A Clockwork Orange

I had to study this book in collage.  I was lucky, my sister had to study Graham Swift’s ‘Waterland’, “fens, fens, fens, insest, murder, fens, fens, fens” was her summary.  I was studying an optional Russian Language course as well & became incredable useful incredably quicky.  Normally people need to give years of learning before the learnt knowledge is of any use but thanks to Burgess I did not need to wait as long.  This is because in ‘A Clockwork Orange’ he writes in an invented language called Nadsat.  Part English cockney rhyming slang, part literary intertextuality & part phonetic Russian.  With the use of phonetic Russian words I was able to learn the language a little easier because I had a context where the word is used & being a being who spells with his ears I could remember what the difficult language sounds like by the look of Burgess’ writing.  I was very lucky & very thankful as it did greatly raise my appreciation of the book from good to great.  A good book to study in collage being as small as it is was but as meaty as a haggis. 

   
Divided into three parts with seven chapters each reaching a-hundred-and-fourty pages long chocked full of violence.  It is surprising how English this book seems as it doesn’t seem very English at all since the English do not tend to write short novells about crime & philosophy in an experimental language.  It seems more to be a mixture of a French, Irish & Russian book than anything England produces.  On the basis of book alone I’d ascribe the influences of the French to the brevity of the novel & the inclusion of the taboo of the society, of the Irish, mainly to James Joyce, the experimental language & of the Russian the discussion of philosopy with a deep sense of guilt (the French also have philosophy but they usually take sex with it rather than regret).  Actually that’s not entirely fair on the English since there was Henry Green who was both deeply exotic & familiar.