Byrne. [Paperback]

Anthony. Burgess (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Hutchinson (1995)
• ASIN: B000OH8WVI
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)

More About the Author

Anthony Burgess (25th February 1917-22nd November 1993) was one of the UK's leading academics and most respected literary figures. A prolific author, during his writing career Burgess found success as a novelist, critic, composer, playwright, screenwriter, travel writer, essayist, poet and librettist, as well as working as a translator, broadcaster, linguist and educationalist. His fiction also includes NOTHING LIKE THE SUN, a recreation of Shakespeare's love-life, but he is perhaps most famous for the complex and controversial novel A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, exploring the nature of evil. Born in Manchester, he spent time living in Southeast Asia, the USA and Mediterranean Europe as well as in England, until his death in 1993.

Customer Reviews

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10 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Burgess's Byrne great versifying fun, November 4, 1997

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[e-mail] (Columbus Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Byrne (Hardcover)

How can I describe "Byrne," a book by Burgess / (Anthony)? Putative novel, his last (O sorrow!). / 'S about one Michael Byrne, a "defective lecherous / Dreamer," all in ottava rima, (borrowed / From Ariosto), but which, to be sure, here is / Livelier and more fun than a carload / Of television sitcoms, no matter they / Be on Sunday, Wednesday or Saturday. / More Rabelaisian and Rabelais, / Out-Byrons Byron's endless long "Don Juan," / Satire, outrageous rhymes, in many ways / Better than Happy Hour, a ten-cent brew one / Downs; a treat for e'en those who're too laz- / Y or wary of poetic doin'. / Relax, sit back, you've got a lot to learn / From this wild poetic novel 'titled "Byrne." / "Why choose this agony of versifying / Instead of tapping journalistic prose?" / Burgess asks, but we know he's simply trying / To have some fun, which, as everybody knows, / 'S not easy in this oft PC-ifying / World where everything--and nothing--goes. / Burgess shows that poetry can be fun, / Hilariously accessible to everyone. / Well p'rhaps not everyone. Halfway through he / Briefly changes to a different scheme, / A loftier prosody, more chewy, / Used by dreary Spenser in "Fairie Queene" / (Which we all suffered through in academe). / Meanwhile Tim and Tom appear, reprehend / Vanished pater, etcetera. I deem / "Byrne" versifying fun, it recommend. / It's one of those, you hate to see it end. ---James Hursey