The unfinished manuscript of The Clockwork Condition was written by Burgess in 1972 and 1973, after Kubrick’s 1971 adaptation of A Clockwork Orange was accused of inspiring copycat crimes, prompting the director to withdraw it from circulation. The manuscript of The Clockwork Condition, which Burgess describes as a “major philosophical statement on the contemporary human condition”, had been left by the author in his home in Bracciano in the 1970s. “Eventually Burgess came to realise that the proposed non-fiction book was beyond his capabilities, as he was a novelist and not a philosopher. It was then suggested that he should publish a diary under the title The Year of the Clockwork Orange, but this project was also abandoned,” said Biswell. “Instead he wrote a short autobiographical novel, which also features clockwork in the title – The Clockwork Testament.

Source: The Guardian April 25, 2019 09:14 UTC