s work": Influencing text world perception through translation: Naked Lunch in the Netherlands

Abstract

When William Seward Burroughs’ Naked Lunch was introduced to the U.S. audience, it was met with criticism regarding its drug and sexual related content. Various court battles were fought out over its censorship, ultimately resulting in the exoneration of the book itself in 1966. By that time, the book, and with it its famous and infamous history, had made its way around the world, being published in France and England before making its way back to the United States. Relatively little attention has been given to either Dutch translation, with reviewers focusing on the author's life rather than the work itself. This thesis aims to give an insight in the various effects the translational choices have had on the perception of the text world by the Dutch reader.