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A CLOCKWORK ORANGE

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by Anthony Burgess (1962)

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Set within a world of youthful fashions, where classical music remains dominant for a time, and the language spoken is Nadsat. Alex and his three droogs spend much of their time engaged in ultra-violence. Which largely consists of belting faces and slashing and stabbing the bodies of anyone they encounter when they are out and about. In between the bouts of ultra-violence, the droogs consume Milk plus, which delivers them to different places. And sometimes the old in-out in-out offers a brief distraction from the real work of ultra-violence. But things do not always go Alex’s way, and when the millicents catch up with him, Alex is sent to prison for murder. After two years and numerous tolchocks from the prison guards, Alex volunteers to undertake the Ludovico Technique which brainwashes young Alex against sex and violence along with art and music. Alex is then released from prison; however, he is seriously mucked up in the gulliver. Moreover, in terms of arrangement, the novel is divided into three books, the first of which identifies ultra-violence as the problem. The next seeks to impose a remedy which amounts to prison for Alex, before transforming into the Ludovico Technique, which is menticide applied by the state. The final book examines the consequence of this menticide and reveals its flaws and moral dilemmas. Lastly, it looks like Alex will mature and by extension, grow out of the old ultra-violence. Fiction. 168 pages.

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DETAILS:

Title: A clockwork orange

Year: 1962

Author: Anthony Burgess

Pages: 168

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Book review by Keith Salter