Author Burgess's Book
Reviews
A Clockwork Orange (Science Fiction)
Alex and his droogs (aka mates in this future's slang) drink drugged up milk, talk in rhyme-y childish words, and beat,rape, and loot others.
Eventually Alex's power over his friends crumble and they leave him blinded after murdering an old lady, leaving him to the police.
Alex (at only 14) gets sent to prison and, rather than serve his full sentence, signs up for an experimental rehabilitation project, which subjects him to torture and drops him i...
A Clockwork Orange (Literature)
The setting of A Clockwork Orange is in the near future, where the world is a dangerous place and, at night, gangs come out to rob and rape people. Alex, the main character, is one of these people. He is the vicious leader of a gang that kills without remorse. Alex hurts one of his members, which causes the rest of the gang members to consider teaching Alex a lesson in equality. Eventually, when they are robbing a house, as they usually do, they hurt him...
Little Wilson and Big God
In the first of two autobiographical volumes, Burgess details his life pretty much up to the point where he became a writer -- well into adulthood, and only because a doctor had given him a short time to live and he wanted to make some quick money to support his wife. (He sure made up for it after failing to die, though.) The title refers to the author himself, who was born John Burgess Wilson. Most of his adult adventures in this book -- in England, Gib...
The Doctor is Sick
Dr. Edwin Spindrift's life as an ordinary linguistics professor grinds to a halt when his repeated blackouts raise suspicion that he may have a brain tumor. He is sent home from Burma to London to be treated at a mental institution chock full of head injured and mentally ill patients. His treating physician, Dr. Railton, calmly assures Edwin that surgery is the necessary protocol for his condition, and Edwin's wife agrees. The decidedly unsympathetic ...
Burgess booklist
You've Had Your Time
This is the second and last volume of Burgess's autobiography, covering the period of his life as a professional writer. There are fewer personal revelations (other than the discovery of a son he had not known of) and little literary gossip, although Burgess does not hesitate to offer opinions: "Here I was bowing down to Hemingway, the author of two good novels but a bad man. I could not forgive him for his treatment of Ford Madox Ford, the greatest Brit...
