The Clockwork Testament, or Enderby's End
Encyclopedia
The Clockwork Testament is a novella by the British author Anthony Burgess
. It is the third of Burgess' four Enderby novels and was first published in 1974 by Hart-Davis, MacGibbon Publishers. It is usually subtitled Enderby's End, as it was originally intended to be the last book in the Enderby series. However, a further sequel, Enderby's Dark Lady, followed in 1984.
and Pelagius
.
Enderby's present situation arose from a chance encounter with an American film producer in Tangiers, where he owns a bar. Publican Enderby served the man a scotch and pitched him an idea for a new film—an adaptation of Gerard Manley Hopkins
's famously obscure poem "The Wreck of the Deutschland
". The producer, intrigued, asked for a script, which Enderby duly composed. The eventual film bears little resemblance to this script or to Hopkins's poem; however, his name is prominently credited, and the film, and Enderby, are now famous.
This unwanted public recognition has led to an invitation to teach English at the University of Manhattan for a year. Also, since the film has controversial elements—including, for some reason, a lurid rape scene with Nazis and nuns—the reclusive, little-read poet has been receiving a barrage of ranting phone calls from angry citizens who are eager to denounce "his" film. Invariably, these callers (and other critics) have never read the original poem; indeed, they don't even know it exists.
Enderby suffers three heart attacks over the course of the day, and succumbs to a fourth some time after midnight. Between attacks, he goes about his business: he happily works on his Pelagian poem; eats dyspeptic American food and smokes White Owl
cigars; refuses an offer of sex from a female poetry student who wants him to give her an A; struggles through two lectures; appears on a smarmy talk show; and draws a sword he carries hidden in his cane to defend a middle-aged housewife from a gang of thugs on the subway.
Everywhere—even on the subway—he encounters incomprehension and, usually, disapproval. When he finally gets home, however, a woman he's never seen before drops by and pulls a gun on him; she has come to tell him she's read and re-read all his poetry, and is now going to murder him for writing it. First, however, she orders him to strip naked and urinate all over his collected works. Enderby strips, but since he has an erection he cannot obey the rest of her command. The scene ends, apparently, in a sexual encounter. Enderby dies later that night.
's Ulysses
; it covers one day only, casts an unheroic man in the role of hero, and explores that man's physical and mental processes in intimate detail. In place of The Odyssey, Burgess incorporates extended references to St. Augustine
and Pelagius, and also to Gerard Manley Hopkins, author of a phrase Enderby makes peculiarly his own: "I am gall, I am heartburn."
The book blends social satire with self-mockery. In a classroom scene, for example, Enderby is unable to remember his planned lecture on minor Elizabethan dramatists and so on the spur of the moment invents a playwright called 'Gervase Whitelady'. He discourses learnedly on this personage for some time, helped on by a student who begins as a know-it-all but ends as a collaborator, earnestly prompting him with the details of Whitelady's life. Enderby abruptly concludes the lecture by dismissing his imaginary playwright as a failure— at which point he recognises his creation as a mirror image of himself. Later, at his poetry-writing class, Enderby finds little to admire in his students' undisciplined effusions and tries to impress on them that poetry arises from craftsmanlike effort, not emotional self-indulgence. The students, however, just look at him pityingly and ask him when he plans to leave.
As the title suggests, The Clockwork Testament also gives the author a chance to explore his own bemusement over Stanley Kubrick
's film adaptation
of A Clockwork Orange
: Burgess came to hate the film that made him famous. This autobiographical element is most apparent in the talk show scene, where Enderby's fellow guests (an actress and a psychologist) attack the poet for his involvement in a film version of "The Wreck of the Deutschland", which has been accused of inspiring violence against nuns. Enderby, forced to defend a movie that he considers a punishment to Hopkins, reiterates the central themes of A Clockwork Orange: the human need to choose freely between good and evil, and the daemonic, joyous nature of man's creative inner self. At this point, he quotes directly from the novel. Burgess faced similar criticism over Kubrick's version of A Clockwork Orange; he, too, for example, found himself being blamed for the rape of a nun because the movie allegedly inspired it.
Anthony Burgess
John Burgess Wilson – who published under the pen name Anthony Burgess – was an English author, poet, playwright, composer, linguist, translator and critic. The dystopian satire A Clockwork Orange is Burgess's most famous novel, though he dismissed it as one of his lesser works...
. It is the third of Burgess' four Enderby novels and was first published in 1974 by Hart-Davis, MacGibbon Publishers. It is usually subtitled Enderby's End, as it was originally intended to be the last book in the Enderby series. However, a further sequel, Enderby's Dark Lady, followed in 1984.
Plot summary
Enderby is a dyspeptic British poet, 56 years old, and The Clockwork Testament is an account of his last day alive. The day in question is a cold one in February. He spends it in New York City, where for the past several months he's been working as a visiting professor of English literature and composing a long poem about St. AugustineSt. Augustine
-People:* Augustine of Hippo or Augustine of Hippo , father of the Latin church* Augustine of Canterbury , first Archbishop of Canterbury* Augustine Webster, an English Catholic martyr.-Places:*St. Augustine, Florida, United States...
and Pelagius
Pelagius
Pelagius was an ascetic who denied the need for divine aid in performing good works. For him, the only grace necessary was the declaration of the law; humans were not wounded by Adam's sin and were perfectly able to fulfill the law apart from any divine aid...
.
Enderby's present situation arose from a chance encounter with an American film producer in Tangiers, where he owns a bar. Publican Enderby served the man a scotch and pitched him an idea for a new film—an adaptation of Gerard Manley Hopkins
Gerard Manley Hopkins
Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J. was an English poet, Roman Catholic convert, and Jesuit priest, whose posthumous 20th-century fame established him among the leading Victorian poets...
's famously obscure poem "The Wreck of the Deutschland
The Wreck of the Deutschland
The Wreck of the Deutschland is a long poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins with Christian themes, composed in 1875 and 1876, though not published until 1918. The poem depicts the shipwreck of the SS Deutschland...
". The producer, intrigued, asked for a script, which Enderby duly composed. The eventual film bears little resemblance to this script or to Hopkins's poem; however, his name is prominently credited, and the film, and Enderby, are now famous.
This unwanted public recognition has led to an invitation to teach English at the University of Manhattan for a year. Also, since the film has controversial elements—including, for some reason, a lurid rape scene with Nazis and nuns—the reclusive, little-read poet has been receiving a barrage of ranting phone calls from angry citizens who are eager to denounce "his" film. Invariably, these callers (and other critics) have never read the original poem; indeed, they don't even know it exists.
Enderby suffers three heart attacks over the course of the day, and succumbs to a fourth some time after midnight. Between attacks, he goes about his business: he happily works on his Pelagian poem; eats dyspeptic American food and smokes White Owl
White Owl
White Owls are American-made, machine produced cigars. White Owl cigars are inexpensive, costing around an average of $1.50. The logo consists of a Snowy owl perched on a cigar.-History:...
cigars; refuses an offer of sex from a female poetry student who wants him to give her an A; struggles through two lectures; appears on a smarmy talk show; and draws a sword he carries hidden in his cane to defend a middle-aged housewife from a gang of thugs on the subway.
Everywhere—even on the subway—he encounters incomprehension and, usually, disapproval. When he finally gets home, however, a woman he's never seen before drops by and pulls a gun on him; she has come to tell him she's read and re-read all his poetry, and is now going to murder him for writing it. First, however, she orders him to strip naked and urinate all over his collected works. Enderby strips, but since he has an erection he cannot obey the rest of her command. The scene ends, apparently, in a sexual encounter. Enderby dies later that night.
Themes
A Clockwork Testament is laced with Burgess's usual mordant wit, deft literary allusions, and virtuosic wordplay. The world of the book takes its hue from Enderby's brilliant but ever-irritable outsider's psyche. In some ways, the novel echoes JoyceJames Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century...
's Ulysses
Ulysses (novel)
Ulysses is a novel by the Irish author James Joyce. It was first serialised in parts in the American journal The Little Review from March 1918 to December 1920, and then published in its entirety by Sylvia Beach on 2 February 1922, in Paris. One of the most important works of Modernist literature,...
; it covers one day only, casts an unheroic man in the role of hero, and explores that man's physical and mental processes in intimate detail. In place of The Odyssey, Burgess incorporates extended references to St. Augustine
Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo , also known as Augustine, St. Augustine, St. Austin, St. Augoustinos, Blessed Augustine, or St. Augustine the Blessed, was Bishop of Hippo Regius . He was a Latin-speaking philosopher and theologian who lived in the Roman Africa Province...
and Pelagius, and also to Gerard Manley Hopkins, author of a phrase Enderby makes peculiarly his own: "I am gall, I am heartburn."
The book blends social satire with self-mockery. In a classroom scene, for example, Enderby is unable to remember his planned lecture on minor Elizabethan dramatists and so on the spur of the moment invents a playwright called 'Gervase Whitelady'. He discourses learnedly on this personage for some time, helped on by a student who begins as a know-it-all but ends as a collaborator, earnestly prompting him with the details of Whitelady's life. Enderby abruptly concludes the lecture by dismissing his imaginary playwright as a failure— at which point he recognises his creation as a mirror image of himself. Later, at his poetry-writing class, Enderby finds little to admire in his students' undisciplined effusions and tries to impress on them that poetry arises from craftsmanlike effort, not emotional self-indulgence. The students, however, just look at him pityingly and ask him when he plans to leave.
As the title suggests, The Clockwork Testament also gives the author a chance to explore his own bemusement over Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick was an American film director, writer, producer, and photographer who lived in England during most of the last four decades of his career...
's film adaptation
A Clockwork Orange (film)
A Clockwork Orange is a 1971 film adaptation of Anthony Burgess's 1962 novel of the same name. It was written, directed and produced by Stanley Kubrick...
of A Clockwork Orange
A Clockwork Orange
A Clockwork Orange is a 1962 dystopian novella by Anthony Burgess. The novel contains an experiment in language: the characters often use an argot called "Nadsat", derived from Russian....
: Burgess came to hate the film that made him famous. This autobiographical element is most apparent in the talk show scene, where Enderby's fellow guests (an actress and a psychologist) attack the poet for his involvement in a film version of "The Wreck of the Deutschland", which has been accused of inspiring violence against nuns. Enderby, forced to defend a movie that he considers a punishment to Hopkins, reiterates the central themes of A Clockwork Orange: the human need to choose freely between good and evil, and the daemonic, joyous nature of man's creative inner self. At this point, he quotes directly from the novel. Burgess faced similar criticism over Kubrick's version of A Clockwork Orange; he, too, for example, found himself being blamed for the rape of a nun because the movie allegedly inspired it.
Sources
- Broyard, Anatole. Books of the Times (review, A Clockwork Testament). The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, February 1, 1975 (Full Text) - Burgess, Anthony. "The Ecstasy of Gerard Manley Hopkins". The New York Times, August 27, 1989 (Full Text)