John Burgess Wilson (pseudonym Anthony Burgess) (25 February 1917 – 22 November 1993) was an English author, poet, playwright, composer, linguist, translator and critic.[2]
His dystopian satire A Clockwork Orange, widely considered to be his magnum opus, is by far his most famous novel, and was adapted into a famous, if highly controversial, 1971 film by Stanley Kubrick. However, the author later dismissed it as one of his lesser works[3]. Burgess produced numerous other novels, including the much loved Enderby quartet. He was also a prominent critic, authoring acclaimed studies of classic writers such as William Shakespeare, James Joyce, D. H. Lawrence and Ernest Hemingway.
Aside from literature, Anthony Burgess was an accomplished musician[4] and linguist. He composed over 250 musical compositions, including his first symphony around age 18, wrote a number of libretti, and translated, amongst others, Cyrano de Bergerac,[5] Oedipus the King[6] and Carmen.