A Clockwork Orange (novel) A Clockwork Orange (novel) A Clockwork Orange is a dystopian satirical black comedy novel by English writer Anthony Burgess, published in 1962. It is set in a near future English society featuring a subculture of extreme youth violence. The teenage protagonist, Alex, narrates his violent exploits and his experiences with state authorities intent on reforming him. The book is partially written in a Russian-influenced argot called "Nadsat", which takes its name from the Russian suffix that is equivalent to '-teen' in English. According to Burgess, it was a "jeu d'esprit" written in just three weeks. In 2005, "A Clockwork Orange"
A Clockwork Orange (novel) be artistic". He claimed that the violent content of the novel "nauseated" him. In 1985, Burgess published "Flame into Being: The Life and Work of D. H. Lawrence" and while discussing "Lady Chatterley's Lover" in his biography, Burgess compared that novel's notoriety with "A Clockwork Orange": "We all suffer from the popular desire to make the known notorious. The book I am best known for, or only known for, is a novel I am prepared to repudiate: written a quarter of a century ago, a "jeu d'esprit" knocked off for money in three weeks, it became known as the raw