- A jolting tale of crime and punishment stars Malcolm McDowell as a young neo-punk who becomes the guinea pig for a state-sanctioned cure of his tendency toward ?the old ultraviolence.Running Time: 136 min. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre:Â DRAMA Rating:Â PG Age:Â 012569806726 UPC:Â 012569806726 Manufacturer No:Â 80672
“A brilliant novel . . . a savage satire on the distortions of the single and collective minds.†â€"New York Times
“Anthony Burgess has written what looks like a nasty little shocker, but is really that rare thing in English letters: a philosophical novel.†â€"Time
A terrifying tale about good and evil and the meaning of human freedom,
A Clockwork Orange became an instant classic when it was published in 1962 and has remained so ever since. Anthony Burgess takes us on a journey to a nightmarish future where sociopa! thic criminals rule the night. Brilliantly told in harsh invented slang by the novel’s main character and merciless droog, fifteen-year-old Alex, this influential novel is now available in a student edition.
The Norton Critical Edition of
A Clockwork Orange is based on the first British edition and includes Burgess’s original final chapter. It is accompanied by Mark Rawlinson’s preface, explanatory annotations, and textual notes. A glossary of the Russian-origin terms that inspired Alex’s dialect is provided to illustrate the process by which Burgess arrived at the distinctive style of this novel.
“Backgrounds and Contexts†presents a wealth of materials chosen by the editor to enrich the reader’s understanding of this unforgettable work, many of them by Burgess himself. Burgess’s views on writing
A Clockwork Orange, its philosophical issues, and the debates over the British edition versus the American edition ! and the novel versus the film adaptation are all included. Rel! ated wri tings that speak to some of the novel’s central issuesâ€"youthful style, behavior modification, and art versus moralityâ€"are provided by Paul Rock and Stanley Cohen, B. F. Skinner, John R. Platt, Joost A. M. Meerloo, William Sargent, and George Steiner.
“Criticism†is divided into two sections, one addressing the novel and the other Stanley Kubrick’s film version. Five major reviews of the novel are reprinted along with a wide range of scholarly commentary, including, among others, David Lodge on the American reader; Julie Carson on linguistic invention; Zinovy Zinik on Burgess and the Russian language; Geoffrey Sharpless on education, masculinity, and violence; Shirley Chew on circularity; Patrick Parrinder on dystopias; Robbie B. H. Goh on language and social control; and Steven M. Cahn on freedom. A thorough analysis of the film adaptation of
A Clockwork Orange is provided in reviews by Vincent Canby, Pauline Kael, and Christopher Ricks; i! n Philip Strick and Penelope Houston’s interview with Stanley Kubrick; and in interpretive essays by Don Daniels, Alexander Walker, Philip French, Thomas Elsaesser, Tom Dewe Mathews, and Julian Petley.
A Selected Bibliography is also included.New! Fast shipping!
The only American edition of the cult classic novel.
A vicious fifteen-year-old "droog" is the central character of this 1963 classic, whose stark terror was captured in Stanley Kubrick's magnificent film of the same title. In Anthony Burgess's nightmare vision of the future, where criminals take over after dark, the story is told by the central character, Alex, who talks in a brutal invented slang that brilliantly renders his and his friends' social pathology. A Clockwork Orange is a frightening fable about good and evil, and the meaning of human freedom. When the state undertakes to reform Alexâ€"to "redeem" himâ€"the novel asks, "At what cost?" This edition includes the controversial last ! chapter not published in the first edition and Burgess's intro! duction "A Clockwork Orange Resucked."
The only American edition of the cult classic novel.
A vicious fifteen-year-old "droog" is the central character of this 1963 classic, whose stark terror was captured in Stanley Kubrick's magnificent film of the same title. In Anthony Burgess's nightmare vision of the future, where criminals take over after dark, the story is told by the central character, Alex, who talks in a brutal invented slang that brilliantly renders his and his friends' social pathology. A Clockwork Orange is a frightening fable about good and evil, and the meaning of human freedom. When the state undertakes to reform Alexâ€"to "redeem" himâ€"the novel asks, "At what cost?" This edition includes the controversial last chapter not published in the first edition and Burgess's introduction "A Clockwork Orange Resucked."Stanley Kubrick's demanding perfectionism in all aspects of the filmmaking process has led to some of the most memorable soundtracks of the modern era! . Kubrick's taste for the classics led to his scrapping Alex North's original score for
2001: A Space Odyssey in lieu of the "temporary" tracks he had used for editing, turning Richard Strauss'
Also Sprach Zarathustra into an unlikely 20th-century pop icon. For his 1971 adaptation of Anthony Burgess's cautionary future-shocker, Kubrick once again turned to the classics. Malcolm McDowell's protagonist Droog Alex's taste for Beethoven is given a nice tweaking by Moog pioneer Walter (now Wendy) Carlos's synthesized take on the glorious Ninth Symphony. Some have complained that the now-primitive electronics involved give it a dated feel. Disturbingly--and effectively--other-worldly is more like it. Kubrick also imbues repertory standards by Rossini and Elgar with dark, frequently hilarious irony, and makes Gene Kelly's sunny reading of "Singin' In The Rain" the underscore to an all-too-accurate prediction of societal nightmares to come.
--Jerry McCulleyA j! olting tale of crime and punishment stars Malcolm McDowell as ! a young neo-punk who becomes the guinea pig for a state-sanctioned cure of his tendency toward ?the old ultraviolence.Stanley Kubrick's striking visual interpretation of Anthony Burgess's famous novel is a masterpiece. Malcolm McDowell delivers a clever, tongue-in-cheek performance as Alex, the leader of a quartet of droogs, a vicious group of young hoodlums who spend their nights stealing cars, fighting rival gangs, breaking into people's homes, and raping women. While other directors would simply exploit the violent elements of such a film without subtext, Kubrick maintains Burgess's dark, satirical social commentary. We watch Alex transform from a free-roaming miscreant into a convict used in a government experiment that attempts to reform criminals through an unorthodox new medical treatment. The catch, of course, is that this therapy may be nothing better than a quick cure-all for a society plagued by rampant crime.
A Clockwork Orange works on many levels--visual, social! , political, and sexual--and is one of the few films that hold up under repeated viewings. Kubrick not only presents colorfully arresting images, he also stylizes the film by utilizing classical music (and Wendy Carlos's electronic classical work) to underscore the violent scenes, which even today are disturbing in their display of sheer nihilism. Ironically, many fans of the film have missed that point, sadly being entertained by its brutality rather than being repulsed by it.
--Bryan Reesman
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