Anthony Burgess, also called 

Joseph Kell, original name John Anthony Burgess

Wilson, (born February 25, 1917, Manchester, England—died November 22, 1993,
London), English novelist, critic, and man of letters whose fictional explorations of
modern dilemmas combine wit, moral earnestness, and a note of the bizarre.

Trained in English literature and phonetics, Burgess taught in the extramural

department of Birmingham University (1946–50), worked for the Ministry of Education
(1948–50), and was English master at Banbury Grammar School (1950–54). He then
served as education officer in Malaya and Borneo (1954–59), where he wrote three
novels with a Malayan setting.

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Back in England he became a full-time and prolific professional writer. Under the

pseudonym Anthony Burgess he wrote the novels The Wanting Seed (1962), an
antiutopian view of an overpopulated world, and Honey for the Bears (1963). As Joseph
Kell he wrote One Hand Clapping (1961) and Inside Mr. Enderby (1963).

A Clockwork Orange (1962; film 1971) made Burgess’s reputation as a novelist of comic

and mordant power. The novel is written in a teenage argot of Burgess’s invention,
combining elements from British and American slang, Russian, and other sources. It
examines society’s unsuccessful attempt to psychologically “rehabilitate” an incurably
violent juvenile delinquent. Other novels include The Eve of Saint Venus (1964)
and Enderby Outside (1968). The latter is part of a series of humorous novels centred
around the lyric poet F.X. Enderby, whom many critics have seen as a stand-in for
Burgess himself. His later works include Earthly Powers (1980), The End of the World
News (1983), The Kingdom of the Wicked (1985), Any Old Iron (1989), and A Dead
Man in Deptford (1993). In his novels Burgess combined linguistic ingenuity and witty
erudition with picaresque plots, bizarre story premises, and sharp social satire.
Although his vision of modern society is a pessimistic one, his fiction is generally comic.

Burgess was the author of more than 50 books. In addition to novels and short stories,
he was known for his works of literary criticism, including Here Comes Everybody: An
Introduction to James Joyce for the Ordinary Reader (1965). He wrote television
scripts, did translations for the stage, and wrote biographies of William Shakespeare,
D.H. Lawrence, and Ernest Hemingway. Burgess also produced dozens of
musical compositions, including choral works and orchestral pieces. He wrote a two-
volume autobiography, Little Wilson and Big God: Being the First Part of the
Confessions of Anthony Burgess (1987) and You’ve Had Your Time: Being the Second
Part of the Confessions of Anthony Burgess (1990).
This article was most recently revised and updated by  Amy Tikkanen.