Anthony Burgess (1917-1993)
La Mécanique de l'orange Série-Collection : Un siècle d'écrivains

Elisa Mantin
1997 - 48 min - Couleur - France

When the unsuccessful composer, John Anthony Burgess Wilson published his first novel, he was 38 years old and was teaching in Malaysia. Based on his "Confessions", this portrait of the author of "Clockwork Orange" mixes testimonies and many television archives. Born in Manchester into an Irish Catholic family, Burgess had a "Dickensian" childhood. His musical vocation thwarted, he began to study English literature and to teach. In 1959, the doctors said he was doomed ; he began to write like a madman, to "meet", he said, " the needs of his future widow". Pessimistic and shot through with violence, but full of humour too, generous and humanistic, his work is an observation of evil in society and throughout history. The success of Kubrick's cult film eclipsed the rest of his literary production : Burgess was in fact the author of reviews, adaptations, scenarios for the cinema and television and about forty novels. (Myriam Bloedé)