Unseen Clockwork Orange 'Follow-Up' by Anthony Burgess Unearthed | Hacker News Reader

Unseen Clockwork Orange 'Follow-Up' by Anthony Burgess Unearthed

bbc.com

108 pointsjonbaer17 comments

> A Clockwork Orange was, however, a box office success in the US and was nominated for the Oscar for best picture in 1972 (losing to The French Connection).

The original release in the US in 1972 was rated X. It's one of only two X-rated films to receive a nomination, the other being "Midnight Cowboy."

Kubrick pulled the film from the UK after receiving threats to himself and wife.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Clockwork_Orange_(film)

Ratings are imperfect censorship tools that evolve over time. PG-13 was created specifically for Indiana Jones Temple of Doom because there was no rating between PG and R. Content that fits in these boxes is not the same from year to year. Not just with regards to violence or language, but casual topless women that were commonplace in the 70s is no longer PG/PG-13 acceptable.

> A Clockwork Condition, which runs to 200 pages, is a collection of Burgess' thoughts on the human condition and develops the themes from his 1962 book.

> The novel told the story of the state's attempt to cure a teenage delinquent.

> The unfinished non-fiction follow-up is described as "part philosophical reflection and part autobiography".

[...]

> the author abandoned the manuscript when he came to realise "he was a novelist and not a philosopher".

Burgess did well. He also wrote '1985', a sort of 'Nineteen Eighty Four' takeoff, but not nearly as powerful.

I read many of his writings, and he was OK for the 20th century, but I'm afraid that 'Clockwork Orange' will be his monument, Kubrick-aided.

I can't speak about his other work, but A Clockwork Orange would be timeless even without the Kubrick movie. It is such a special language he invented, and I find such bold experiments quite rare among the literature I read.

On the cover of my book they quote William S. Borroughs: "I do not know any other writer who has done as much with language... a very funny book". And he is quite right (at least with the first part).

Agree that the book is timeless on its own. But every time I re-read it, Malcom McDowell provides Alex's voice.

One of my Russian speaking colleagues was highly amused when I spoke to him in Nadsat.

Because Nadsat is uses standard English grammar, it's even more accessible than Newspeak, my other favorite dystopian language.

Oh, my beloved devotchka and droogs of HN!

clockwork orange, the book, has 21 chapters. for whatever dumb reason, burgess' american publisher decided to omit the last chapter on publication. burgess believes this entire subverts the book's message, making it say the opposite of what he meant it to say. alas, it appears kubrick's treatment in the film also omits the last chapter.

burgess wrote at length about this in "rolling stone" back in the day. i kept that particular issue all these years because i think it's an important story. i can't find a copy of it online, though. the story is somewhat covered in the wikipedia article:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Clockwork_Orange_(film)#Nove...

... which also mentions that american versions of the book after 1986 restore the final chapter.

Here you go: https://ia800108.us.archive.org/3/items/AnthonyBurgessAClock...

"That’s what it’s going to be then, brothers, as I come to the like end of this tale. You have been everywhere with your little droog Alex, suffering with him, and you have viddied some of the most grahzny bratchnies old Bog ever made, all on to your old droog Alex. And all it was was that I was young. But now as I end this story, brothers, I am not young, not no longer, oh no.

"Alex like groweth up, oh yes.

"But where I itty now, O my brothers, is all on my oddy knocky, where you cannot go. Tomorrow is all like sweet flowers and the turning vonny earth and the stars and the old Luna up there and your old droog Alex all on his oddy knocky seeking like a mate.

"And all that cal. A terrible grahzny vonny world, really, O my brothers. And so farewell from your little droog. And to all others in this story profound shooms of lip music brrrrrr. And they can kiss my sharries. But you, O my brothers, remember sometimes thy little Alex that was. Amen. And all that cal."

-- The End.

good find! it's been decades since i read this, but the one thing i remember pretty clearly is burgess' high level of indignation, which, yep, is thoroughly on display.

Kubrick didn't know there was a last chapter until later.

wikipedia disagrees with you:

"In Kubrick's opinion — as in the opinion of other readers, including the original American editor — the final chapter was unconvincing and inconsistent with the book."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Clockwork_Orange_(novel)

> "claimed that he had not read the original version until he had virtually finished the screenplay, and that he had never given serious consideration to using it"

So he knew there was a final chapter; he just didn't care.

Everytime I return to Clockwork Orange I like to read it out loud to myself in the voice of an adult reading a bedtime story to their kid. I would love to hear an audio book done in that style. A little bit of the ultraviolence to go with my milk and cookies.

My only problem with Kubrick's take on the book was Alex and his droogs never felt like teenagers to me ... when I read the book I'm seeing fifteen year olds, boys, not men ... which makes things even harsher. (ie City of God)

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