a_clockwork_orange painted marbles There are books that inform, books that amuse, and books that enthrall. Occasionally, there is a book that has such impact on the reader that the memories are lasting and the ideas do not fade with time. Anthony Burgess’ book, A Clockwork Orange, was that significant book for me. The impact was perplexing. Rather than achieving a sense of finality at the end, I was left with a vague sense of emptiness. The end was inconclusive even though the story was completed. I sought to reach closure by reading other Burgess novels, yet I found that his other works continued to foster the unsettling ideas that I was left with after A Clockwork Orange. A critical comparison of the works had no results, so I attempted an analysis of my personal reaction to A Clockwork Orange. I found it amazingly clairvoyant of society in the 1970’s, 1980’s, and today. The invented language and the brutal slang called “nadsat” by the characters was a precursor to the current rap and hip-hop language by 40 years, yet the focus and observations of Burgess on this “future language” are uncannily accurate. The events in the plot are depicted in extreme detail. Crimes of public violence, sexual assault, and betrayal are portrayed in harsh realism. We should be appalled at the blatancy of the actions of Alex and his “droogs,” but we are compelled rather than repelled by them. Amazingly, to me, Mr. Burgess scoffs at the impact I describe. He wishes that the book “be erased from the world’s literary memory.” It is possible that his bitter taste comes from the decision by his publishers (and Stanley Kubrick in the cinematic version) to delete the 21st and final chapter. In the original conclusion, Alex grows up – maturity is attained. Even knowing this my uneasiness is not alleviated. I am still left with a growing, perplexing hunger. Unlike Dickens, whose characters struggle with the inequities of society, Burgess’ characters create the inequities. Alex victimizes society more than he is victimized – but the twisted society absolves him and blames itself for its depravity. Burgess may represent the anti-Dickens – not looking for sensibility but looking to assault the senses – not looking to create a language which explains the society, but one that defies the society. Burgess does not try to fill the cup we hold out for ideas. He makes the cup larger so that it cannot be filled and we are continually left wanting more. ~that was my admissions essay for carnegie_mellon_university. lemme know what you think. its too late to make changes, i just want opinions 030220 ... een stom kind pretty good i think. 030221 ... Lilac The book was difficult to read because you had to get used to the slang, but to see if put together on film was just plain strange. 030221 ... epitome of incomprehensibility I haven't read this for a long time, but I have random thoughts, the first one stemming from the Russian word for "man" (see you_are_a_bear): -"Lewdies" means "people," a plural that isn't made singular, afaik; is this cognate with "Leute" in German? -The two younger girls never get back at Alex, while everyone else seems to. Is this a comment on something? or just forgetfulness on the author's part? 230214 ... e_o_i -And why are all the female characters so passive? Say what you will about the movie's morbid humour - and/or jokes that don't quite fit the tone of the book, as in Jackson's The_Lord_of_the_Rings - but at least women have things to DO here. The mother was rather flat in the book; in the film, her weird wigs suggest a more interesting character. And then there's one of the two amoral doctors, in a brief but unsettling role. The book's Marty and Sonietta have more pathos in their short scene (also unsettling, for different reasons), but again I thirst for imaginary revenge. -Actually, I quite liked the book, which is why I named a character Melodia after the music store in the story. No, that's a lie - I've liked the name since I heard it pinned to one of the choir kids a few years my junior (now probably married with kids or working as a Member of Parliament or something). 230214 ... e_o_i (Or both. Or a space lawyer. Or a professor_of_political_geometry.) 230214 ... flux "Lewdies" means "people," a plural that isn't made singular, afaik; is this cognate with "Leute" in German? the slang of a_clockwork_orage was fundamentally slavic; "lewdies" would probably be cognate to "lidi", the czech word for "multiple people" 230215 ... epitome of incomprehensibility *waves hi* I meant was the Russian word related to the German one, except I was evidently too lazy to look it up :P Professor Wikipedia says yes; I quote: Etymology From Middle High German liute, from Old High German liuti, also liudi, from Proto-West Germanic *liud(i), from Proto-Germanic *liudīz (“people”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁lewdʰ- (“man, people”). Compare Dutch lieden, luden, luiden, Old Norse lýðir (“people”) (whence Icelandic lýður), Old Saxon liudi, Old English lēode (“people”), English lede (“people”), Gothic *𐌻𐌹𐌿𐌸𐍃 (*liuþs), Russian люди (ljudi), Bulgarian люде (ljude). More at leod. ... Of course the other lewdies are all lewd louts to him and he is the cultured gentleman. ...Oh oh oh, for another book where you can love the storytelling voice but be appalled at the narrator: The Hottest Dishes of the Tartar Cuisine by Alina Bronsky. (It sort of relates.) 230217 what's it to you? who go blather from