Anthony Burgess gets belated recognition

[Guest]

Anthony Burgess was ill-served by many critics in his lifetime, for they believed him to be a show-off, too competitive, eager for recognition, a talent spread too thinly ...

Not my assessment but largely his own (particularly the bit about critics) He knew that his gifts were prodigious but perhaps his humble beginnings in Manchester made him a bit too chippy for comfort. He wrote initially in part because he needed the money. More financially secure after the success of Kubrick's notorious film of A Clockwork Orange, he went to live in Monaco. The story goes that when his magnificent romping novel Earthly Powers was shortlisted for the Booker prize, he refused to turn up to hear who had won once he'd been told that it wasn't him

A blue plaque commemorating his life and his work is to be unveiled at Manchester University today. And they're going to play a piece of his music, for he was not a mere novelist but also a critic, essayist, contrarian and a composer

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/the-northerner/2012/oct/10/manchester-anthonyburgess?CMP=twt_gu

Those funny whiffs he smoked on television, that dodgy comb-over, the writing (deliberately) full of words that you have to look up - who reads Anthony Burgess these days and what do you think of him with the benefit of hindsight?

[Bryn]

I loved his 1985. Must admit I have not yet read Earthly Powers. I must remedy that. As a composer he was a fine author of novels.

[umslopogaas]

I've read quite a lot of Burgess'es books, though none in recent years. I enjoyed 'The Malayan Trilogy' very much, Nabby Adams is a great character, the man whose life is ruled by beer. I have also read the biography of Burgess by Roger Lewis, which I found rather strange: Lewis appears to dislike his subject so much that its a bit hard to imagine why he agreed to write the book, other than, presumably, for the money.

[amateur51]

I loved his 1985. Must admit I have not yet read Earthly Powers. I must remedy that. As a composer he was a fine author of novels.

a fair assessment Bryn and one with which he'd be pleased to concur - after a bit of a ruck over a whiff and a scoop or two

[amateur51]

I've read quite a lot of Burgess'es books, though none in recent years. I enjoyed 'The Malayan Trilogy' very much, Nabby Adams is a great character, the man whose life is ruled by beer. I have also read the biography of Burgess by Roger Lewis, which I found rather strange: Lewis appears to dislike his subject so much that its a bit hard to imagine why he agreed to write the book, other than, presumably, for the money.

I agree about Roger Lewis' biography of Burgess, umpslopagaas - he's written a biography of Peter Sellers too which is similarly afflicted - they're both as much about Lewis as they are about the (apparent) subject

This is more widely praised but I haven't read it yet ...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Real-Life-Anthony-Burgess/dp/0330481711/ref=lh_ni_t

[jayne lee wilson]

Thanks Ams, well noted! He was a very good broadcast personality, I loved his contributions to Read All About It, Stop the Week, etc., always highly focussed on political cultural and musical matters. Wonderful speaker and writer. I particularly loved Nothing Like the Sun, Abba Abba and - believe it or not - Napoleon Symphony, where he imitates the rhythms of the Eroica with brilliant results... which movement d'you think begins like this? (Haven't got it here, hope it's right...)

Here he lies
Ensanguinated Tyrant
O bloody bloody tyrant

See
How the sin within
Doth incarnadine his skin
From the shin
To the chin

I remember reading Earthly Powers in the sun, ice in my glass, on the roof of a residence block during my finals... (while others swotted lastminute - I reckoned, if you don't know it by now...)
WONDERFUL book, moved me to tears in the heartbreaking episode about the one true love of the narrator's life...

[Mandryka]

who reads Anthony Burgess these days and what do you think of him with the benefit of hindsight?

I was mulling over the apparent collapse of Burgess's reputation recently: I think his books benefited GREATLY from the distinctive presence of their author, who was always game for plugging them by appearing on all manner of radio/tv programmes (I seem to remember him popping up on Wogan once). Once he was no longer around, they rather faded from view and I believe many of them are now oop. Earthly Powers is now, I believe, a Penguin Modern Classic.

Personally, I always thought his style was a bit meretricious and his journalism always presented a picture of a man dictating to a stenographer whilst combing his own hair in the mirror.

Politically, Burgess was a Thatcherite Tory who made most of his fortune from property acquisition rather than literature: his Daily Mail articles during the 80s might come as a shock to some who assume that all literary intellectuals must be left-wing.

I recently tried to re-read The Enderby Trilogy and found it very poor stuff: clever-clever and not at all funny. It's years since I've read Clockwork Orange but it's ironic that Kubrick's film (which omits Burgess's explanation of the title) is vastly more famous than the source novel.

I can recall him presenting a quite good SBS programme on D H Lawrence but an Omnibus documentary on Burgess himself from ten years or so ago was not very interesting: probably because Burgess didn't have a very interesting life.

In short: I don't think Burgess's novels will survive. In 100 years' time, his name will only be known to academics who specialise in the obscure crooks and crannies of 20th century literature.

[amateur51]

I was mulling over the apparent collapse of Burgess's reputation recently: I think his books benefited GREATLY from the distinctive presence of their author, who was always game for plugging them by appearing on all manner of radio/tv programmes (I seem to remember him popping up on Wogan once). Once he was no longer around, they rather faded from view and I believe many of them are now oop. Earthly Powers is now, I believe, a Penguin Modern Classic.

Personally, I always thought his style was a bit meretricious and his journalism always presented a picture of a man dictating to a stenographer whilst combing his own hair in the mirror.

Politically, Burgess was a Thatcherite Tory who made most of his fortune from property acquisition rather than literature: his Daily Mail articles during the 80s might come as a shock to some who assume that all literary intellectuals must be left-wing.

I recently tried to re-read The Enderby Trilogy and found it very poor stuff: clever-clever and not at all funny. It's years since I've read Clockwork Orange but it's ironic that Kubrick's film (which omits Burgess's explanation of the title) is vastly more famous than the source novel.

I can recall him presenting a quite good SBS programme on D H Lawrence but an Omnibus documentary on Burgess himself from ten years or so ago was not very interesting: probably because Burgess didn't have a very interesting life.

In short: I don't think Burgess's novels will survive. In 100 years' time, his name will only be known to academics who specialise in the obscure crooks and crannies of 20th century literature.

Each to his own, Mandy but I think that even if everything else fades as you predict, this opening line from Earthly Powers will be remembered ....

"It was the afternoon of my eighty-first birthday, and I was in bed with my catamite when Ali announced that the archbishop had come to see me."