A Clockwork Orange (novel)

A Clockwork Orange
Dust jacket from the first edition
AuthorAnthony Burgess
Cover artistBarry Trengove
LanguageEnglish
GenreScience fiction, dystopian fiction, satire, black comedy
Published1962 (William Heinemann, UK)
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Media typePrint (hardback & paperback) & audio book (cassette, CD)
Pages192 pages (hardback edition)
176 pages (paperback edition)
ISBN978-0-434-09800-2
OCLC4205836

A Clockwork Orange is a dystopian satirical black comedy novella by English writer Anthony Burgess, published in 1962. It is set in a near-future society that has a youth subculture of extreme violence. The teenage protagonist, Alex, narrates his violent exploits and his experiences with state authorities intent on reforming him.[1] The book is partially written in a Russian-influenced argot called "Nadsat", which takes its name from the Russian suffix that is equivalent to '-teen' in English.[2] According to Burgess, the novel was a jeu d'esprit written in just three weeks.[3]

In 2005, A Clockwork Orange was included on Time magazine's list of the 100 best English-language novels written since 1923,[4] and it was named by Modern Library and its readers as one of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.[5] The original manuscript of the book has been kept at McMaster University's William Ready Division of Archives and Research Collections in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada since the institution purchased the documents in 1971.[6] It is considered one of the most influential dystopian books.

In 2022, the novel was included on the "Big Jubilee Read" list of 70 books by Commonwealth authors selected to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II.[7]

  1. ^ "Books of The Times". The New York Times. 19 March 1963. Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 4 February 2017.
  2. ^ "Appendix:A Clockwork Orange - Wiktionary". en.wiktionary.org. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  3. ^ "A Clockwork Orange - The book versus the Film". Archived from the original on 17 August 2013. Retrieved 19 September 2013.
  4. ^ Grossman, Lev; Lacayo, Richard (16 October 2005). "All-Time 100 Novels: The Complete List". Time.
  5. ^ "100 Best Novels" Archived 23 November 2015 at the Wayback Machine. Modern Library. Retrieved 31 October 2012
  6. ^ Humphreys, Adrian (11 November 2012). "A clockwork original: McMaster University bought manuscript of iconic novel for $250". National Post. Archived from the original on 25 December 2012. Retrieved 13 November 2012.
  7. ^ "The Big Jubilee Read: A literary celebration of Queen Elizabeth II's record-breaking reign". BBC. 17 April 2022. Retrieved 14 July 2022.