Anthony Burgess | |
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Anthony Burgess in 1986
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Born | John Burgess Wilson 25 February 1917 Harpurhey, Lancashire, England, United Kingdom |
Died | 22 November 1993 St John's Wood, London, England |
(aged 76)
Pen name | Anthony Burgess, John Burgess Wilson, Joseph Kell |
Occupation | Novelist, critic, composer, librettist, playwright, screenwriter, essayist, travel writer, broadcaster, translator, linguist, educationalist |
Nationality | English |
Education | B.A. English |
Alma mater | Victoria University of Manchester |
Period | 1956–1993 |
Genre | Historical fiction, philosophical novel, dystopian fiction, satire, spy fiction, horror, biography, literary criticism, travel literature, autobiography |
Subject | exile, colonialism, Islam, faith, lust, marriage, evil, alcoholism, homosexuality, linguistics, pornography |
Notable awards | – Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres distinction of France - Monégasque Commandeur de Merite Culturel (Monaco) - Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature - honorary degrees from St Andrews, Birmingham and Manchester universities |
Spouse | Llewela (Lynne) Isherwood Jones (1942–1968, her death) Liana Macellari (1968–1993, his death) |
Children | Paolo Andrea (1964–2002) |
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John Anthony Burgess Wilson, FRSL (/ˈbɜːrdʒəs/; 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 for several publications, including 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 Rex and the opera Carmen, among others.