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''A Clockwork Orange'' is a
dystopian A dystopia (lit. "bad place") is an imagined world or society in which people lead wretched, dehumanized, fearful lives. It is an imagined place (possibly state) in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmenta ...
satirical Satire is a genre of the visual arts, visual, literature, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently Nonfiction, non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ...
black comedy Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally ...
novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...
by English writer
Anthony Burgess John Anthony Burgess Wilson, (; 25 February 1917 – 22 November 1993) who published under the name Anthony Burgess, was an English writer and composer. Although Burgess was primarily a comic writer, his Utopian and dystopian fiction, dy ...
, published on March 17, 1962. It is set in a near-future society that has a youth subculture of extreme violence. The teenage protagonist,
Alex Alex is a given name. Similar names are Alexander, Alexandra, Alexey or Alexis. People Multiple * Alex Brown (disambiguation), multiple people * Alex Cook (disambiguation), multiple people * Alex Forsyth (disambiguation), multiple people * Al ...
, narrates his violent exploits and his experiences with state authorities intent on reforming him. The book is partially written in a
Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...
-influenced
argot A cant is the jargon or language of a group, often employed to exclude or mislead people outside the group.McArthur, T. (ed.) ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (1992) Oxford University Press It may also be called a cryptolect, argo ...
called "
Nadsat Nadsat is a fictional register or argot used by the teenage gang members in Anthony Burgess's dystopian novel '' A Clockwork Orange''. Burgess was a linguist and he used this background to depict his characters as speaking a form of Russian-influ ...
", which takes its name from the Russian suffix that is equivalent to '-teen' in English. According to Burgess, the novel was a '' jeu d'esprit'' written in just three weeks. In 2005, ''A Clockwork Orange'' was included on ''
Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...
'' magazine's list of the 100 best English-language novels written since 1923, and it was named by
Modern Library The Modern Library is an American book publishing Imprint (trade name), imprint and formerly the parent company of Random House. Founded in 1917 by Albert Boni and Horace Liveright as an imprint of their publishing company Boni & Liveright, Moder ...
and its readers as one of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. The original manuscript of the book has been kept at
McMaster University McMaster University (McMaster or Mac) is a public research university in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main McMaster campus is on of land near the residential neighbourhoods of Ainslie Wood, Ontario, Ainslie Wood and Westdale, Ontario, Westd ...
's
William Ready Division of Archives and Research Collections __NOTOC__ The William Ready Division of Archives and Research Collections is the principal repository for rare books, archives, maps and historical material at McMaster University. Developed to support teaching, research and scholarship, its holdi ...
in
Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. Hamilton has a 2021 Canadian census, population of 569,353 (2021), and its Census Metropolitan Area, census metropolitan area, which encompasses ...
, Canada since the institution purchased the documents in 1971. It is considered one of the most influential dystopian books. In 2022, the novel was included on the "
Big Jubilee Read The Big Jubilee Read is a 2022 campaign to promote reading for pleasure and to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II. A list of 70 books by Commonwealth authors, 10 from each decade of Elizabeth II's reign, was selected by a panel of e ...
" list of 70 books by
Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...
authors selected to celebrate the
Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II The Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II was the international celebration in 2022 marking the Platinum jubilee, 70th anniversary of the accession of Queen Elizabeth II on 6 February 1952. It was the first time that any History of monarchy in the U ...
.


Plot summary


Part 1: Alex's world

Alex Alex is a given name. Similar names are Alexander, Alexandra, Alexey or Alexis. People Multiple * Alex Brown (disambiguation), multiple people * Alex Cook (disambiguation), multiple people * Alex Forsyth (disambiguation), multiple people * Al ...
is a 15-year-old gang leader living in a near-future dystopian city. His friends ("droogs" in the novel's Anglo-Russian
slang A slang is a vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in everyday conversation but avoided in formal writing and speech. It also often refers to the language exclusively used by the members of pa ...
, "
Nadsat Nadsat is a fictional register or argot used by the teenage gang members in Anthony Burgess's dystopian novel '' A Clockwork Orange''. Burgess was a linguist and he used this background to depict his characters as speaking a form of Russian-influ ...
") and fellow gang members are Dim, a slow-witted bruiser, who is the gang's muscle; Georgie, an ambitious second-in-command; and Pete, who mostly plays along as the droogs indulge their taste for "ultra-violence" (random, violent mayhem). Characterised as a
sociopath Psychopathy, or psychopathic personality, is a personality construct characterized by impaired empathy and remorse, along with bold, disinhibited, and egocentric traits. These traits are often masked by superficial charm and immunity to st ...
and hardened juvenile delinquent, Alex is also intelligent, quick-witted, and enjoys
classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...
; he is particularly fond of
Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...
, whom he calls "Lovely Ludwig Van". The droogs sit in their favourite hangout, the Korova Milk Bar, drinking "milk-plus" (milk laced with the customer's drug of choice) to prepare for a night of ultra-violence. They assault a scholar walking home from the public library; rob a shop, leaving the owner and his wife bloodied and unconscious; beat up a beggar; then scuffle with a rival gang. Joyriding through the countryside in a stolen car, they break into an isolated cottage and terrorise the young couple living there, beating the husband and gang-raping his wife. The husband is a writer working on a manuscript entitled ''A Clockwork Orange'', and Alex contemptuously reads out a paragraph that states the novel's main theme before shredding the manuscript. At the Korova, Alex strikes Dim for his crude response to a woman's singing of an operatic passage, and strains within the gang become apparent. At home in his parents' flat, Alex plays classical music at top volume, which he describes as giving him orgasmic bliss before falling asleep. Alex feigns illness to his parents to stay out of school the next day. Following an unexpected visit from P. R. Deltoid, his "post-corrective adviser", Alex visits a record store, where he meets two pre-teen girls. He invites them back to the flat, where he drugs and rapes them. That night after a nap, Alex finds his droogs in a mutinous mood, waiting downstairs in the torn-up and graffitied lobby. Georgie challenges Alex for leadership of the gang, demanding that they focus on higher-value targets in their robberies. Alex quells the rebellion by slashing Dim's hand and fighting with Georgie, then soothes the gang by agreeing to Georgie's plan to rob the home of a wealthy elderly woman. Alex breaks in and knocks the woman unconscious, but when he hears sirens and opens the door to flee, Dim strikes him as revenge for the earlier fight. The gang abandons Alex on the front step to be arrested by the police; while in custody, he learns that the woman has died from her injuries.


Part 2: The Ludovico Technique

Alex is convicted of murder and sentenced to 14 years in prison. His parents visit one day to inform him that Georgie has been killed in a botched robbery. Two years into his term, he has obtained a job in one of the prison chapels, playing music on the stereo to accompany the Sunday Christian services. After his fellow cellmates blame him for beating a troublesome cellmate to death, he is chosen to undergo an experimental behaviour modification treatment called the Ludovico Technique in exchange for having the remainder of his sentence commuted. The technique is a form of
aversion therapy Aversion therapy is a form of psychological treatment in which the patient is exposed to a stimulus while simultaneously being subjected to some form of discomfort. This conditioning is intended to cause the patient to associate the stimulus wit ...
in which Alex is injected with nausea-inducing drugs while watching graphically violent films, eventually conditioning him to become severely ill at the mere thought of violence. As an unintended consequence, the soundtrack to one of the films,
Beethoven's Fifth Symphony The Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67, also known as the ''Fate Symphony'' (), is a symphony composed by Ludwig van Beethoven between 1804 and 1808. It is one of the best-known compositions in classical music and one of the most frequently pla ...
, renders Alex unable to enjoy his beloved classical music as before. The technique's effectiveness is demonstrated to a group of VIPs, who watch as Alex collapses before a man who slaps him and abases himself before a scantily clad young woman. Although the prison chaplain accuses the state of stripping Alex of free will, the government officials on the scene are pleased with the results, and Alex is released from prison.


Part 3: After prison

Alex returns to his parents' flat, only to find that they are
letting Renting, also known as hiring or letting, is an agreement where a payment is made Rentier capitalism, for the use of a good, service or property owned by another over a fixed period of time. To maintain such an agreement, a rental agreement ...
his room to a lodger. Now homeless, he wanders the streets and enters a public library, hoping to learn of a painless method for committing suicide. The old scholar whom Alex had assaulted in Part 1 finds him and beats him with the help of several friends. Two policemen come to Alex's rescue, but they turn out to be Dim and Billyboy, a former rival gang leader. They take Alex outside town, brutalise him, and abandon him there. Alex collapses at the door of an isolated cottage, realising too late that it is the one he and his droogs invaded in Part 1. The writer, F. Alexander, still lives here, but his wife has since died of what he believes to be injuries she sustained in the rape. He does not recognise Alex but gives him shelter and questions him about the conditioning he has undergone. Alexander and his colleagues, all highly critical of the government, plan to use Alex as a symbol of state brutality and thus prevent the incumbent government from being re-elected. After Alex inadvertently reveals that he was the ringleader of the home invasion, he is removed from the cottage and locked in an upper-storey bedroom as a relentless barrage of classical music plays over speakers. He attempts suicide by leaping from the window. Alex wakes up in a hospital, where he is courted by government officials, anxious to counter the bad publicity created by his suicide attempt. He is informed that F. Alexander has been "put away" for Alex's protection and his own. Alex is offered a well-paying job if he agrees to side with the government once discharged. A round of tests reveals that his old violent impulses have returned, indicating that the hospital doctors have undone the effects of his conditioning. As photographers snap pictures, Alex daydreams of orgiastic violence and reflects, "I was cured all right." In the final chapter, Alex—now 18 years old and working for the nation's musical recording archives—finds himself halfheartedly preparing for another night of crime with a new gang (Len, Rick, and Bully). After a chance encounter with Pete, who has reformed and married, Alex finds himself taking less and less pleasure in acts of senseless violence. He begins contemplating giving up crime himself to become a productive member of society and start a family of his own while reflecting on the notion that his children could end up being just as destructive as he has been, if not more so.


Omission of the final chapter in the US

The book has three parts, each with seven chapters. Burgess has stated that the total of 21 chapters was an intentional nod to the age of 21 being recognised as a milestone in human maturation. The 21st chapter was omitted from the editions published in the United States prior to 1986. In the introduction to the updated American text (these newer editions include the missing 21st chapter), Burgess explains that when he first brought the book to an American publisher, he was told that US audiences would never go for the final chapter, in which Alex sees the error of his ways, decides he has lost his taste for violence and resolves to turn his life around. At the American publisher's insistence, Burgess allowed its editors to cut the redeeming final chapter from the US version, so that the tale would end on a darker note, with Alex becoming his old, ultraviolent self again – an ending which the publisher insisted would be "more realistic" and appealing to a US audience. The film adaptation, directed by
Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American filmmaker and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, Stanley Kubrick filmography, his films were nearly all adaptations of novels or sho ...
, is based on the American edition of the book, and is considered to be "badly flawed" by Burgess. Kubrick called Chapter 21 "an extra chapter" and 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. 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. Kubrick's stance was unusual when compared to the standard Hollywood practice of producing films with the familiar tropes of resolving moral messages and good triumphing over evil before the film's end.


Characters

*
Alex Alex is a given name. Similar names are Alexander, Alexandra, Alexey or Alexis. People Multiple * Alex Brown (disambiguation), multiple people * Alex Cook (disambiguation), multiple people * Alex Forsyth (disambiguation), multiple people * Al ...
: The novel's protagonist and leader among his droogs. He often refers to himself as "Your Humble Narrator". Having coaxed two ten-year-old girls into his bedroom, Alex refers to himself as "Alexander the Large" while raping them; this was later the basis for Alex's claimed surname ''DeLarge'' in the 1971 film. * George, Georgie or Georgie Boy: Effectively Alex's greedy second-in-command. Georgie attempts to undermine Alex's status as leader of the gang and take over their gang as the new leader. He is later killed during a botched robbery while Alex is in prison. * Pete: The only one who does not take particular sides when the droogs fight among themselves. He later meets and marries a girl named Georgina, renouncing his violent ways and even losing his former (
Nadsat Nadsat is a fictional register or argot used by the teenage gang members in Anthony Burgess's dystopian novel '' A Clockwork Orange''. Burgess was a linguist and he used this background to depict his characters as speaking a form of Russian-influ ...
) speech patterns. A chance encounter with Pete in the final chapter influences Alex to realise that he has grown bored with violence and recognise that human energy is better expended on creation than destruction. * Dim: An idiotic and thoroughly gormless member of the gang, persistently condescended to by Alex, but respected to some extent by his droogs for his formidable fighting abilities, his weapon of choice being a length of bike chain. He later becomes a police officer, exacting his revenge on Alex for the abuse he once suffered under his command. * P. R. Deltoid: A criminal rehabilitation social worker assigned the task of keeping Alex on the straight and narrow. He seemingly has no clue about dealing with young people, and is devoid of empathy or understanding for his troublesome charge. Indeed, when Alex is arrested for murdering an old woman and then ferociously beaten by several police officers, Deltoid simply spits on him. * Prison Chaplain: The character who first questions whether it is moral to turn a violent person into a behavioural automaton who can make no choice in such matters. This is the only character who is truly concerned about Alex's welfare; he is not taken seriously by Alex, though. He is nicknamed by Alex "prison charlie" or "chaplin", a pun on
Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is considered o ...
. * Billyboy: A rival of Alex's. Early on in the story, Alex and his droogs battle Billyboy and his droogs, which ends abruptly when the police arrive. Later, after Alex is released from prison, Billyboy (along with Dim, who like Billyboy has become a police officer) rescues Alex from a mob, then subsequently beats him in a location out of town. * Prison Governor: The man who decides to let Alex "choose" to be the first reformed by the Ludovico technique. * The Minister of the Interior: The government high-official who determined that the Ludovico's technique will be used to cut
recidivism Recidivism (; from 'recurring', derived from 'again' and 'to fall') is the act of a person repeating an undesirable behavior after they have experienced negative consequences of that behavior, or have been trained to Extinction (psycholo ...
. He is referred to as ''the Minister of Interior or Inferior'' by Alex. * Dr Branom: A scientist, co-developer of the Ludovico technique. He appears friendly and almost paternal towards Alex at first, before forcing him into the theatre and what Alex calls the "chair of torture". * Dr Brodsky: Branom's colleague and co-developer of the Ludovico technique. He seems much more passive than Branom and says considerably less. * F. Alexander: An author who was in the process of typing his
magnum opus A masterpiece, , or ; ; ) is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, skill, profundity, or workmanship. Historically, ...
''A Clockwork Orange'' when Alex and his droogs broke into his house, beat him, tore up his work and then brutally gang-raped his wife, which caused her subsequent death. He is left deeply scarred by these events and when he encounters Alex two years later, he uses him as a guinea pig in a sadistic experiment intended to prove the Ludovico technique unsound. The government imprisons him afterwards. He is given the name Frank Alexander in the film. * Cat Woman: An indirectly named woman who blocks Alex's gang's entrance scheme, and threatens to shoot Alex and set her cats on him if he does not leave. After Alex breaks into her house, she fights with him, ordering her cats to join the melee, but reprimands Alex for fighting them off. She sustains a fatal blow to the head during the scuffle. She is given the name Miss Weathers in the film.


Analysis


Background

''A Clockwork Orange'' was written in
Hove Hove ( ) is a seaside resort in East Sussex, England. Alongside Brighton, it is one of the two main parts of the city of Brighton and Hove. Originally a fishing village surrounded by open farmland, it grew rapidly in the 19th century in respon ...
, then a senescent English seaside town. Burgess had arrived back in Britain after his stint abroad to see that much had changed. A youth culture had developed, based around coffee bars, pop music and teenage gangs. England was gripped by fears over
juvenile delinquency Juvenile delinquency, also known as juvenile offending, is the act of participating in unlawful behavior younger than the statutory age of majority. These acts would be considered crimes if the individuals committing them were older. The term ...
. Burgess stated that the novel's inspiration was his first wife Lynne's beating by a gang of drunk American servicemen stationed in England during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. She subsequently miscarried. In its investigation of free will, the book's target is ostensibly the concept of
behaviourism Behaviorism is a systematic approach to understand the behavior of humans and other animals. It assumes that behavior is either a reflex elicited by the pairing of certain antecedent stimuli in the environment, or a consequence of that indivi ...
, pioneered by such figures as
B. F. Skinner Burrhus Frederic Skinner (March 20, 1904 – August 18, 1990) was an American psychologist, behaviorist, inventor, and social philosopher. He was the Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology at Harvard University from 1948 until his retirement in ...
. Burgess later stated that he wrote the book in three weeks.


Title

Burgess has offered several clarifications about the meaning and origin of its title: * He had overheard the phrase "as queer as a clockwork orange" in a London pub in 1945 and assumed it was a
Cockney Cockney is a dialect of the English language, mainly spoken in London and its environs, particularly by Londoners with working-class and lower middle class roots. The term ''Cockney'' is also used as a demonym for a person from the East End, ...
expression. In ''Clockwork Marmalade'', an essay published in the ''
Listener Listener(s) or The Listener(s) may refer to: Literature * The Listener (magazine), ''The Listener'' (magazine), a 1929–1991 British weekly covering broadcast media * ''New Zealand Listener'', weekly magazine covering politics and culture * The L ...
'' in 1972, he said that he had heard the phrase several times since that occasion. He also explained the title in response to a question from William Everson on the television programme ''
Camera Three ''Camera Three'' was an American anthology series devoted to the arts. It began as a Sunday afternoon local program on WCBS-TV in New York and ran “for some time”Mercer, Charles, Associated Press writer, Television World column, “Obscure P ...
'' in 1972, No other record of the expression being used before 1962 has ever appeared, with
Kingsley Amis Sir Kingsley William Amis (16 April 1922 – 22 October 1995) was an English novelist, poet, critic and teacher. He wrote more than 20 novels, six volumes of poetry, a memoir, short stories, radio and television scripts, and works of social crit ...
going so far as to note in his ''Memoirs'' (1991) that no trace of it appears in
Eric Partridge Eric Honeywood Partridge (6 February 1894 – 1 June 1979) was a New Zealand–United Kingdom, British lexicography, lexicographer of the English language, particularly of its slang. His writing career was interrupted only by his service in the ...
's ''Dictionary of Historical Slang''. However, saying "as queer as ..." followed by an improbable object: "... a clockwork orange", or "... a four-speed walking stick" or "... a left-handed corkscrew" etc. predates Burgess's novel. An early example, "as queer as Dick's hatband", appeared in 1796, and was alluded to in 1757. * His second explanation was that it was a pun on the Malay word ''orang'', meaning "man". The novella contains no other Malay words or links. * In a prefatory note to ''A Clockwork Orange: A Play with Music'', he wrote that the title was a metaphor for "an organic entity, full of juice and sweetness and agreeable odour, being turned into a mechanism". * In his essay ''Clockwork Oranges'', Burgess asserts that "this title would be appropriate for a story about the application of
Pavlovian Classical conditioning (also respondent conditioning and Pavlovian conditioning) is a behavioral procedure in which a biologically potent stimulus (e.g. food, a puff of air on the eye, a potential rival) is paired with a neutral stimulus (e.g. ...
or mechanical laws to an organism which, like a fruit, was capable of colour and sweetness". * While addressing the reader in a letter before some editions of the book, the author says that when a man ceases to have free will, they are no longer a man. "Just a clockwork orange", a shiny, appealing object, but "just a toy to be wound-up by either God or the Devil, or (what is increasingly replacing both) the State." This title alludes to the protagonist's negative emotional responses to feelings of evil which prevent the exercise of his
free will Free will is generally understood as the capacity or ability of people to (a) choice, choose between different possible courses of Action (philosophy), action, (b) exercise control over their actions in a way that is necessary for moral respon ...
subsequent to the administration of the Ludovico Technique. To induce this conditioning, Alex is forced to watch scenes of violence on a screen that are systematically paired with negative physical stimulation. The negative physical stimulation takes the form of
nausea Nausea is a diffuse sensation of unease and discomfort, sometimes perceived as an urge to vomit. It can be a debilitating symptom if prolonged and has been described as placing discomfort on the chest, abdomen, or back of the throat. Over 30 d ...
and "feelings of terror", which are caused by an
emetic Vomiting (also known as emesis, puking and throwing up) is the forceful expulsion of the contents of one's stomach through the mouth and sometimes the nose. Vomiting can be the result of ailments like food poisoning, gastroenteritis, preg ...
medicine administered just before the presentation of the films. In its original drafts, Burgess used the working title 'The Ludovico Technique,' as he himself described in the foreword in the April 1995 publication. Along with removing the 21st chapter as insisted by his publisher in the original 1962 edition, he would also change the finished product's name to its current title.


Use of slang

The book, narrated by Alex, contains many words in a slang argot which Burgess invented for the book, called Nadsat. It is a mix of modified
Slavic Slavic, Slav or Slavonic may refer to: Peoples * Slavic peoples, an ethno-linguistic group living in Europe and Asia ** East Slavic peoples, eastern group of Slavic peoples ** South Slavic peoples, southern group of Slavic peoples ** West Slav ...
words,
Cockney rhyming slang Rhyming slang is a form of slang word construction in the English language. It is especially prevalent among Cockneys in England, and was first used in the early 19th century in the East End of London; hence its alternative name, Cockney rhymi ...
and derived Russian (like ''baboochka''). For instance, these terms have the following meanings in Nadsat: ''droog'' (друг) = friend; ''moloko'' (молоко) = milk; ''gulliver'' (голова) = head; ''malchick'' (мальчик) or ''malchickiwick'' = boy; ''soomka'' (сумка) = sack or bag; ''Bog'' (Бог) = God; ''horrorshow'' (хорошо) = good; ''prestoopnick'' (преступник) = criminal; ''rooker'' (рука) = hand; ''cal'' (кал) = crap; ''veck'' (человек) = man or guy; ''litso'' (лицо) = face; ''malenky'' (маленький) = little; and so on. Some words Burgess invented himself or just adapted from existing languages. Compare
Polari Polari () is a form of slang or Cant (language), cant historically used primarily in the United Kingdom by some actors, circus and fairground performers, professional wrestlers, merchant navy sailors, criminals and prostitutes, and particula ...
. One of Alex's doctors explains the language to a colleague as "odd bits of old rhyming slang; a bit of gypsy talk, too. But most of the roots are Slav propaganda.
Subliminal Subliminal may refer to: * Subliminal stimuli, sensory stimuli below an individual's threshold for conscious perception * Subliminal channel, in cryptography, a covert channel that can be used over an insecure channel * Subliminal (rapper) (born 1 ...
penetration." Some words are not derived from anything, but merely easy to guess, e.g. "in-out, in-out" or "the old in-out" means sexual intercourse. ''Cutter'', however, means "money", because "cutter" rhymes with "bread-and-butter"; this is rhyming slang, which is intended to be impenetrable to outsiders (especially eavesdropping policemen). Additionally, slang like ''appypolly loggy'' ("apology") seems to derive from school boy slang. This reflects Alex's age of 15. In the first edition of the book, no key was provided, and the reader was left to interpret the meaning from the context. In his appendix to the restored edition, Burgess explained that the slang would keep the book from seeming dated, and served to muffle "the raw response of pornography" from the acts of violence. The term "ultraviolence", referring to excessive or unjustified violence, was coined by Burgess in the book, which includes the phrase "do the ultra-violent". The term's association with aesthetic violence has led to its use in the media.


Banning and censorship history in the US

The first major incident of censorship of ''A Clockwork Orange'' took place in 1973, when a bookseller was arrested for selling the novel (although the charges were later dropped). In 1976, ''A Clockwork Orange'' was removed from an
Aurora, Colorado Aurora (, ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule city located in Arapahoe County, Colorado, Arapahoe, Adams County, Colorado, Adams, and Douglas County, Colorado, Douglas List of counties in Colorado, counti ...
high school because of "objectionable language". A year later in 1977 it was removed from high school classrooms in
Westport, Massachusetts Westport (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ) is a New England town, town in Bristol County, Massachusetts, Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 16,339 at the 2020 census. The village of North Westport, Massachusett ...
over similar concerns with "objectionable" language. In 1982, it was removed from two
Anniston, Alabama Anniston is a city and the county seat of Calhoun County, Alabama, Calhoun County in Alabama, United States, and is one of two urban centers/principal cities of and included in the Anniston–Oxford metropolitan area, Anniston–Oxford Metropo ...
libraries, later to be reinstated on a restricted basis. However, each of these instances came after the release of Stanley Kubrick's popular 1971 film adaptation of ''A Clockwork Orange'', itself the subject of much controversy after exposing a much larger part of the populace to the themes of the novel. In 2024 the book was banned in Texas by the Katy Independent School District on the basis that the novel is "adopting, supporting, or promoting gender fluidity" despite also pronouncing a bullying policy that protects infringements on the rights of the student.


Reception


Initial response

''
The Sunday Telegraph ''The Sunday Telegraph'' is a British broadsheet newspaper, first published on 5 February 1961 and published by the Telegraph Media Group, a division of Press Holdings. It is the sister paper of ''The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Tele ...
'' review was positive, and described the book as "entertaining ... even profound".
Kingsley Amis Sir Kingsley William Amis (16 April 1922 – 22 October 1995) was an English novelist, poet, critic and teacher. He wrote more than 20 novels, six volumes of poetry, a memoir, short stories, radio and television scripts, and works of social crit ...
in ''
The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...
'' acclaimed the novel as "cheerful horror", writing "Mr Burgess has written a fine farrago of outrageousness, one which incidentally suggests a view of juvenile violence I can't remember having met before".
Malcolm Bradbury Sir Malcolm Stanley Bradbury, (7 September 1932 – 27 November 2000) was an English author and academic. Life Bradbury was born in Sheffield, the son of a railwayman. His family moved to London in 1935, but returned to Sheffield in 1941 wit ...
wrote "All of Mr Burgess's powers as a comic writer, which are considerable, have gone into the rich language of his inverted Utopia. If you can stomach the horrors, you'll enjoy the manner".
Roald Dahl Roald Dahl (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British author of popular children's literature and short stories, a poet, screenwriter and a wartime Flying ace, fighter ace. His books have sold more than 300 million copies ...
called it "a terrifying and marvellous book". Many reviewers praised the inventiveness of the language, but expressed unease at the violent subject matter. ''
The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British political and cultural news magazine. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving magazine in the world. ''The Spectator'' is politically conservative, and its principal subject a ...
'' praised Burgess's "extraordinary technical feat" but was uncomfortable with "a certain arbitrariness about the plot which is slightly irritating". ''
New Statesman ''The New Statesman'' (known from 1931 to 1964 as the ''New Statesman and Nation'') is a British political and cultural news magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first c ...
'' acclaimed Burgess for addressing "acutely and savagely the tendencies of our time" but called the book "a great strain to read". ''
The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...
'' review was negative, and described the book as "a very ordinary, brutal and psychologically shallow story". ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
'' also reviewed the book negatively, describing it as "a somewhat clumsy experiment with science fiction
ith The Ith () is a ridge in Germany's Central Uplands which is up to 439 m high. It lies about 40 km southwest of Hanover and, at 22 kilometers, is the longest line of crags in North Germany. Geography Location The Ith is i ...
clumsy cliches about juvenile delinquency"."New Fiction". ''Times'', 17 May 1962, p. 16. The violence was criticised as "unconvincing in detail".


Writer's appraisal

Burgess dismissed ''A Clockwork Orange'' as "too didactic to be artistic". He said that the violent content of the novel "nauseated" him. In 1985, Burgess published ''Flame into Being: The Life and Work of D. H. Lawrence'' and while discussing ''
Lady Chatterley's Lover ''Lady Chatterley's Lover'' is the final novel by English author D. H. Lawrence, which was first published privately in 1928, in Florence, Italy, and in 1929, in Paris, France. An unexpurgated edition was not published openly in the United Ki ...
'' in his biography, Burgess compared the notoriety of
D. H. Lawrence David Herbert Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was an English novelist, short story writer, poet, playwright, literary critic, travel writer, essayist, and painter. His modernist works reflect on modernity, social alienation ...
's novel with ''A Clockwork Orange'': "We all suffer from the popular desire to make the known notorious. The book I am best known for, or only known for, is a novel I am prepared to repudiate: written a quarter of a century ago, a ''jeu d'esprit'' knocked off for money in three weeks, it became known as the raw material for a film which seemed to glorify sex and violence. The film made it easy for readers of the book to misunderstand what it was about, and the misunderstanding will pursue me until I die. I should not have written the book because of this danger of misinterpretation, and the same may be said of Lawrence and ''Lady Chatterley's Lover''."


Awards and nominations and rankings

* 1983 –
Prometheus Award The Prometheus Award is an award for libertarian science fiction given annually by the Libertarian Futurist Society. American author and activist L. Neil Smith established the Best Novel category for the award in 1979; however, it was not award ...
(Preliminary Nominee) * 1999 – Prometheus Award (Nomination) * 2002 – Prometheus Award (Nomination) * 2003 – Prometheus Award (Nomination) * 2006 – Prometheus Award (Nomination) * 2008 – Prometheus Award (Hall of Fame Award) ''A Clockwork Orange'' was chosen by ''
Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...
'' magazine as one of the 100 best English-language books from 1923 to 2005.


Adaptations

A 1965 film by
Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (;''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''"Warhol" born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director and producer. A leading figure in the pop art movement, Warhol ...
entitled ''
Vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl ...
'' was an adaptation of Burgess's novel. The best known adaptation of the novel is the 1971 film ''
A Clockwork Orange ''A Clockwork Orange'' may refer to: * ''A Clockwork Orange'' (novel), a 1962 novel by Anthony Burgess ** ''A Clockwork Orange'' (film), a 1971 film directed by Stanley Kubrick based on the novel *** ''A Clockwork Orange'' (soundtrack), the film ...
'' by
Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American filmmaker and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, Stanley Kubrick filmography, his films were nearly all adaptations of novels or sho ...
, with
Malcolm McDowell Malcolm McDowell (born Malcolm John Taylor; 13 June 1943) is an English actor. He first became known for portraying Mick Travis in Lindsay Anderson's ''if....'' (1968), a role he later reprised in ''O Lucky Man!'' (1973) and ''Britannia Hospital ...
as Alex. In 1987, Burgess published a stage play titled ''A Clockwork Orange: A Play with Music''. The play includes songs, written by Burgess, which are inspired by Beethoven and Nadsat slang. A
manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...
anthology by
Osamu Tezuka Osamu Tezuka (, born , ''Tezuka Osamu'', – 9 February 1989) was a Japanese manga artist, cartoonist and animator. Considered to be among the greatest and most influential cartoonists of all time, his prolific output, pioneering techniques an ...
entitled ''Tokeijikake no Ringo'' (Clockwork Apple) was released in 1983. In 1988, a German adaptation of ''A Clockwork Orange'' at the intimate theatre of
Bad Godesberg Bad Godesberg () is a borough () of Bonn, southern North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. From 1949 to 1999, while Bonn was the capital of the Federal Republic of Germany, most foreign embassies were in Bad Godesberg. Some buildings are still used as br ...
featured a musical score by the German
punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...
band
Die Toten Hosen Die Toten Hosen are a German punk rock band from Düsseldorf. The name is taken from the German slang idiom ''tote Hose'' (literally "dead trousers"), which means "nothing happening"; "boring". The band has had an important success through th ...
which, combined with orchestral clips of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and "other dirty melodies" (so stated by the subtitle), was released on the album ''
Ein kleines bisschen Horrorschau ''Ein kleines bisschen Horrorschau'' ("A little bit of horrorshow") (subtitled: ''Die Lieder aus Clockwork Orange und andere schmutzige Melodien'' The songs from Clockwork Orange and other dirty melodies" is the sixth LP by Die Toten Hosen, re ...
''. The track ''
Hier kommt Alex "Hier kommt Alex" (''Here comes Alex (A Clockwork Orange), Alex'') is a song by German punk band Die Toten Hosen. It is the first single and the first track from the album ''Ein kleines bisschen Horrorschau''. The song in concept introduces Alex, ...
'' became one of the band's signature songs. In February 1990, another musical version was produced at the
Barbican Theatre The Barbican Centre is a performing arts centre in the Barbican Estate of the City of London, England, and the largest of its kind in Europe. The centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings an ...
in London by the
Royal Shakespeare Company The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs over 1,000 staff and opens around 20 productions a year. The RSC plays regularly in London, Stratf ...
. Titled ''A Clockwork Orange: 2004'', it received mostly negative reviews, with John Peter of ''The Sunday Times'' of London calling it "only an intellectual ''
Rocky Horror Show ''The Rocky Horror Show'' is a Musical theatre, musical with music, lyrics and book by Richard O'Brien. A humorous tribute to various B movies associated with the Science fiction film, science fiction and Horror film, horror genres from the 193 ...
''", and John Gross of ''The Sunday Telegraph'' calling it "a clockwork lemon". Even Burgess himself, who wrote the script based on his novel, was disappointed. According to ''
The Evening Standard The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free of charge in London, England. It is print ...
'', he called the score, written by
Bono Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), known by the nickname Bono ( ), is an Irish singer-songwriter and activist. He is a founding member, the lead vocalist, and primary lyricist of the rock band U2. Bono is known for his impassioned voca ...
and
The Edge David Howell Evans (born 8 August 1961), better known as the Edge or simply Edge,McCormick (2006), pp. 21, 23–24 is a British-Irish musician, singer, and songwriter. He is best known as the lead guitarist, keyboardist, and backing vocalist o ...
of the rock group U2, "neo-wallpaper". Burgess had originally worked alongside the director of the production, Ron Daniels, and envisioned a musical score that was entirely classical. Unhappy with the decision to abandon that score, he heavily criticised the band's experimental mix of
hip-hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hi ...
,
liturgical Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and participation in the sacred through activities reflecting praise, thanksgiving, remembra ...
, and
gothic music Gothic rock (also called goth rock or simply goth) is a style of rock music that emerged from post-punk in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The first post-punk bands which shifted toward dark music with gothic overtones include Siouxsie an ...
. Lise Hand of ''
The Irish Independent The ''Irish Independent'' is an Irish daily newspaper and online publication which is owned by Independent News & Media (INM), a subsidiary of Mediahuis. The newspaper version often includes glossy magazines. Traditionally a broadsheet new ...
'' reported The Edge as saying that Burgess's original conception was "a score written by a novelist rather than a songwriter". Calling it "meaningless glitz", Jane Edwardes of ''20/20'' magazine said that watching this production was "like being invited to an expensive French Restaurant – and being served with a
Big Mac The Big Mac is a brand of hamburger sold by the international fast food restaurant chain McDonald's. It was introduced by a Greater Pittsburgh Region, Greater Pittsburgh area Franchising, franchisee in 1967 and expanded nationwide in 1968, and ...
." In 1994, Chicago's Steppenwolf Theater put on a production of ''A Clockwork Orange'' directed by
Terry Kinney Terry Kinney (born January 29, 1954) is an American actor and theater director, and a founding member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, with Gary Sinise and Jeff Perry. Kinney is best known for his role as Tim McManus on HBO's prison drama ...
. The American premiere of novelist Anthony Burgess's own adaptation of his ''A Clockwork Orange'' starred K. Todd Freeman as Alex. In 2001, UNI Theatre (Mississauga, Ontario) presented the Canadian premiere of the play under the direction of Terry Costa. In 2002, Godlight Theatre Company presented the New York Premiere adaptation of ''A Clockwork Orange'' at Manhattan Theatre Source. The production went on to play at the
SoHo Playhouse The SoHo Playhouse is an Off-Broadway theatre at 15 Vandam Street in the Hudson Square area of Manhattan. The theatre opened in 1962 as the Village South Theatre with the original production of Jean Erdman's musical play ''The Coach with the S ...
(2002),
Ensemble Studio Theatre The Ensemble Studio Theatre (EST) is a non-profit membership-based developmental theatre located in Hell's Kitchen, New York City. It has a dual mission of nurturing individual theatre artists and developing new American plays. Overview The E ...
(2004),
59E59 Theaters 59E59 Theaters is a venue presenting a year-round curated program of live theater. The three theater building is located in New York City. It shows both off-Broadway (in Theater A) and off-off-Broadway plays (in Theaters B and C). The complex is ...
(2005) and the
Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featur ...
(2005). While at
Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...
, the production received rave reviews from the press while playing to sold-out audiences. The production was directed by Godlight's artistic director, Joe Tantalo. In 2003, Los Angeles director
Brad Mays Brad Mays (born May 30, 1955) is an independent filmmaker and stage director, living and working in Los Angeles, California. Background and education Mays was raised in the Edinburg section of West Windsor Township, New Jersey, attending the ...
and the ARK Theatre Company staged a
multi-media Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms, such as writing, audio, images, animations, or video, into a single presentation. This is in contrast to tradition ...
adaptation of ''A Clockwork Orange'', which was named "Pick of the Week" by the ''
LA Weekly ''LA Weekly'' is a free weekly alternative newspaper in Los Angeles, California. The paper covers music, arts, film, theater, culture, and other local news in the Los Angeles area. ''LA Weekly'' was founded in 1978 by Jay Levin (among others), ...
'' and nominated for three of the 2004
LA Weekly Theater Award LA Weekly Theater Award was an annual critics' award system established in 1979, organized by the ''LA Weekly'' for outstanding achievements in small theatre productions in Southern California. Nominees were typically announced in January for E ...
s: Direction, Revival Production (of a 20th-century work), and Leading Female Performance.
Vanessa Claire Smith Vanessa Claire Stewart (born October 15, 1976) is an American actress, producer, and writer. Early life and education Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, Stewart attended the Webster Conservatory for the Performing Arts in St. Louis, Missouri. After ...
won Best Actress for her gender-bending portrayal of Alex, the music-loving teenage sociopath. This production utilised three separate video streams outputted to seven onstage video monitors – six 19-inch and one 40-inch. In order to preserve the first-person narrative of the book, a pre-recorded video stream of Alex, "your humble narrator", was projected onto the 40-inch monitor, thereby freeing the onstage character during passages which would have been awkward or impossible to sustain in the breaking of the fourth wall. An adaptation of the work, based on the original novel, the film and Burgess's own stage version, was performed by the SiLo Theatre in Auckland, New Zealand in early 2007. In 2021, the International Anthony Burgess Foundation premiered a webpage cataloging various productions of ''A Clockwork Orange'' from around the world.


See also

*
Classical conditioning Classical conditioning (also respondent conditioning and Pavlovian conditioning) is a behavioral procedure in which a biologically potent Stimulus (physiology), stimulus (e.g. food, a puff of air on the eye, a potential rival) is paired with a n ...
* List of cultural references to ''A Clockwork Orange'' *
List of stories set in a future now in the past This is a list of fictional stories that, when composed, were set in the future, but the future they predicted is now present or past. The list excludes works that were alternate histories, which were composed after the dates they depict, alter ...
*
MKUltra MKUltra was an illegal human experimentation program designed and undertaken by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to develop procedures and identify drugs that could be used during interrogations to weaken individuals and force confes ...
*
Violence in art When it comes to violence in art, around the 20th century, violence was going all around, and humans showed their fears and emotions through art. Art was created to express one's feelings and ideas; artists would draw what they felt, and diffe ...


References


Further reading

* ''A Clockwork Orange: A Play With Music''. Century Hutchinson Ltd. (1987). An extract is quoted on several web sites
Anthony Burgess from ''A Clockwork Orange: A Play With Music'' (Century Hutchinson Ltd, 1987)


* Burgess, Anthony (1978). "Clockwork Oranges". In ''1985''. London: Hutchinson.

* *


External links

*
''A Clockwork Orange''
at
SparkNotes SparkNotes, originally part of a website called The Spark, is a company started by Harvard students Sam Yagan, Max Krohn, Chris Coyne, and Eli Bolotin in 1999 that originally provided study guides for literature, poetry, history, film, and phil ...

''A Clockwork Orange''
a
Literapedia


;Comparisons with the Kubrick film adaptation * Dalrymple, Theodore
"A Prophetic and Violent Masterpiece"
''
City Journal ''City Journal'' is a public policy magazine and website, published by the conservative think tank Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, that covers a range of topics on urban affairs, such as policing, education, housing, and other issues. ...
'' * Giola, Ted
"''A Clockwork Orange'' by Anthony Burgess"
a
Conceptual Fiction
* Priestley, Brenton

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clockwork Orange (novel), A 1962 British novels 1960s controversies 1962 science fiction novels
Novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...
Books written in fictional dialects British crime novels British novels adapted into films British novels adapted into plays British philosophical novels British science fiction novels Censored books Counterculture of the 1960s Dystopian novels English-language novels Fiction about mind control Novels with unreliable narrators Fiction about gang rape Heinemann (publisher) books Metafictional novels Novels about music Novels about rape Novels adapted into comics Novels by Anthony Burgess Obscenity controversies in literature Science fiction novels adapted into films Speculative crime and thriller fiction novels