I was about 12 years old when I came across this book. God knows how it ended up in our house, where there were only classics. My father was reading it, and one day I opened the book he had left on the table and I couldn't tear myself away. I was gripped by a silent terror, but I continued to read with my mother's frequent reproaches, such as: go do your homework or go to bed - apparently she guessed what the book was about, and she did not want her child to know too.
Anthony Burgess was a British novelist, critic and composer. He was also a librettist, poet, playwright, screenwriter, essayist, travel writer, broadcaster, translator, linguist and educationalist. Born in Manchester, he lived for long periods in Southeast Asia, the USA and Mediterranean Europe as well as in England. His fiction includes the Malayan trilogy (The Long Day Wanes) on the dying days of Britain's empire in the East; the Enderby quartet of novels about a poet and his muse; Nothing Like the Sun, a recreation of Shakespeare's love-life; A Clockwork Orange, an exploration of the nature of evil; and Earthly Powers, a panoramic saga of the 20th century.
As a result, I finished the novel at night, in the toilet, freezing with horror and disgust. I remember closing the book, and suddenly realized with sadness that I would never be the same. Afterwards I couldn't look at the cover of this book (illustrated in the best traditions of the 90s) or even touch it.
Years later when I was finishing school I got A Clockwork Orange again, in a different edition and with a different translation. I ventured to reread it and was surprised to find it incredibly funny. I suddenly began to embrace Burgess' black humor and gladly devoured the book to the end. A couple more years later I watched the famous film adaptation and The Orange changed from a childhood trauma to one of the cultural pillars in my mind.
To people who haven't read the novel, and have looked here to see if the book is good enough to reveal, I will certainly say, yes, it's worth it. And maybe these brief arguments will convince them of that. First of all, "A Clockwork Orange" is good for its language, rich and inventive. I have not read Burgess' other works, but judging by this novel, he is a true master of style. Secondly, A Clockwork Orange is the kind of book that knocks you right in the face, disorients and makes you look around for help (because you can't immediately understand the proverbial "what the author is trying to say", trust me). But they hit you elegantly and with humor, so that you rise from your knees in admiration rather than resentment. Third, this book is so unique that you may never experience anything like it with any other novel. Don't think that since it's about drugs, violence, and sex, you can take Burroughs or someone else countercultural and get the same thing. Not at all.
I reread it and realized that it's not an argument, it's a hell of a lot more than that. But maybe someone will be enticed by them and crack open A Clockwork Orange - and make up their own opinion of the novel, untainted by my musings.
P.S. There are at least two translations of A Clockwork Orange into Russian: by E. Sinelshchikov and V. Boshnyak. I find the latter's translation much more convincing, and I recommend reading the novel in this version: the point is that Boshnyak conveys Burgess's fictional slang without changing it (it is based on Russian words), but simply typing in transliteration. Whereas Sinelshchikov selects English analogues (I remember the word "yobolz," which is how Alex and his drugi called testicles). Because of the transliteration there is a strange feeling that Russian words are pronounced with an accent - as they should have sounded from the mouths of the characters in the novel. But in general, of course, it is worth reading in the original - especially since it is surprisingly easy to read.
This article was sponsored by John Nyemcsik
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