Brew Of Life Essay, Research Paper
Anthony Burgess, Selective Individualist
It is often said that life is full of choices and the choices you make is what
makes you yourself. Society, however, has since the dawn of time tried to control
the thoughts of individuals by forcing ideas upon them that destroys the person on
a mental and emotional level while crushing their physical well-being. With the
thoughts of a perfect world, people often forget that when you force a society to
conform to standards you also kill the society’s existence in the process, making it
more machine that human. It takes a strong and educated person to realize these
mistakes made by society and try to show others why it’s wrong to try force
conformity. Anthony Burgess’ belief that “a man who cannot choose ceases to be
a man” is exemplified in most of his works, but most notably in A Clockwork
Orange in which a so-called good society tries to change the psyche of a troubled
youth.
Born John Anthony Burgess Wilson, Anthony Burgess is a man of great
stature and respect. “A big man of sturby, ramshackle appearance, with a blunt
disarming manner and awesome energy (Clemons 56).” He loved life and
expressed it in his works of literature. Born in Manchester, England during the
influenza epidemic, during which his mother and sister passed away soon after his
birth, Burgess’ was ignored by his father who he received little to no attention
from. This, however, allowed him to create the thoughts and ideas which he
preaches. He was a man of little religious belief because he questioned why man
was put on earth. Burgess believed that people should live life in the present not
for the future, which labeled him an anarchist by the church of England. He didn’t
mind the accusations though, he was content with the life he led. (Clemons 56)
Anthony Burgess was a frail child, secluded from the world. At the
age of four he used his time to try and discover a talent in the arts. He highly
enjoyed drawing, writing poems, and essays but was always searching for the one
medium that he would succeed at. Burgess found music to be a art form he
enjoyed the most and studied it up to college were he was forced to study English
because he had a lack of qualifications. Although a little unappreciative at first
Burgess soon found a new love in English and obtained a BA degree with honors
in 1940 from Manchester University. He Jumped from job to job teaching
English soon after, always trying to find happiness. Burgess worked in many
diverse areas ranging from a English master in a grammar school near oxford to
an education officer for the colonial office an Malaysia. Burgess used his free-
time to write, but didn’t expect too much to come from it because of a doubt in his
talent. It was in Malaysia where he had his first novels, The Malaysian Trilogy
published. Burgess soon returned home, however, in 1959 he was diagnosed with
a brain tumor and was told he only had a year to live. At this point Burgess began
to write novels to support his widow-to-be wife. This was how the world came to
know him, and the reason Burgess started to write as a profession. (Clemons 57)
Anthony Burgess acquired a fine taste for writing and was relieved to here
the news of a medical error in his diagnosis. Burgess saw a sign, a blessing telling
him to live life and do what you want to do not what your told to do. This was the
whole basis of his belief that people should be themselves and it was seen in his
writings from that point on. “Instead of writing about the same topics as other
writers of the same time period, [Burgess] concentrated on the themes of the
danger of loss of individuality (Tilton 55).” However, Burgess was criticized
about his ideas because they didn’t follow the churches ideas about thinking in
terms of your afterlife. This got him in some muddy water, but only fueled the
fire within. (Tilton 56)
Challenging the church was a hard task. It seemed like it was Burgess
against the world in his effort to prove his point, but it didn’t phase him just
helped him get ideas for writing more controversial material. In the late 1950’s
Burgess started to work on the one piece of literature that was to share his belief
of individuality with the world. A Clockwork Orange was written because of the
criticizing of the church and was to be the pinnacle of Burgess’ career in as a
writer. Burgess once said, “My god, I had to write A Clockwork Orange in a state
of near drunkenness, in order to deal with material that upset me so much.”
Burgess’ literal value was often doubted because of his well known alcoholism,
and critics question the integrity before it’s release. Upon it’s release, however, all
the skepticism stop because the critics were shocked at Burgess’ war against the
church.
A Clockwork Orange was perhaps one of the most controversial novels of
the early 1960’s. Published in 1962, by Heinemann, it focused on “Burgess’
horrifying vision of the future of England (Gaduer 84),” and explains how
spiritual life could lead to ones d
Delonge is a troubled youth that seeks, but just for an escape from prison,
treatment that ultimately destroys his well-being. Alex’s character is written from
the point of view of Burgess, and the way he feels. Alex has chosen a very evil
life to live but is spiritually content because he hasn’t conformed to the world that
he hates with a passion. “The story compels the readers to like the violence that is
committed because it shows the true nature of [Alex] (Tilton 105).” After being
arrested for violent acts upon the conformist, society, Alex is put in prison which
he would do anything to get out of. He is offered a means of escape by going
through an experimental treatment process that alters his life by forcing him to
conform to the way of life he despises through means of mental control
techniques. This makes him seem empty and emotionless. “The final chapter
shows Alex as a sincere person but he likes it, he begins to question god
wondering if god wants people to be good or if he wants people to be themselves
(Tilton 105).”
The novel brought an uproar from the church and the religious community.
“non-augustinan Christians as well as conventional progressives objected to the
extremity of Burgess’ pessimism, as well as his basically romantic conception of
evil (Bergonzi 85).” On the other hand, Burgess gained the respect from people
all over the world. People saw that A Clockwork Orange had “philosophical as
well as literary importance (Bergonzi 85).” Anthony Burgess had got the
response he was looking for, he shared his ideas with the world and it was
accepted from a majority of people.
In 1971 Stanley Kubrick adapted A Clockwork Orange into a film
which only helped Burgess gain even more respect. However, due to Burgess’ use
of an artificial language “nadsat”, which is a combination of Russian and
American slang, Kubrick was forced to reject Burgess’ original script for the film
version. “Kubrick took out a mass majority of Burgess’ ‘nadsat’, but tried to make
up for it in visual equivalent but failed and is no way as good as the novel itself
(Gaduer 84).” Burgess believed that the film failed to convey the themes of the
novel and urged people to read the book to better understand the concepts he
wrote about in A Clockwork Orange. (Tilton 57)
With his new found popularity Burgess continued to write novels but, also,
experimented in other forms of literature. During the 1960’s Burgess turned to
journalism to make a living. He wrote many articles for various newspapers all
throughout American and Britain. Along with journalism Burgess tried to
produce at least one novel a year even though he was a very busy man. In 1969,
Burgess went back to teaching writing courses in creative arts at Princeton
University, and Columbia University. In 1971, Anthony Burgess gave up
teaching to try and produce an adaptation of his own work Cyrano De Bergena
which was praised for his translation from the original work at the summer
festival in Tyrone Guthrie Theatre. Thus, started a career in playwriting. He
successfully adapted novels of his own to film versions. His plays were strongly
influenced by James Joyce, who was known for his word play, riddles, and puns.
Burgess continued to write and produce plays for three years, and has since then
turned back to writing articles for newspapers. (Clemons 58)
In modern times, Anthony Burgess’ influence is easily seen all throughout
the world, but people are misinterpreting his ideas. Although considered an
anarchist by the church of England Burgess had no intent of trying to produce a
society in which there is no law or control over people. He realized that there
needed to be a way of keeping people under control. Burgess favored democracy
because it allowed to people to select an educated official to represent themselves.
He knew that without education there would be a lack of knowledge of how to
survive. However, he did believe that people should be free to make there own
decisions without having to worry about people condemning them. Modern day
anarchist are taking Burgess out of context by saying that people don’t have to do
anything that people say to do.
Anthony Burgess is considered a leader in a movement for individuality.
He is seen as a hero for the modern day people seeking to escape from the set
standards of how life should be, and how people should act. He was raised in a
time when you were expected to listen to what to people in power had to say and
follow their orders. People respect his determination because there wasn’t a
majority to back him up in his fight. Through hardwork and determination
Anthony Burgess has successfully conveyed his belief that “A man who cannot
choose ceases to be a man.”
“I believe that the wrong god is temporarily ruling the world, and that the
true god has gone under. Thus, I am a pessimist but believe the world has much
solace to offer- love, food, music… the pleasure of artistic creation” -John
Anthony Burgess Wilson