Seeing this again reminds one of why I love Burgess so much, his strangely elusive modesty. It comes across just momentarily . One senses his fragility the man carrying the artist, the agon,the titanic work of a life time being written and rewritten. I am re-reading Devil of a State again and just an hour ago, I cam across:Conversations with Anthony Burgess Edited by Earl and Mary Ingersoll. Thank whatever Writing gods there be that he existed and wrote as much as he did and created so many characters! We are the wealthier for it.
'His strangely elusive modesty.' Yes. I like the way he admits to having been wounded by some personal attack masquerading as a review. Most writers are too proud to own up to that 'fragility', as you rightly put it.
I think I've asked this question previously. Did AB receive the last rites (the sacrament of Extreme Unction?) . All to sat really did he die Catholic?
It is assumed that he did not. However, I'm not so sure. He certainly chose a Roman Catholic institution in which to spend his last days. There are worse places to die, I guess: th-cam.com/video/6smp1B53j2E/w-d-xo.html
Arnie Schoenberg didn't want to do it, says Burgess. Arnie told Georgie (Gershwin), 'Yours in the music I'd like to write. I'd like to write a Felix Mendelssohn violin concerto. But I've been driven by the Zeitgeist, by social circumstances, by the development of art, to go in this direction and produce this kind of music.' Joyce said the same thing about his work. th-cam.com/video/1z6Anh3lm7k/w-d-xo.html
I've just discovered him as a person rather than a writer and I'm grateful to you for sharing this
Seeing this again reminds one of why I love Burgess so much, his strangely elusive modesty. It comes across just momentarily . One senses his fragility the man carrying the artist, the agon,the titanic work of a life time being written and rewritten. I am re-reading Devil of a State again and just an hour ago, I cam across:Conversations with Anthony Burgess Edited by Earl and Mary Ingersoll. Thank whatever Writing gods there be that he existed and wrote as much as he did and created so many characters! We are the wealthier for it.
Very well said, Mr D.
'His strangely elusive modesty.' Yes. I like the way he admits to having been wounded by some personal attack masquerading as a review. Most writers are too proud to own up to that 'fragility', as you rightly put it.
I wonder if the review in question was Geoffrey Grigson's of his 'Urgent Copy'. th-cam.com/video/idogaYcrNQ8/w-d-xo.html
'Conversations'. This one, right? th-cam.com/video/4vczSP60Ua0/w-d-xo.html I thought that volume was good stuff.
@cliffordduffy3800: That book you cite by the Ingersolls is so good and virtually impossible to find these days. Time for a reprint?
Good interview: clear, polite & informative. Few writers are so candid.
Yep, his answers are superb.
Wonderful viewing. Thank you.
Thanks for visiting In Search of Anthony Burgess, Mr M.
Loved watching this, thanks for sharing.
I haven't watched it yet....but looks like a ...... face to face interview from the revamped bbc series in the 80s/90s....good find
Think you're right. BBC's Face to Face. This is the best since the one featuring Waugh. I thought Jeremy Isaacs did a decent job.
Fascinating interview but did anyone else think he was Trump from the thumbnail?
There is a definite resemblance.
In terms of Self Esteem they appear remarkably similar ?
OK OK No one knows more than you, Tony!
😅You're a polymath, Tony! Everyone says so!
I think I've asked this question previously. Did AB receive the last rites (the sacrament of Extreme Unction?) . All to sat really did he die Catholic?
It is assumed that he did not. However, I'm not so sure. He certainly chose a Roman Catholic institution in which to spend his last days. There are worse places to die, I guess: th-cam.com/video/6smp1B53j2E/w-d-xo.html
Places to die ? . A bordello in
Dakar . ? Or , a Lamasery in the
most remote region of Tibet. ?
I can never decide....
I would guess that towards the end he hedged his bets and asked for a priest. Once a Catholic, etc. I don’t blame him, because… who knows?
If he had no sibling who survived childhood then how can anyone have married his niece?
All things are possible inside the skull of Anthony Burgess.
Think it’s real though - the daughter of his first wife Lynne’s sister, I believe it is.
@ 0.15. " I say that with total sincerity " . Yes , few writers could feign " total
sincerity " as well as A B .
Free indisciminate sexual congress? In Wales apparently.
post-tonal music = non-musical
Arnie Schoenberg didn't want to do it, says Burgess. Arnie told Georgie (Gershwin), 'Yours in the music I'd like to write. I'd like to write a Felix Mendelssohn violin concerto. But I've been driven by the Zeitgeist, by social circumstances, by the development of art, to go in this direction and produce this kind of music.' Joyce said the same thing about his work. th-cam.com/video/1z6Anh3lm7k/w-d-xo.html