The Doctor Is Sick
''The Doctor Is Sick'' is a 1960 novel by Anthony Burgess. According to his autobiography, Burgess composed the book in just six weeks. He wrote it after his return to England from Brunei in a burst of literary activity that also produced '' Devil of a State'', ''A Clockwork Orange'', '' The Right to an Answer'' and several other works. Plot introduction The doctor of the title is Edwin Spindrift, PhD, an unhappily married professor of linguistics who has been sent home from Burma to England suffering from a mysterious brain ailment. While Edwin is confined to a neurological ward, undergoing a battery of diagnostic tests, Mrs Spindrift amuses herself with some disreputable new friends at nearby pubs. Sometimes, to Edwin's distress, she sends these friends to keep her husband company during visiting hours, rather than come herself. Most of the novel is a dream sequence: while he is anaesthetised for brain surgery, Edwin's anxiety over his wife and the company she keeps turns int ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Anthony Burgess
John Anthony Burgess Wilson, (; 25 February 1917 – 22 November 1993), who published under the name Anthony Burgess, was an English writer and composer. Although Burgess was primarily a comic writer, his Utopian and dystopian fiction, dystopian satire ''A Clockwork Orange (novel), A Clockwork Orange'' remains his best-known novel. In 1971, it was adapted into a controversial A Clockwork Orange (film), film by Stanley Kubrick, which Burgess said was chiefly responsible for the popularity of the book. Burgess produced numerous other novels, including the Enderby quartet, and ''Earthly Powers''. He wrote librettos and screenplays, including the 1977 TV mini-series ''Jesus of Nazareth (miniseries), Jesus of Nazareth''. He worked as a literary critic for several publications, including ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian'', and wrote studies of classic writers, notably James Joyce. A versatile linguist, Burgess lectured in phonetics, and translated ''Cyrano de Bergerac (play), ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Comic Novel
A comic novel is a novel-length work of humorous fiction. Many well-known authors have written comic novels, including P. G. Wodehouse, Henry Fielding, Mark Twain, and John Kennedy Toole. Comic novels are often defined by the author's literary choice to make the thrust of the work—in its narration or plot—funny or satirical in orientation, regardless of the putative seriousness of the topics addressed. While many novels may contain passages or themes that are comic or humorous, the defining characteristic of this genre is that comedy is the framework and baseline of the story, rather than an occasional or recurring motif. Literary scholars distinguish textual analysis on this basis; the theory being that a story by Mark Twain that is a satirical critique in its very origin, for example, must be understood differently than a more literal novelistic plot. American comic books first gained popularity in the 1930s, and their popularity has fluctuated over the years. Recently, th ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Heinemann (publisher)
William Heinemann Ltd., with the imprint Heinemann, was a London publisher founded in 1890 by William Heinemann. Their first published book, 1890's ''The Bondman'', was a huge success in the United Kingdom and launched the company. He was joined in 1893 by Sydney Pawling. Heinemann died in 1920 and Pawling sold the company to Doubleday, having worked with them in the past to publish their works in the United States. Pawling died in 1922 and new management took over. Doubleday sold his interest in 1933. Through the 1920s, the company was well known for publishing works by famous authors that had previously been published as serials. Among these were works by H. G. Wells, Rudyard Kipling, W. Somerset Maugham, George Moore, Max Beerbohm, and Henry James, among others. This attracted new authors to publish their first editions with the company, including Graham Greene, Edward Upward, J.B. Priestley and Vita Sackville-West. Throughout, the company was also known for its classics an ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Brunei
Brunei ( , ), formally Brunei Darussalam ( ms, Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi alphabet, Jawi: , ), is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its South China Sea coast, it is completely surrounded by the Malaysian state of Sarawak. It is separated into two parts by the Sarawak district of Limbang District, Limbang. Brunei is the only sovereign state entirely on Borneo; the remainder of the island is divided between Malaysia and Indonesia. , its population was 460,345, of whom about 100,000 live in the Capital city, capital and largest city, Bandar Seri Begawan. The government of Brunei, government is an absolute monarchy ruled by its Sultan of Brunei, Sultan, entitled the Yang di-Pertuan Negara, Yang di-Pertuan, and implements a combination of English common law and sharia law, as well as general Islamic practices. At the peak of the Bruneian Empire, Bolkiah, Sultan Bolkiah (reigned 1485–1528) is claimed to have had contro ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Devil Of A State
''Devil of a State'' is a 1961 novel by Anthony Burgess based on his experience living and working in Bandar Seri Begawan, the capital of the Southeast Asian sultanate of Brunei, on the island of Borneo, in 1958-59. It is the fourth of what have been called Burgess's "exotic novels", the others being ''Time for a Tiger'', ''The Enemy in the Blanket'' and ''Beds in the East ''The Malayan Trilogy'', also published as ''The Long Day Wanes: A Malayan Trilogy'' in the United States, is a comic 'triptych' of novels by Anthony Burgess set amidst the decolonisation of Malaya. It is a detailed fictional exploration ...''. To avoid any risk of a libel suit the action was set in an imaginary caliphate, "Dunia", the location was moved to East Africa, and a UN representative was substituted for the British adviser. In the first volume of his autobiography, '' Little Wilson and Big God, Being the First Part of the Confessions of Anthony Burgess'' (1987), Burgess wrote: [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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A Clockwork Orange (novel)
''A Clockwork Orange'' is a dystopian satirical black comedy novel by English writer Anthony Burgess, published in 1962. It is set in a near-future society that has a youth subculture of extreme violence. The teenage protagonist, Alex, narrates his violent exploits and his experiences with state authorities intent on reforming him. The book is partially written in a Russian-influenced argot called "Nadsat", which takes its name from the Russian suffix that is equivalent to '-teen' in English. According to Burgess, it was a ''jeu d'esprit'' written in just three weeks. In 2005, ''A Clockwork Orange'' was included on ''Time'' magazine's list of the 100 best English-language novels written since 1923, and it was named by Modern Library and its readers as one of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. The original manuscript of the book has been kept at McMaster University's William Ready Division of Archives and Research Collections in Hamilton, Ontario, Cana ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Right To An Answer
''The Right to an Answer'' is a darkly comic 1960 novel by Anthony Burgess, the first of his repatriate years (1960–69). One of its themes is the disillusionment of the returning exile. The critic William H. Pritchard William H. Pritchard (born 1932) is an American literary critic and the Henry Clay Folger Professor of English, ''Emeritus'', at Amherst College. Early life and education William Harrison Pritchard, Jr., was born in 1932, the son of William H ... described the novel in a 1966 publication as "surely Burgess's most engaging novel". Characters and plot *J.W. Denham, the narrator of the novel, is a British businessman who lives and works in Japan, but has returned to his hometown, Leicester, because his father is dying. Describing himself as a "professional expatriate", Denham leaves a mistress, Michiko, behind in Tokyo. He spends much of his time during his sojourn in the UK seeking sexual sustenance and "imbibing liquors of all kinds". *Mr Raj, the novel's ce ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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National Hospital For Neurology And Neurosurgery
The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery (informally the National Hospital or Queen Square) is a neurological hospital in Queen Square, London. It is part of the University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. It was the first hospital to be established in England dedicated exclusively to treating the diseases of the nervous system. It is closely associated with University College London (UCL) and in partnership with the UCL Institute of Neurology, which occupies the same site, is a major centre for neuroscience research. History The hospital was founded by Johanna Chandler as the National Hospital for the Paralysed and Epileptic at Queen Square in 1859. The hospital was completely rebuilt in the early 1880s: the East Wing was re-opened by Princess Helena in 1881 and the West Wing was re-opened by the Prince of Wales in 1885. In 1904, it adopted the name National Hospital for the Relief and Cure of the Paralysed and Epileptic. The hospital served as a s ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sir Roger Bannister
Sir Roger Gilbert Bannister (23 March 1929 – 3 March 2018) was an English neurologist and middle-distance athlete who ran the first sub-4-minute mile. At the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, Bannister set a British record in the 1500 metres and finished in fourth place. This achievement strengthened his resolve to become the first athlete to finish the mile run in under four minutes. He accomplished this feat on 6 May 1954 at Iffley Road track in Oxford, with Chris Chataway and Chris Brasher providing the pacing. When the announcer, Norris McWhirter, declared "The time was three...", the cheers of the crowd drowned out Bannister's exact time, which was 3 minutes and 59.4 seconds. He had attained this record with minimal training, while practising as a junior doctor. Bannister's record lasted just 46 days. Bannister went on to become a neurologist and Master of Pembroke College, Oxford, before retiring in 1993. As Master of Pembroke, he was on the governing body of Abingdon Schoo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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A Life
Life is the characteristic that distinguishes organisms from inorganic substances and dead objects. Life or The Life may also refer to: Human life * Human life (other) * Human condition, the characteristics, events, and situations of human existence * Biography, a written, filmed, etc. description of a person's life ** Autobiography, an account of one's own life * Everyday life, what a person does and feels on an everyday basis * Personal life, an individual's life * Life imprisonment, a sentence of imprisonment Arts and media Films * '' Live'' (1920 film), a lost 1920 American silent drama film * '' Live'' (1928 film), a British silent drama film * ''Life'' (1984 film), a Chinese film * '' Life'' (1996 film), an Australian drama film * '' Life'' (1999 film), an American comedy film * ''The Life'' (2004 film), a Canadian made-for-TV drama film * '' Whore'' (2004 film), a Spanish drama film also called ''The Life'' * ''Life!'', a 2005 Dutch film * ''The Lif ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Faber & Faber
Faber and Faber Limited, usually abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, Margaret Storey, William Golding, Samuel Beckett, Philip Larkin, Ted Hughes, Seamus Heaney, Paul Muldoon, Milan Kundera, and Kazuo Ishiguro. Founded in 1929, in 2006 the company was named the KPMG Publisher of the Year. Faber and Faber Inc., formerly the American branch of the London company, was sold in 1998 to the Holtzbrinck company Farrar, Straus and Giroux (FSG). Faber and Faber ended the partnership with FSG in 2015 and began distributing its books directly in the United States. History Faber and Faber began as a firm in 1929, but originates in the Scientific Press, owned by Sir Maurice and Lady Gwyer. The Scientific Press derived much of its income from the weekly magazine ''The Nursing Mirror.'' The Gwyers' desire to expand into trade publishing led them to Geoffrey Fab ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |