A poem by Anthony Burgess

Introducing a series of Occasional Essays and Poems by Anthony Burgess selected by Andrew Biswell, Director of the International Anthony Burgess Foundation. Each of the uniform series will have a contextual introduction, and in this first book that is by Dr Graham Foster, archivist at the International Anthony Burgess Foundation in Manchester.

Originally published in 1991 as part of an alphabet book commissioned by David Hockney and Stephen Spender to raise money for Aids Crisis Trust, Burgess's Elegy for X combines his vast knowledge of languages and culture, his amusement in unusual vocabulary, and his playful wit.  

Contributors to Hockney's alphabet included Margaret Drabble, Iris Murdoch, Gore Vidal, William Boyd, and Erica Jong. Five Nobel Laureates: T.S. Eliot, Seamus Heaney, William Golding and Kazuo Ishiguro also participated.

This project was one of many artistic collaborations that Burgess enjoyed throughout his career. It serves to underline that his engagement with the work of his contemporaries extended far beyond book reviewing. He was an active participant in the cultural landscape of the twentieth century. 

Also available as loose sheets for binding, from £10 (plus postage outside of the UK). Please email us for an invoice.