The 1959 novel by William S. Burroughs banned in the United States for obscenity was Naked Lunch.
Originally published in France by Olympia Press as The Naked Lunch, the novel is an experimental, non-linear work assembled from surreal episodes or “routines.” Burroughs wrote much of it while living in Tangier, and its fictional city of Interzone reflects that setting’s political tensions, drug culture, and social freedoms.
The book became notorious for graphic depictions of drug addiction, sadomasochism, sexuality, and body horror. Its publication triggered obscenity disputes involving the U.S. Postal Service, Massachusetts, and Los Angeles. The most important case was the 1965 Massachusetts trial, where writers including Norman Mailer and Allen Ginsberg testified about the book’s literary value. The initial obscenity ruling was overturned by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in 1966.
A common mix-up is calling Naked Lunch a nationwide U.S. ban. The controversy involved specific jurisdictions and legal challenges rather than one permanent federal prohibition. Grove Press nevertheless published an uncensored American edition in 1962, and the book later became a defining text of the Beat Generation.