''The Devil's Mode'' (1989) is the only collection of
short stories by the English author
Anthony Burgess.
The stories included are varied in their settings and themes and display Burgess's characteristic wide range, while touching on such themes as the private life of
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
, which he speculated on in his novel ''
Nothing Like the Sun
''Nothing Like the Sun'' is a fictional biography of William Shakespeare by Anthony Burgess first published in 1964. It tells the story of Shakespeare's life with a mixture of fact and fiction, the latter including an affair with a black prosti ...
'', and the lives of British expatriates in the Far East, explored by Burgess in his
Malayan trilogy.
Contents
*''A Meeting in Valladolid'' – Shakespeare, on tour in Spain, encounters
Cervantes.
*''The Most Beautified'' – A surreal, metaphysical examination of beauty.
*''The Cavalier of The Rose'' – A literary adaptation of the opera libretto ''
Der Rosenkavalier'' by
Hugo von Hofmannsthal.
*''1889 and The Devil's Mode'' –
Claude Debussy
(Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the ...
, while visiting the
Rossetti
The House of Rossetti is an Italian noble, and Boyar Princely family appearing in the 14th-15th century, originating among the patrician families, during the Republic of Genoa, with branches of the family establishing themselves in the Kingdom o ...
s in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, meets
Mallarmé Mallarmé is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* André Mallarmé (1877–1956), French politician
* Stéphane Mallarmé
Stéphane Mallarmé ( , ; 18 March 1842 – 9 September 1898), pen name of Étienne Mallarmé, was a Fre ...
, whose ''
Afternoon of a Faun'' he sets to music.
*''Wine of The Country'' – A tale of infidelity and sexual licence concerning a British couple in
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 sur ...
.
*''Snow'' – A loosely autobiographical story of a British man in
Malaya
Malaya refers to a number of historical and current political entities related to what is currently Peninsular Malaysia in Southeast Asia:
Political entities
* British Malaya (1826–1957), a loose collection of the British colony of the Straits ...
during the dying days of the
British Empire
The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...
, intended as a counterpoint to
W. Somerset Maugham
William Somerset Maugham ( ; 25 January 1874 – 16 December 1965) was an English writer, known for his plays, novels and short stories. Born in Paris, where he spent his first ten years, Maugham was schooled in England and went to a German un ...
's "Rain".
*''The Endless Voyager'' – An updated ''
The Flying Dutchman'', transferred to the airline era.
*''Hun'' – The longest of the stories, a novella about
Attila the Hun
Attila (, ; ), frequently called Attila the Hun, was the ruler of the Huns from 434 until his death in March 453. He was also the leader of a tribal empire consisting of Huns, Ostrogoths, Alans, and Bulgars, among others, in Central and Ea ...
as he prepares to devastate the
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterr ...
.
*''Murder to Music'' – A pastiche of a
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes () is a fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a " consulting detective" in the stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science and ...
story sees the great sleuth solve a symphonic crime.
Short story collections by Anthony Burgess
1989 short story collections
Hutchinson (publisher) books
Cultural depictions of Attila the Hun
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