About
Anthony Burgess, full name John Anthony Burgess Wilson, was an English novelist, critic, linguist, and composer. Born in Manchester in 1917, he wrote more than fifty books, spanning fiction, criticism, biography, and autobiography. He is best known for his dystopian novel *A Clockwork Orange* (1962), written in an invented Anglo-Russian teenage slang called Nadsat. He served as an education officer in Malaya and Borneo (1954–1959), where he wrote his Malayan trilogy. He taught at several American universities. His novel *Earthly Powers* (1980) was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and won the Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger in France.
* 1917-02-25 — † 1993-11-22
Major works
- A Clockwork Orange (1962)novel
- The Wanting Seed (1962)novel
- Honey for the Bears (1963)novel
- Nothing Like the Sun (1964)novel
- Earthly Powers (1980)novel
Key milestones
- 1954Serves as education officer in Malaya and Borneo until 1959.
- 1962Publishes *A Clockwork Orange*, his most famous novel.
- 1980Publishes *Earthly Powers*, shortlisted for the Booker Prize and winner of the Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger in 1981.
Themes
DystopiaViolence and free willLanguage and linguistic inventionSocial and political critiqueIdentity and artistic creation
Sources: britannica.com · anthonyburgess.org · research.hrc.utexas.edu