Antony Burgess
Antony Burgess was born in Manchester on 25 February 1917 from a musical family: his mother
was a singer and dad pianist: his soundtracks were used for silent films. His real name was John
Anthony Burgess Wilson, but during his lifetime he changed often be recognized by name (John,
Jack). It was a "hick"(burino), a local village (borgo). His real interest was music but did not pass
the test ever: so he graduated in English language and literature. He don’t leave his passion for
music, but continues to study it at home: at 50 years old becomes a music critic. Burgess was
eclectic, in fact he wrote critical essays, novels, poems, articles with about 50 works. During World
War II he served as Music Director of the shows for British troops in Europe; He was sent to
Malaysia and this experience influenced the opera “Clockwork Orange”: in Malaysia the name Alex
means "without law" and “orang” means “person”. In 1959 he returned to England due to a brain
tumor. He is given a year of life, so he writes a lot and sells books to give an economic security to
the family. He was also a correspondent: he collaborated with RAI talking about England and also
with the BBC. died in 1993.
Clockwork Orange
Clockwork Orange, is a black commedy novel written by Anthony Burgess in 1962, made famous
by the film of the 1971 directed by Stanley Kubrick, a symbol of the rebellion against the system.
The novel, as well as the film, deals with the violence and manipulation of individuals by the
political-economic system.
Inspiration and title
The novel was inspired by a writer's accident in 1944, when he and his wife were attacked by four
U.S. Marines. The pregnant wife, because of the violence she suffered, lost her child. The title
indicates that man is at the mercy of society, that he cannot choose for himself his own destiny and
his own morality: it is that a mechanical orange, or an inanimate being that waits only to be
determined by someone to act for good or for evil. The title also refers to the London dialect phrase
"as Queer as A Clockwork Orange", which indicated a person or a very strange thing. Finally, the
same Burgess signaled that in Malay "orang" means man or person.
Is a dystopian novel:
•The novel is set in a future in which the world is dominated by violence without control.
•The methods by which institutions seek to combat violence are based on controlling people's
minds
•The victims of violence rivelanodei violent when they have occasion, driven by the thirst for
vengeance. In this way violence becomes a vicious cycle from which one cannot get out.
Themes
