A Clockwork Orange - Brossura

PENGUIN DECADES

50s 60s 70s 80s

Penguin Decades bring you the novels that helped shape modern Britain. When they were published, some were bestsellers, some were considered scandalous, and others were simply misunderstood. All represent their time and helped define their generation, while today each is considered a landmark work of storytelling.

The 1960s was the decade of social revolution, anti-war protests, liberal reforms, civil rights and psychedelia. Skirts got shorter and hair got longer, London swung, the Berlin Wall went up, a man walked on the moon, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones reigned and England even won the world cup.

Anthony Burgess's A Clockwork Orange was published in 1962 and instantly became one of the most famous and controversial of British novels. It tells the story of fifteen-year-old Alex - whose chief preoccupations are Beethoven's Ninth and ultra-violence - as he and his droogs rampage though a dystopian future seeking thrills, until they come under the control of the state's sinister apparatus. A lurid shocker? Or a brilliant novel of ideas?

With a new introduction by Will Self