Although he did not start publishing until middle age, Anthony Burgess
(1917-1993) had over sixty published books to his credit by the time of
his death. One of them, the short novel A Clockwork Orange (1962), was
to bring him fame and notoriety outside England following the 1971
release of Stanley Kubrick's film adaptation. The prominence of that
single novel would impel its author to confront a public continually
asking directly or by implication: What else have you written, Mr.
Burgess?
Burgess produced scores of novels, biographies, books of literary
criticism, film scripts, and news articles. A linguist and polyglot who
was fluent in eight languages, he invented the language used in the 1981
film Quest for Fire. He translated and adapted Bizet's Carmen,
Weber's Oberon, and other operas for the English stage. His ReJoyce:
An Introduction to James Joyce for the Ordinary Reader remains a
standard in Joycean criticism.
Conversations with Anthony Burgess captures, through in-depth
interviews, a writer of tremendous energy, inventiveness, and
self-discipline. The collection brings together interviews from 1971 to
1989, including two pieces published for the first time.