Nothing Like Clockwork

Nothing Like Clockwork

A world full of violence, drugs, and moral apathy is what is found on the surface of the novel,   A Clockwork Orange.   It’s completely outrageous how much shock value is built into the promotion of this novel, but there is so much more to it than the old ‘ultra violence’ as the main character, Alex, calls it.   British novelist, Anthony Burgess, explores the importance of selfhood and freewill while simultaneously examining the mechanics of youthful thinking through various linguistic techniques in his dystopian novel A Clockwork Orange.
Anthony Burgess was born February 25, 1917 in Manchester, England to Joseph and Elizabeth (Burgess) Wilson (Novels for Students page 2).   He was a self proclaimed “failed composer” even though he composed several scores for television, film, and theater (Biographical Essay).   He graduated from Manchester University with a degree in Literature before entering the Army Educational force in 1940. In 1959 Burgess became ill and was told he had a brain tumor and would only survive a year. This was misdiagnosis. He died of cancer in 1993, in London.
He released his first novel, Time for a Tiger, in 1956.   He later took the name Anthony Burgess because he thought his superiors would disapprove of his writing fiction (Biographical Essay).   His first brush with cancer helped him decide to write full time. In his “last” year he wrote and completed four novels.   In 1962 Anthony Burgess went on to write his most famous novel A Clockwork Orange.
When the novel was released in the States it was not complete.   The full work was 21 chapters long(Clockwork Resucked).   The 21st ,which changed the entire attitude of the book and offered a resolution to the attitudes of the main character, was left off.   At that time Burgess was pressed for money and sold the film rights to his novel for just $500 ( Novels for Students pg. 2).   The full version was released years later but, not before the story was made into a film and a screenplay.   At the American...