Before he became famous as the author of “A Clockwork Orange,” Anthony Burgess spent several years working as a teacher in British Malaya. He became fascinated by the culture and folklore of the region, particularly “hantus,” the Malayan word for ghosts of various--and equally unpleasant--types. In 1955, he was confronted by a “hantu” as sinister as anything in his most famous novel, and far stranger. Some years later, he provided an account of his eerie experience to Peter Haining, where it…

Anthony Burgess was a late starter in the art of fiction. He spent many years as a school teacher in England and Malaya before his first novel, Time for a Tiger, was published in 1956, by which time he was 39 years old. He had previously completed the drafts of two other novels, A Vision […]

The re-release of the Clockwork Orange film in the United Kingdom (on 5 April 2019) provides an opportunity to revisit the turbulent history of Stanley Kubrick’s cinematic adaptation, which was first shown in New York in December 1971, with the British and European premieres taking place in January 1972. To many people in Britain, Kubrick’s […]

Unfinished manuscript found among Anthony Burgess’s papers was described by the author as ‘a major philosophical statement on the contemporary human condition’

Anthony Burgess

Read a list of legendary English writer and composer Anthony Burgess’ best book recommendations. For more favorite reading lists from famous writers, directors, musicians and more, explore the Radical Reads book blog.

Anthony Burgess

Anthony Burgess

Anthony Burgess

If you find Christopher Marlowe fascinating, you’ll find this book fascinating. If you don’t, well… I am really sorry about your cultural impoverishment. My sincere condolences. C…