BIOGRAPHY
Anthony Burgess (1917-1993) was one of the most prolific
literary figures of the
20th century, producing a large number of novels, plays,
biographies, screenplays, criticism, and articles.
John Anthony Burgess Wilson was born on February 25, 1917,
in Manchester, England. As a child he demonstrated talent as a writer, artist,
and musician. He studied the violin and taught himself piano as well as musical
notation. Though he regarded himself as a "failed composer," his
efforts were not altogether unsuccessful. He created classical pieces and
scores for television, film, and theater. His third symphony was performed in
lowa City in 1975. In his lifetime, Burgess composed choral works, concertos,
and even operas. Writing was initially a "hobby," then, after he
recognized his gift and found it remunerative, a "full time job."
The experiences of Burgess' first 32 years provided
inspiration for his novels. He was raised in an Irish Catholic family and
attended Bishop Bilsborrow School and Xaverian College. Ironically, he lost his
faith at Xaverian but considered himself "a lapsed Catholic," never
completely free of his background. In 1940, after graduating from Manchester University
with a degree in
literature, he entered the Army Educational Corps. From 1943 to 1946 he was a
training college lecturer in speech and drama on Gibraltar. Afterwards he held
a variety of teaching positions including member of the Central Advisory
Council for Adult Education in the Armed Forces, Birmingham, 1946-1948, teacher
of phonetics, drama, and literature for the Ministry of Education, Preston,
Lancashire, 1948-1950, and teacher of literature, phonetics, Spanish, and
music, Banbury Grammar School, Oxfordshire, 1950-1954.
In 1954 he joined the Colonial Service as a lecturer in
English in Malaya. In 1957 he became an educational officer and English
language specialist in Borneo. It was as an observer of these politically and
socially complex cultures that Burgess began his writing career. His first
published novels, Time for a Tiger (1956), Enemy in the Blanket
(1958), and Beds in the East (1959) are set in Malaya. Devil of a
State (1961) is set in Borneo. He took the name Anthony Burgess because he
thought his superiors would disapprove of his writing fiction.
In 1959 Burgess was ill and returned to England. He was
told he probably had a brain tumor and would survive only a year. Luckily, this
was a misdiagnosis. But the prospect of death prompted him to turn full-time to
writing, and during this "terminal year" he completed The Doctor
Is Sick, Inside Mr. Enderby, The Wanting Seed and One Hand Clapping.
Later, Burgess stated in The Economist that his objective during that
year had been to provide an inheritance for his wife by writing ten novels.
But, he said, "I couldn't do it. I did produce five and a half
though...And some of them are still around. But it was too much. I don't think
anybody should do quite as much as that." The five novels that Burgess
completed during his "terminal year" proved a fitting overview of
themes he would return to frequently throughout his career. Once recovered from
his misdiagnosed illness, Burgess continued writing novels. Among the most
acclaimed were three that followed F.X. Enderby, a poet misplaced in society
who was introduced in 1963's Inside Mr. Enderby. Those three books were Enderby
Outside (1968), The Clockwork Testament, or Enderby's End (1974),
and Enderby's Dark Lady (1984). When Enderby died in The Clockwork
Testament, or Enderby's End, readers were so dismayed that the author
"resurrected" him in Enderby's Dark Lady.
Other of Burgess' well-regarded works include Nothing
Like the Sun (1964), a story about William Shakespeare, and Napoleon
Symphony (1974), a fictional biography of Napoleon structured to follow the
form of Beethoven's Eroica. Burgess' most famous, though not his
favorite, novel was A
Clockwork Orange (1962), which was made into a movie. Its
violent anti-hero, Alex, is subdued when he undergoes behavior modification
treatment administered by the state. The novel haunted Burgess throughout his
life because his publisher, W.W. Norton, dropped a final chapter in which Alex
remained reformed. Instead, the book was published with Alex returning to a life of
crime, and when Stanley Kubrick made the film version of the novel in 1971, he
adhered to the publisher's ending. Burgess said in The Economist that he
felt, "...when the film was made the theological element almost completely
disappeared." The film was so violent that it was permanently banned in
Britain.
Burgess also published other books during this time,
including The Novel Now (1967), Shakespeare (1970), and two
studies of James Joyce: ReJoyce (1965) and Joysprick (1973).
Burgess married twice. In 1968 his first wife died of
pscerosis of the liver as a result of severe alcoholism, and he married Liliana
Macelli, a linguist. Discontent with life in England, and particularly with
excessive taxation, they moved with their son to Malta and then lived in Italy
and Monaco. Burgess visited the United States and taught at the University of North
Carolina, Princeton, and City College, New York.
Burgess was acutely sensitive to evil in modern life. He
called himself a "Manichee," a believer in the duality, the
inter-connection of good and evil, of reality. Typically, his protagonists
represent relatively decent people caught in the conflicts and absurdities of
their environments. They confront chaos, as in the Malayan trilogy, espionage,
as in Tremor of Intent (1966), and authoritarian institutions, as in The
Wanting Seed, A
Clockwork Orange, and Honey for the Bears (1963). Burgess distrusted
government. The socialized state which "cures" Alex destroys his free
will. Other novels, such as the Enderby books, The Right to an Answer
(1960), One Hand Clapping (1961), and Beard's Roman Women
(1976)--about Hollywood--satirized materialism, corruption, and vacuousness in
contemporary culture. His humor and satire is clearly shown in One Man's
Chorus: The Uncollected Writings (1998).
People, too, are seen as evil. One of Burgess' interests
was the conflict between Pelagias, who believed man is ultimately perfectible,
and Augustine, who believed man is irredeemably sinful. In novels such as Earthly
Powers (1980), Augustine generally prevails. There are characters, however,
who learn and grow and artistic ones who create order from chaos and suggest
hope.
Burgess' comic style softened his pessimism. Characters
lurch from outlandish adventure to adventure. Farcical figures, surreal
coincidences, and inventive allusions to history and fiction supplement his
novels. Language--puns, poetic images, distorted syntax--distance one from the
gloom. Nothing Like the Sun was written in Elizabethan style. For A
Clockwork Orange Burgess invented a dialect. Some books are considered more
intellectually than emotionally stimulating, rendering illustrations
of theses and complicated reading puzzles. Consequently, Burgess' vitality and
originality were widely admired.
Burgess published two volumes of memoirs, Little Wilson
and Big God (1987) and You've Had Your Time (1990). While both
volumes were generally well-received by critics, some complained that they
spent too much time on abstract thought, and not enough on the author's life.
In his review of You've Had Your Time, William F. Buckley, Jr. remarked
in The New York
Times Book Review, "...is there a human narrative under
this truckload
of cultural petit point? Not a whole lot, to tell the truth, but some."
Although Burgess did not begin writing until age 32,
publishing his first novel at 39, he became one of the busiest authors of his
time. In addition to over 25 novels, he produced biographies, plays,
screenplays, criticism, and articles. His translation of Cyrano de Bergerac
had a successful run at the Guthrie Theatre, Minneapolis, in 1971 and on
Broadway in 1984. For television he wrote Jesus of Nazareth, based on
his novel Man of Nazareth (1979), and AD. Even in 1993, when he
was suffering from a long illness, Burgess published two works: Dead Man in
Deptford and A Mouthful of Air: Languages, Languages--Especially English.
He was also a regular contributor to periodicals, such as Atlantic Monthly
and The New York Times Book Review. Burgess died on November 25, 1993
after a long battle with cancer.
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