A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

The title is taken from an old Cockney expression, "as queer as a clockwork orange" and alludes to the prevention of the main character's exercise of his free will through the use of a classical conditioning technique. With this technique, the subject’s emotional responses to violence are systematically paired with a negative stimulation in the form of nausea caused by an emetic medicine administered just before the presentation of films depicting "ultra-violent" situations. Written from the perspective of a seemingly biased and unapologetic protagonist, the novel also contains an experiment in language: Burgess creates a new speech that is the teenage slang of the not-too-distant future.
The 119th greatest fiction book of all time
This book is on the following lists:
- - 8th on The Ideal Library (Book)
- - 21st on 50 Books to Read Before You Die (Complex)
- - 27th on Waterstone's Books of the Century (LibraryThing)
- - 49th on Koen Book Distributors Top 100 Books of the Past Century (themodernnovel.com)
- - 49th on Radcliffe's 100 Best Novels (Radcliffe Publishing Course)
- - 65th on The Modern Library | 100 Best Novels (Modern Library)
- - 68th on The 100 Greatest British Novels (BBC)
- - 79th on 20th Century's Greatest Hits: 100 English-Language Books of Fiction (Larry McCaffery)
- - 100 Most Influential Books of the Century (Boston Public Library)
- - Select 100 (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee)
- - Donald Barthelme’s Reading List (Believer Mag)
- - The Best Classics (The Times)
- - TIME Magazine All Time 100 Novels (TIME Magazine)
Buy This Book
- A Clockwork Orange
- A Clockwork Orange (Norton Critical Editions)
- A Clockwork Orange
- A Clockwork Orange (Essential Penguin)
- A Clockwork Orange
- A Clockwork Orange: Burgess Tribute Edition
- A Clockwork Orange
- A Clockwork Orange
- Clockwork Orange
- A Clockwork Orange
- A Clockwork Orange
- A Clockwork Orange
- A Clockwork Orange
- A Clockwork Orange (Penguin Decades)
- A Clockwork Orange: Play with Music (Modern Plays)
- A Clockwork Orange:Hrsg. v. Claus Melchior. (Fremdsprachentexte)
- A Clockwork Orange
- A Clockwork Orange
- Stanley Kubrick's Clockwork Orange (Based on the Novel by Anthony Burgess)
- A Clockwork Orange
- A Clockwork Orange (Chinese Edition)
- Clockwork Orange