Blog Archives
Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft
Frankenstein Painting by Chop Shop Garage / Frank Stein
Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft (born Mary Godwin, 1797-1851)
Mary Shelley was a London-born author and daughter of the pioneering feminist Mary Wollstonecraft and the journalist William Godwin.
In the midst of a story-telling contest with her husband (Percy Bysshe Shelly) and Lord Byron, Mary retired to bed and had a dream about a novel. The next morning she began the now famous Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus, completed in 1818.
She also worked at editing her husband’s poetry, helping him to gain recognition through her tireless efforts in promoting his work.
» Frankenstein, Keats (John)
Add to this, report errors, suggest edits or voice your opinion
Burgess, Anthony
Burgess, Anthony (1917-94) British author of A Clockwork Orange (1962) the grisly and at times horrific tale of Alex, a gang leader of a group of depraved thugs in an equally although more subtly depraved society.
In Stanley Kubrick‘s film adaptation (1971) Alex is eventually abandoned and arrested as his gang buddies become corrupt Bobbies.
Reprogrammed through psychological image-association techniques to detest sex and violence, unfortunately for Alex his favorite composer, Ludwig Van Beethoven, is on the reprogramming soundtrack while he’s being “fixed.”
After his treatment, not only antisocial images but also his favorite Beethoven music make him feel violently nauseous.
Alex ends up in the home of the bourgeois intellectual whom Alex with his former mates had previously maimed and confined to wheelchair while raping and murdering his wife.
The man in the wheelchair gets his revenge. He tortures Alex by playing Beethoven’s music incessantly. Alex then attempts suicide, which makes him a celebrity as local politicians see a media opportunity in appearing sympathetic to his plight.
Alex sees the opportunity too. He smiles and glad-hands, becomes a star and is duly rewarded for “playing the game.”
From a sociological perspective this novel illustrates the idea that most criminal justice systems favor the rich and powerful at the expense of the poor and lowly.
Burgess wrote other less commercially successful novels, to include The End of the World News (1982).
Image Source:
-
The following site reports this image as in the public domain » http://www.moviewallpapers.net/download/desktop/596/1024/A_Clockwork_Orange.html If this information is in error and you own the copyright to this image, please contact us and we’ll remove it immediately.
Add to this, report errors, suggest edits or voice your opinion by posting a comment
