Tape three of three of a broadcast interview with Burgess by Larry King for the Larry King Show to publicise the US edition of "Earthly Powers", in which Burgess responds to caller questions on a wide variety of topics such as his life, writing process, 20th century literature, literary criticism, and religion, with reference to works and figures including “The Doctor is Sick”, “A Clockwork Orange”, “The Wanting Seed”, the Enderby Trilogy, James Joyce, Doris Lessing, Thomas Pynchon, Saul Bellow, Thomas Hardy, and Roland Barthes.

Topics covered include:

BURGESS’S LIFE. Side A: reasons for leaving England (17:09-18:37). Side B: drug use (08:41-09:24); talk shows (20:36-20:51); correspondence address (20:52-21:53); unrelated to Eric Burgess (21:54-22:00).

WRITING PROCESS. Side A: advice to aspiring writers (12:52-14:49); a writer’s education (20:20-21:11). Side B: suicidal thoughts (18:48-20:35).

BURGESS’S WORKS. Side A: “The Doctor is Sick” (06:20-08:02); “A Clockwork Orange” (02:57-04:48) and (10:15-12:51). Side B: “The Wanting Seed” (07:07-8:40); “A Clockwork Orange” (13:11-14:50) and (23:50-24:21); and “The Clockwork Testament” (22:49-23:49).

BURGESS ON WRITERS AND THEIR WORKS. Side A: James Joyce’s “Finnegans Wake” (01:27-02:56); Doris Lessing’s “The Four-Gated City” (08:03-08:59); Thomas Pynchon’s “Gravity’s Rainbow”, “The Crying of Lot 49”, “V”, and Liana Burgess translations of Pynchon (14:50- 17:08); John le Carré’s “The Spy Who Came in from the Cold” (18:38-19:13); Saul Bellow’s “Humboldt’s Gift” (19:14-20:19). Side B: Thomas Hardy’s “Jude the Obscure” (00:19-01:55); Malcolm Lowry’s “Under the Volcano” and Thomas Mann’s “Doctor Faustus” (06:15-07:05).

LITERARY CRITICISM. Side B: literary reviewers (04:34-06:14); Roland Barthes and poststructuralism (11:36-13:10); George Steiner, language and fascism (14:51-16:27); Existentialism, John-Paul Sartre’s “Nausea” and Colin Wilson’s “The Outsider” (18:48-20:35).

RELIGION. Side A: religious fundamentalism and Billy Graham (04:49-06:19). Side B: priesthood and Burgess’ views on God (03:17-04:33).

POLITICS Side B: JFK assassination (22:01-22:48).

As the interview is being broadcast on a commercial radio station, continuity announcements by Larry King and commercial breaks recur at regular intervals, as follows: Side A: (0:00-1:26); (9:00-10:14); (21:12-22:07). Side B: (0:00-0:18); (9:25-11:35); (16:28-17:41); (24:22-24:41).

See also AB/ARCH/D/3/2/14 and AB/ARCH/D/3/2/15 for a continuation of the interview.

Open

This recording has been digitised and is accessible to researchers in mp3 format.