But what will his re-education mean? A dystopian horror, a black comedy, an exploration of choice, A Clockwork Orange is also a work of exuberant invention which created a new language for its characters. He and his gang of friends rob, kill and rape their way through a nightmarish future, until the State puts a stop to his riotous excesses. ' Fifteen-year-old Alex likes lashings of ultraviolence. Anthony Burgess died in 1993.Fully restored edition of Anthony Burgess' original text of A Clockwork Orange, with a glossary of the teen slang 'Nadsat', explanatory notes, pages from the original typescript, interviews, articles and reviews Edited by Andrew Biswell With a Foreword by Martin Amis 'It is a horrorshow story. He was also a prolific composer and produced many full-scale works for orchestra and other media during his lifetime. Despite being given less than a year to live, Burgess went on to write at least a book a year - including A Clockwork Orange (1962), M/F (1971), Man of Nazareth (1979), Earthly Powers (1980) and The Kingdom of the Wicked (1985) - and hundreds of book reviews right up until his death. In 1959 Burgess was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour and decided to become a full-time writer. After demobilization, he worked first as a college lecturer in Speech and Drama and then as a grammar-school master before becoming an education officer in the Colonial Service, stationed in Malay and Borneo. He studied English at Manchester University and joined the army in 1940 where he spent six years in the Education Corps. 'One of the cleverest and most original writers of his generation' The TimesĪnthony Burgess was born in Manchester in 1917. 'I do not know of any other writer who has done as much with language.a very funny book' William S.

It is about the excitements and intoxicating effects of language' Daily Telegraph 'Not only about man's violent nature and his capacity to choose between good and evil.

'A gruesomely witty cautionary tale' Time

'Every generation should discover this book' Time Out It is also a dazzling experiment in language, as Burgess creates a new language - 'nadsat', the teenage slang of a not-too-distant future. Social prophecy? Black comedy? Study of freewill? A Clockwork Orange is all of these. Alex is jailed for his teenage delinquency and the State tries to reform him - but at what cost? In this nightmare vision of youth in revolt, fifteen-year-old Alex and his friends set out on a diabolical orgy of robbery, rape, torture and murder. A Clockwork Orange is the daring and electrifying book by Anthony Burgess that inspired one of the most notorious films ever made, beautifully repackaged as part of the Penguin Essentials range.

A clockwork orange penguin