Ernest Hemingway and His World

John Anthony Burgess FRSL was an English writer and composer.

Although Burgess was predominantly a comic writer, his dystopian satire, A Clockwork Orange, remains his best-known novel. In 1971, it was adapted into a controversial film, directed by Stanley Kubrick, which Burgess said was chiefly responsible for the popularity of the book.

Burgess produced numerous other novels, including the Enderby quartet, and Earthly Powers. He wrote librettos and screenplays, including the 1977 TV mini-series Jesus of Nazareth. He worked as a literary critic for several publications, including the Observer and the Guardian, and wrote studies of classic writers, notably James Joyce.

A versatile linguist, Burgess lectured in phonetics, and translated Cyrano de Bergerac, Oedipus Rex, and the opera Carmen, among others.

Burgess also composed over 250 musical works; he considered himself as much a composer as an author, although he enjoyed considerably more success in writing.