John Anthony Burgess Wilson, FRSL (/ˈbɜrdʒəs/; 25 February 1917 – 22 November 1993) – who published under the pen name Anthony Burgess – was an English writer and composer. From relatively modest beginnings in a Catholic family in Manchester, he eventually became one of the best known English literary figures of the latter half of the twentieth century.Although Burgess was predominantly a comic writer, his dystopian satire A Clockwork Orange remains his best known novel. In 1971 it was adapted into a highly controversial film by Stanley Kubrick, which Burgess said was chiefly responsible for the popularity of the book. Burgess produced numerous other novels, including the Enderby quartet, and Earthly Powers, regarded by most critics as his greatest novel. He wrote librettos and screenplays, including for the 1977 TV mini-series Jesus of Nazareth. He worked as a literary critic, including for The Observer and The Guardian, and wrote studies of classic writers, notably James Joyce. A versatile linguist, Burgess lectured in phonetics, and translated Cyrano de Bergerac, Oedipus the King and the opera Carmen, among others.Burgess also composed over 250 musical works; he sometimes claimed to consider himself as much a composer as an author, although he enjoyed considerably more success in writing.
[on writing five novels in the space of a year after he was told he had an inoperable brain tumor] It can be done. If you write 2000 words before breakfast, you have the rest of the day to yourself.
2
Laugh and the world laughs with you. Snore and you sleep alone.
#
Fact
1
Fired from his job at the Yorkshire Post after reviewing one of his own books (published under the name Joseph Kell). His review was negative but emphasized the book's sexual content: "This is in many ways a dirty book, and those of my readers with tender stomachs are advised to let it alone".
2
He spoke six languages in addition to English.
3
He wrote 33 novels, 25 works of non-fiction, two volumes of autobiography, three symphonies, and more than 250 other musical works, including a violin concerto for Yehudi Menuhin.
4
He started work on scripts for TV mini-series about Atilla the Hun, Sigmund Freud, and Michelangelo; none were produced. He wrote a musical about Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky, which has never been performed, and a musical adaptation of James Joyce's novel "Ulysses". He wrote a movie script about Napoleon Bonaparte, which was to have been filmed by Kubrick.
5
Burgess' original screenplay for A Clockwork Orange (1971) was rejected by director Stanley Kubrick, who chose to write his own screenplay instead. Burgess' version is considered to be even more violent than his novel.
6
He graduated with a degree in English from the University of Manchester in 1940, and has been honored with a blue plaque there. As an undergraduate, he also composed music.
7
His translation of Cyrano de Bergerac was first commissioned by Christopher Plummer, and is now considered to be the definitive English-language translation of the play. One alteration he made was the inclusion of a reference to Hamlet: Cyrano's list of insults to his nose climaxes with "Oh, that this too too solid nose would melt." This translation has been performed by Christopher Plummer, Kenneth Branagh, Kevin Kline and Derek Jacobi, all of whom have also played Hamlet. This version was also used for the English-language subtitles of the French film Cyrano de Bergerac (1990), which featured Gérard Depardieu, who also had a small part in Hamlet (1996).
Member of jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1975
11
After doctors found a cancerous tumor in his brain, he wrote "A Clockwork Orange" in a hurry, hoping that the money made from the book would support his wife after he died. He later found out that he did not have cancer.
12
The attack of the writer's wife, in "Clockwork Orange", was based on an attack on his own wife by American GIs in London, whilst Burgess was stationed on Gibraltar.
13
In his novel "A Clockwork Orange", he coined the term "ultra-violence". The term now appears in some dictionaries.
14
Alias Joseph Kell
15
Wrote the English subtitles for the French-language version of Cyrano de Bergerac (1990).
$16 Million
