Anthony Burgess and A Clockwork Orange

Imagine existing in a world run by sadistic and insane street gangs who reek havoc on innocent civilians, and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it. Anthony Burgess created this world through his novel, A Clockwork Orange. Anthony Burgess was born in 1917 and died in 1963. A lot of social changes occurred during this period of time, such as: the roaring twenties, prohibition, the Great Depression, World War II, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and many more. Burgess not only lived through those changes, but also helped influences some social changes in literature and music. Anthony Burgess was a jack-of-all-trades throughout his 76-year-old life. He was a novelist, composer, children’s book writer, play writer, essayist, critic, and poet. Burgess is most famously known for his controversial novel, A Clockwork Orange. Anthony Burgess pushed the boundaries of what the “norm” was throughout his lifetime.

John Anthony Burgess was born on February 25, 1917, in Manchester, England. He was born to Catholic parents (mom died early). Anthony’s mother died when he was only two years old from an illness, so he was brought up and raised by his aunt. A few years later when his father remarried, his stepmother primarily raised Burgess. Anthony’s father was not around much and frankly didn’t care much for Anthony. Burgess’s upbringing was rough and somewhat traumatizing, which reflect in some of his works, including the novel, A Clockwork Orange. Burgess married at a young age and had only one child, Paolo Andrea Burgess. In a review article about Anthony Burges, Thomas Horan said, “As Burgess acknowledged, he was a neglectful parent, too preoccupied with his writing and composing to take much notice of the high-spirited urchin who often r...

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...d a lot of things throughout his 76-year-old life, but he is most famously known for his controversial novel, A Clockwork Orange.

Works Cited

Burrow, Colin. "Not Quite Nasty." London Review of Books. LRB Ltd (1997-2004), Nov. 2005. Web. 1 Jan. 2014.

Covert, Colin. "Anthony Burgess." Hutchinson's Biography Datbase 2011: 1. Ebscohost.com. Web. 8 Jan. 2014.

Criticism, Contemporary Literary, and Carolyn Riley. Contemporary Literary Criticism. Detroit: Gale Research, 1973. Print.

Horan, Thomas. "A Clockwork Counterpoint: The Music and Literature of Anthony Burgess." Academic Search Premier. Studies in the Novel, Apr. 2011. Web. 8 Jan. 2014. .

Liukkonen, Petri. "Anthony Burgess." Anthony Burgess. Ari Pesonen, 2008. Web. 22 Jan. 2014.

"Movie Spotlight: "A Clockwork Orange"" Review. Newspaper Source Plus (2013): 1-2. Ebscohost.com. Web. 8 Jan. 2014.