{"id":115,"date":"2014-09-07T17:37:50","date_gmt":"2014-09-07T17:37:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/the-perfect-library.zonkdev.uk\/?p=115"},"modified":"2014-09-09T18:47:48","modified_gmt":"2014-09-09T18:47:48","slug":"a-clockwork-orange","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/the-perfect-library.org\/?p=115","title":{"rendered":"A Clockwork Orange"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anthony Burgess, 1962. \u00a0<\/strong>Cover by David Pelham, 1968<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>A Clockwork Orange<\/em> is by some way Anthony Burgess\u2019s best-known work. It was first published in 1962 and became a bestseller on both sides of the Atlantic following the release of Stanley Kubrick\u2019s film in 1971.<\/p>\n

The novel received a positive critical response but Burgess repeatedly tried to distance himself from it. He claimed it was an unimportant book which he had written in just three weeks. This was probably because its bestseller status overshadowed his other – and better \u2013 writing; and partly because he didn\u2019t like Kubrick\u2019s claim on his work. The film was rated \u201cX\u201d in both the UK and the US and was criticized for its graphic violence. As a result both the film and the book were boycotted in the US. Two years after its release, Kubrick took the film out of circulation in Britain following accusations that it inspired copycat rapes and other violent acts.<\/p>\n

A Clockwork Orange<\/em>\u00a0is set in a future English society with a culture of extreme youth violence. Burgess claimed that his inspiration was the beating inflicted on his wife by a gang of drunken American servicemen stationed in England during World War II.\u00a0The book\u2019s 15-year-old protagonist Alex narrates his violent exploits and the authorities\u2019 attempts to reform him.<\/p>\n

It was originally written in three parts, each with seven chapters. However, for nearly 20 years two, quite different, versions were on sale. The final chapter was omitted from editions published in the US prior to 1986. In the introduction to the updated American text – which included the missing 21st chapter – Burgess explains why. When he first took the book to an American publisher he was told that readers would never go for the final chapter in which Alex recognizes the error of his ways and resolves to turn his life around. Burgess reluctantly agreed but considered this version of his novel to be “badly flawed”. Kubrick\u2019s film adaptation is based on the early American edition of the book, without the final chapter.<\/p>\n

Alex\u2019s narrative is delivered in a language created by Burgess. \u00a0Nadsat <\/em>is a mix of modified Russian and other Slavic terms, British rhyming slang and words which Burgess made up. He had a lot of fun with Nadsat<\/em>. My favourite is horrowshow; \u00a0Nadsat\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0for “excellent”. It looks\u00a0like an English word but\u00a0comes\u00a0\u00a0from the Russian word for “good”, \u00a0khorosho.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Burgess was often asked to explain the novel\u2019s title. He usually answered that it was based on a common cockney expression, \u201cas queer as a clockwork orange<\/em>\u201d. However, there is no record of this phrase being used before 1962. On the other hand, nadsat<\/em> does have a meaning; it is the suffix for\u00a0Russian numerals from 11 to 19, an almost exact linguistic parallel to the English\u00a0teen. <\/em>Clever, eh?<\/p>\n

The wide-eyed image of Alex on David Pelham\u2019s cover design reflects the teenager\u2019s appetite for amphetamines \u00a0– and the aversion therapy which he receives in prison.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anthony Burgess, 1962. \u00a0Cover by David Pelham, 1968 \u00a0A Clockwork Orange is by some way Anthony Burgess\u2019s best-known work. It was first published in 1962 and became a bestseller on both sides of the Atlantic following the release of Stanley Kubrick\u2019s film in 1971. The novel received a positive critical response but Burgess repeatedly tried […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fiction","category-novels"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/the-perfect-library.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/the-perfect-library.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/the-perfect-library.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/the-perfect-library.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/the-perfect-library.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=115"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/the-perfect-library.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":118,"href":"https:\/\/the-perfect-library.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115\/revisions\/118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/the-perfect-library.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/the-perfect-library.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/the-perfect-library.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}