Norman Mailer: Works and Days

Defenders of "Naked Lunch" Compare Burroughs to Authors of Classics

Joseph M. Harvey's report on the Boston obscenity trial of William Burroughs's Naked Lunch, at which Mailer testified, calling the novel "marvelously well-written" and Burroughs "possibly the most talented writer in America."

An article by Joseph M. Harvey reporting on the obscenity trial of William Burroughs‘s Naked Lunch in Suffolk County Superior Court, Boston. Alongside Mailer, the witnesses included John Ciardi, Paul Hollander, Gabrielle Bernhard, Norman H. Holland, Dr. Stanley Eldred, and Dr. John Barry Sturrock. Mailer extolled the novel as “marvelously well-written” and Burroughs as “possibly the most talented writer in America.”

Mailer’s own account of his testimony appears as “The Boston Trial of Naked Lunch” (65.13).

First published: 1965-01-13
Form: article
Lennon & Lennon: 65.1
Cite as: /works/1965-01-13-defenders-of-naked-lunch
Last updated: 2026-05-30