How do you also feel how Kubric changed how Alex was involved in the Ludovico experiment completely? While originally Alex was sent to do the experiment after killing a new prisoner and in the film he was sent because he spoke out of turn. I found many differences in the book and the film but I was impressed overall with both pieces of art. I would like thank you for this beautiful piece of art.
I wanted to talk to you about the central theme of the book. When I read the book, I understood that the major theme of this book was free will vs. safety or order in society. As the Prison Chaplain said, “Choice. The boy has no real choice, has he? Self-interest, the fear of physical pain drove him to that grotesque act of self-abasement. Its insincerity was clearly to be seen. He ceases to be a wrongdoer. He ceases also to be a creature capable of moral choice.” (Burgess) I think the Chaplain said this because when the woman, that was an actor, came out to seduce Alex, Alex was sick at even the thought of having sexual intercourse with the woman even though he had the thought of raping her. One would assume that even at the thought of having sexual intercourse Alex would be sick.
I would like to know if you were very fond of young people, specifically teenagers when you were writing this book? When I was reading the book I constantly was wondering if you wrote this book in spite of “hooligans” as you called them or to represent their evil. I know that you lived in an era of young people with no respect towards the law and I was wondering if that was a main factor that inspired you to write this novel?
One of the things that really astonished me was the Korova Milkbar. I was wondering where you got the idea for that magnificent part in your book. I was just amazed at the idea! I’ve heard of milk bars but they weren’t very common. It was just simply amazing, milk with drugs that your magnificent imagination created, like vellocet, synthemesc and drencrom. Moving on to your Nadsat vocabulary slang, is very creative and original. I was wondering where you came up with that English-Russian slang vocabulary? I read that you went to Leningrad, which is saint Petersburg now if you didn’t know. I wanted to hear it from yourself because you know how sources are from so long ago. I would like to remind you some of your nadsat words that really changed the book into something more special like appy polly loggy which is just apology, baboochka, an old woman, chelloveck which is a person, droog, which is just a friend and so many more I wouldn’t like to bore you with. As the introduction from your book says “ Anthony Burgess has been called one of the very few literary geniuses of our time. Certainly he borrowed from no other literary source than himself” which is just simply remarkable because you made a normal book into a timeless classic because of all the creativity in it.
Another think that I really enjoyed in your book was the use of music and how it influenced Alex’s life. In the book it shows Alex’s uniqueness with Beethoven. I also loved how you mixed music with the Ludovico experiment. In the movie it was Ludwig Van Beethoven in the ninth symphony and in the book it was Beethoven, Bach and many other composers. One could assume that you did this because of your personal life, because I researched you and I saw you were an accomplished musician and I wanted to ask you if because of your personal life you included this in the piece of literature.
I wanted to thank you Mr. Burgess for leaving the world such a beautiful majestic work of art and I hope rumours aren’t true that you are deceased, I won’t be expecting a reply Mr. Burgess but I will feel accomplished if I know you will read this
Yours truly, Gabriel Oleas
by
gabrieloleas (student)
