A Clockwork Orange

Description

A new critical edition to celebrate the 50th anniversary of A Clockwork Orange - one of the most influential books of the twentieth century The fully restored fiftieth anniversary edition Foreword by Martin Amis First published by William Heinemann in 1962, A Clockwork Orange is widely acknowledged as one of the most influential books of the twentieth century. This special edition, compiled and edited by Andrew Biswell, Burgess's biographer, restores the text of the novel as Burgess originally wrote it, and includes a selection of interviews, articles, reviews and other previously unpublished material.

Anthony Burgess was born in Manchester in 1917. He spent six years in the army before becoming a schoolmaster and a colonial education officer in Malaya and Brunei. After the success of his Malayan Trilogy, he became a full-time writer in 1959. He achieved an international reputation as one of the leading novelists of his day, and one of the most versatile. He wrote criticism, stage plays, translations and a Broadway musical, and he composed more than 150 musical works, including a piano concerto, a violin concerto for Yehudi Menuhin, and a symphony. His books have been published all over the world and include The Complete Enderby, Earthly Powers, Nothing Like the Sun, A Dead Man in Deptford and Byrne. Burgess died in London in 1993. Andrew Biswell is the Director of the International Anthony Burgess Foundation and Principal Lecturer in English at Manchester Metropolitan University. His publications include The Real Life of Anthony Burgess.

A terrifying and marvellous book. -- Roald Dahl A brilliant novel . . . a tour-de-force in nastiness, an inventive primer in total violence, a savage satire on the distortions of the single and collective minds. -- The New York Times I do not know of any other writer who has done as much with language as Mr Burgess has done here - the fact that this is also a very funny book may pass unnoticed. * William Burroughs * Burgess's dystopian fantasy still fascinates as it clocks up 50 years * The Times * The 50th anniversary of Anthony Burgess's A Clockwork Orange is celebrated this weekend with the publication of a handsome new hardback edition (the edges of its paper are orange!) by Random House (GBP20). It is compiled and edited by Andrew Biswell - Burgess's biographer - and has a foreword by Martin Amis, as well as unpublished material including a 1972 interview with Burgess, the prologue to his 1986 A Clockwork Orange: A Play With Music, and his annotated 1961 typescript of the novel, complete with his doodles in the margins. His picture of an orange with a spring poking out of it is particularly special * Independent *