A Clockwork Orange

Name: A Clockwork Orange
ISBN: 9787544777070

安东尼·伯吉斯Yilin Press2019

4.0

Chapters: 5
ISBN: 9787544777070

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Summary

A Clockwork Orange is a novel written by the English author Anthony Burgess in 1961 and published in 1962; it is his most influential work and was included in Time magazine's list of the hundred best English-language novels. Set in a near-future Britain, it follows Alex, a street youth addicted to violence and Beethoven, who leads a gang of droogs in assaults until he is arrested for a killing. To relieve prison overcrowding, the authorities test an "aversion therapy" on him: through forced drugs and images, he is remade into someone who suffers whenever violent thoughts arise. The reformed Alex loses the capacity to do evil, but also the freedom to choose between good and evil; society uses him as political propaganda, and his former victims take revenge. Burgess thus poses a sharp ethical question: is a person forcibly set to be "good" still a whole person? The title comes from the British slang "queer as a clockwork orange," given new philosophical meaning here: the organic, alive, sweet "orange" combined with the mechanical, cold, controlled "clockwork" is a metaphor for humanity stripped of free will. Another hallmark is the narrator's invented teenage slang, "Nadsat," which creates distance and gives the violence a youthful rhythm. Controversial since publication, this slim novel profoundly influenced Kubrick's film of the same name and became a frequently cited image in popular culture.

Editor's review

《发条橙》常被当成一部暴力小说或一部电影原著来读，其实它更像一则关于“人是否还拥有选择权”的思想寓言。伯吉斯写它时正值自己的妻子曾被暴力袭击的经历压在心口，他没有把暴力美化成青春叛逆，也没有让“改造”成为温情的救赎；他让读者跟着阿历克斯的眼睛看世界，再让读者在阿历克斯失去作恶能力后感到一种更深的寒意：当社会能以技术手段替你“选择”善，你就不再是行使道德的主体。译林2021年推出的杜冬译本依据英国未删节版本，恢复了初版中被美国出版商删去的第二十一章——正是这一章让阿历克斯最终“长大”，从暴力的机械循环里走出来，小说也因此从预言转为对青春本身的理解。本书还收录了伯吉斯谈小说与电影的长文、五十余条注释和初版打字稿书影，对只想看“情节”和想研究“文本”的读者都有增值。若你读过《1984》《美丽新世界》，这本书会把反乌托邦的追问从“谁控制你”推进到“你还能不能选择自己”。

Who it's for

A good fit for

喜欢反乌托邦与思想性科幻，读过《1984》《美丽新世界》的读者
对自由意志、道德责任和“社会改造”议题感兴趣的人
想了解库布里克同名电影的原著，愿意读更完整结局的影迷
喜欢实验性叙述语言、能接受虚构俚语挑战的文学读者

Not a good fit for

对暴力、性暴力描写敏感、容易被冒犯的读者
只想要轻松青春成长故事或纯粹娱乐阅读的读者
希望读到硬科幻设定与科技推演、偏重科学细节的科幻迷

Reading tips

先读附在书前的《发条橙果酱》与注释，再进入正文，能更快适应“纳查奇语”的节奏。
不必纠结每个俚语的确切含义，跟着叙述的声音走，实在卡住再翻注释，阅读体验会顺畅很多。
读到第二部“改造”段落时，留意阿历克斯的“自由”如何一点一点被拿走，这是全书的思想核心。
读完原著后可以对照库布里克电影，重点比较结尾部分的差异，思考删去最后一章意味着什么。

About the publisher

Yilin Press China · Founded in 1988

Yilin Press focuses mainly on translated foreign literature. Its current catalogue of 318 titles covers common categories such as mystery and detective fiction, foreign literature, world classics, biography, and social novels. Representative books include The Complete Sherlock Holmes 2: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Pride and Prejudice, To the Lighthouse, The Great Gatsby, The Grapes of Wrath, and Lives of the Artists: Michelangelo, often presented in bilingual or English-language editions that serve both original-text reading and language learning. Its author resources include foreign writers such as Arthur Conan Doyle, Jane Austen, Virginia Woolf, and Romain Rolland, as well as translators including Li Jiazhen, Gao Fen, and Ma Ye. The catalogue also includes Chinese works such as Li Jieren's Ripples Across Stagnant Water. The press shows a concentrated publishing strength in foreign classics and bilingual readers; given limited public information, this overview is based only on catalogue data.

A Clockwork Orange Jam
A Clockwork Orange
Notes
Afterword
Anthony Burgess's 1961 Typescript of A Clockwork Orange (with Burgess's Handwriting)

FAQ

这本书是科幻小说吗？

它通常被归为反乌托邦／幻想小说。故事发生在近未来的英国，核心设想是“厌恶疗法”改造罪犯，但没有硬科技设定和宇宙场景，更关心自由意志与道德选择的哲学问题。

为什么主角说话那么难懂？

阿历克斯使用伯吉斯自创的青少年俚语“纳查奇语”，混杂俄语、伦敦腔和儿童用语。这是作者刻意制造的陌生化效果，让你既贴近又疏离这个叙述者。译本附有注释可查。

中文版有删节吗？

译林2019年杜冬译本依据英国未删节版本翻译，包含初版被美国出版商删去的第二十一章，另有五十余条注释与伯吉斯谈小说和电影的长文。

适合多大年龄读？

原著含大量暴力与性暴力描写，语言实验性强，更适合高中以上、已有一定阅读经验的读者；低龄读者建议先看导读或选读片段。

和库布里克电影差别大吗？

电影基本忠实于前二十章，但库布里克采用的版本没有第二十一章，因此结局更阴冷。原著最后一章让阿历克斯自行“长大”，是理解伯吉斯本意的关键。

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About the author

安东尼·伯吉斯 Author

Anthony Burgess is an English writer known as a novelist and critic, whose works span such categories as biography and literary criticism. The library holds one work by him, titled Shakespeare, classified under general biography. Public information is limited, so his English name, nationality, and dates of birth and death cannot be confirmed here; only the held work is briefly described. In this book Burgess approaches Shakespeare's life and writing from a writer's perspective, combining narrative with commentary: he sketches the subject's life while discussing the artistic features of the plays and poems, with essayistic argument and personal judgment that keep the reading lively. This approach makes the biography more than a chronological record, closer to a blend of literary criticism and character study, and suitable for readers interested in Shakespeare and his age.