Ahmed, Ayesha Iftikhar;
(2024)
The Programming of Free Will in Anthony Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange.
Extrapolation
, 65
(2)
pp. 157-174.
10.3828/extr.2024.11.
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Abstract
In Anthony Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange (1962), the term “clockwork” refers to the moral programming of delinquents. Drawing on Nadsat’s deconstructive moves, this paper uncovers a hitherto overlooked meaning of “clockwork,” one that foregrounds how our temporal condition constrains our ability to choose freely. Courtesy of the argot, the mortality that conditions choice emerges as a form of programming. As a result, free will acquires a “clockwork” dimension. The temporal meaning of “clockwork” not only does a great deal of justice to deconstruction’s grounding in cybernetics but, more importantly, offers new insights into the dystopian novella’s problematizing of free will.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | The Programming of Free Will in Anthony Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange |
| DOI: | 10.3828/extr.2024.11 |
| Publisher version: | https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/10.... |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of Arts and Humanities |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10197902 |
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