Anthony Burgess died in London on 22 November 1993. He was 76 years old and had been diagnosed with lung cancer just over a year previously. The final phase of his life was characterised by intense creative production, in a variety of forms. The publication of a long novel about the rediscovery of the sword […]

The latest publication to emerge from the Burgess Foundation’s archive of manuscripts is Chatsky and Miser, Miser! In these two stage plays, published for the first time by Salamander Street, Burgess adapts and revives major monuments of French and Russian theatre: The Miser by Molière and the Russian comedy Chatsky by Alexander Griboyedov. Chatsky, to […]

John Anthony Burgess Wilson was born in Harpurhey, north Manchester, on 25 February 1917, just as the pubs were opening. To celebrate his birthday, we are very pleased to present the first recording of Burgess’s Sonata for English Horn, composed as a gift for his son Andrew Burgess-Wilson, who was also a musician. The sonata […]

  Chatsky, or The Importance of Being Stupid is Burgess’s translation of Alexander Sergeyevich Griboyedov’s play Gore ot Uma (Woe Out of Wit), and is one of the last pieces of work he undertook. Burgess completed the translation around Easter 1991, but would have to wait until 11 March 1993 for it to be performed […]