I decided to take on A Clockwork Orange as my next novel. I am barely knee deep in chapter two and I have no idea what is going on. This confusion is mainly brought on by the slang in which the author made up. Words like "moodge" and "veck" are peppered among the pages, and words like "smecked" and "viddied" only add to the confusion. This language is called "NADSAT" and it is Anthony Burgess' creation with a basis of English and Russian. Anthony Burgess had a deep love for linguistics, therefore in many of his novels he lets this love shine through, creating words that take up more than half of the writing. It is hard to understand but you still definitely get a feel for the characters, and the language puts the reader's imagination to work.
Some expressions:
-grahzny bratchny = dirty bastard
-lubbilubbing = making love
-gullywuts = guts
-Pooshka= pistol
-Cancer = cigarette
Alex and his 'droogs' are addicted to drugs named drencom, synthemesc, vellocet
I really have high hopes for this novel, the demonic story of an after-dark criminal takeover intrigues me.
No comments:
Post a Comment