Ten O'Clock News; Anthony Burgess, Part 2

Up little and when did you know when it dawned on me that this might well be the mood of the future we're already been we were when television began very easily saturated with visual information. Getting used to it I think we need more than a single screen and when I was watching last night on television or the giving of the the Oscars in Hollywood I noticed that it was quite simple to split the screen up into two halves to see gushing round as many as five or six moving portraits of actors or actresses involved does a lot of information we take it was all green and I think the time may well be coming when family is able to afford it get on the three screens to screen three screens and take in far more visual information on the other hand. When we view television late at night especially late at night there are so many commercial interruptions. When we get into the

habit of changing rapidly from one channel to another to evade the commotion we draw from it he dealt with me all about the used car salesman or something like that. So we get into the habit of taking him to three or four or five narratives at the same time. My idea was to see if the same technique worked in the feel of the novel it was possible to present three distinct negative strands which the reader's mind could take in. And if you do one strand might possibly condition is that if you do another if you accept it for it exists or existed you might be quite willing to accept that the end of the world is a possibility and so on. It was an exercise in testing the beliefs of the reader that senses experiment how seriously you want to take it. Probably not to say this because if you can take it interact in a relaxed spirit is in the name of the thing will work on the deeper elements of the mind that are going to worry about it. I think in America we tend to be a bit too serious not approach to books you know you get James a

Michener's great space. You know it's not a great book it's just a big book. The approach to this is of tremendous reverence because it contains knowledge contains information and so on and this is not the right approach. But in television as a metaphor it has it simply hasn't really opened us to more layers or has it just kind of spread the distraction I don't think. I don't I don't think we realize yet how important it is. We don't realize yet how basically it is changing our what the philosophers call our epistemological capacity for taking in the outside world it's changing more than we imagine. One of two people saw this Marshall McLuhan sort I think fairly clearly not many others did but the mere act to be exposed to television is changing the kind of people. Not only in terms of the way we take information and the way we make moral judgments because we see with our own children you know my son could watch a scene of

fictitious violence on the screen which he knows to be a scene from the Vietnam War some violence in the Middle East and have exactly the same model of Proclus. It's you see it on the screen it's on the same level to be the fictitious violence model just not changing whether this is good or bad I don't know but the big changes going on in this little novel is just an example of the manner in which the doing of television may will change our attitude to writing writing fiction. But the way this book changes focus the way television does and yes very quickly from one thing that's right to another. Do you do you find that on the whole. The braiding or or sort of it is I think it's liberating. With this book I was talking about a few minutes ago this book called Napoleon symphony in which I had to follow the pattern of Beethoven's erotica. You know everything a poem that had followed what Beta was doing

this meant very very rapid change the focus for far more rapid than you find in film because you know Beethoven were changing from one key to another for a single bar or measure then change again. The changes are rapid to try to accommodate the way you write fiction to Beethoven's method involves you know much greater attention about much greater capacity for attending to change either. This is not this is not about the anything which visit is or more aware with with our senses what's going to what is a good thing. What's wrong with a great deal of the best selling fiction we have especially in the States is top it is top it is but it doesn't encourage us to look at things a new I mean thing like you know things like. Judith Krantz Princess Daisy although the new album come out doesn't encourage us to test our senses or test our responses to test our. Ideas of morality its

torpor Schilsky anymore and that's it is dangerous. I have to ask you what American writers are you reading these days. Well I've got to say this not not because I'm a guest here and try to be kind to Americans but the fact is that the interesting stuff is coming out of America and not out of Europe at the moment with one or two exceptions. Norman Mailer's new novel Ancient Evenings which he's been working on for the last 10 years has been described by various critics of disaster unintelligible obscene even what but it's a big it's a big thing. It's you can't ignore it. It's not getting that sort of thing out of Europe these days. America has taken control of the English language which is foreign delighted. Any Briton like myself any British writer must feel themselves being closed. By American language you know that he's working inside it. Another was I writing in a dialect of American dialect of British English. Many

consider this group best for writing big writing a big book who was hired to Mira tomorrow. Well it was vaguely had Saul Bellow got the Nobel Prize and began writing badly as all Nobel Prize winners do I will start on the Walker Percy Bart. What might be the Jewish-American was the black Americans rather Alice and James Baldwin. These of changes about in the minutes value. There's a fellow who works here who in another incarnation interviewed you must've been when you were working on Napoleon. But he remembered your son holding court and playing it sort of all comers and chess and being everybody this is probably most of 10 years ago but it would be did you know that the question you son was an eight or nine years old right.

QUESTION Is the question I had was as a moralist and a musician and a writer and a renaissance man how do you how have you educated your son badly apparent badly about to speak. It's just over a fortnight just over two weeks ago that he tried to commit suicide to try to cut his wrists. I have no panacea no cure for the for the generations growing up something desperately wrong. I won't go into the details but any parent must say hello I don't know whether I go beyond what has happened. And then one has to take hold of oneself and say there's something happening in the world which one can't explain solely in terms of one's self as a parent. The summing up to this generation which is going to be put right. I want a novelist. But

yes you're right I look back at my son in Boston and 10 years ago young happy boy suddenly wants to kill himself to love fall in love with an old woman says is only just a symptom of the general disease a general distaste with the world I don't know what's going wrong with capital I'm not desperate. We saved his life going to hospital and that he said he would never do it again because to be in a French hospital is far worse than being in a Christian hell. He's a Christian however other non-Christian. But that's the way we move the way we live today. We're always in trouble with the novelist's So it's muscles. I want to ask you earlier do you defer in the sort of in the world of an artist to the musicians do you still into the musicians. Not altogether. I'm happier with being in the situation of farmers of a somewhat mediocre writer and a somewhat mediocre musician at least I've got a grasp of the both of

the arts to some extent to a sufficient extent to know whether will attend I don't envy Beethoven. Well he's dead. That's probably one reason I don't envy Beethoven's into best to cope with any field of music. I mean the man couldn't even multiply when he was making up his laundry lists 7 7 7 7 and they had them together you could multiply they read that if you books he was stable morally unstable physically you know. General I'd do with a musician. I just envy the fact that music can be as pure form. I work in a medium in the novel which has to deal with the excrement. That always deal with excrement. The musician deals with symbols and thank you very much. Thank you very much. Pleasure to talk to you. I should have said that about my son driving that she was disappointed you don't like Brahms that much but I do like

you know. What I like all about I'm sure there's another person better than the others but from all I can do with kids I can tell you that I could if you like that's what you want. Now why would you want him talking. This is this is for airing purposes that you can just you can keep talking about wrong. OK.

Well of course I can not and I respect your view but I don't agree with. You and could have been a go and instruments not come with me to go to school. Thick and thick like clothes a kid can muddiness.

Well to me there's a sort of there's a miss I would say there's often the mysteriousness that I like but I wouldn't say muddiness in the sense of. Metaphorical. I think when it's played up doubling too much of a push that sets up a lot of Britain. You know if you get you know one question a question by question.

A lot of people still think of you as the Clockwork Orange Man and the sort of poet laureate of punk has all that come and gone. But others who said yeah. Yes. A lot of people still think of you primarily as a lot of people still think of you as the man who wrote the book in the movie of Clockwork Orange and think of you still as the above all the the poet laureate of punk. What about all that has it come is it still to come is it gone.

OK. But in all in all the history of violence Clockwork Orange and dissipated or distilled a certain style or fad of the 60s 70s is that behind us. I'm thinking of Clockwork Orange as in and I'm thinking of Clockwork Orange as in anticipation of a distillation of a particular style or fad of violence. What does happen to all of that. OK I'm sorry. OK that's going to end you. OK.

I'm thinking of Clockwork Orange as a as an anticipation or a distillation of a style a fad of of violence of the 60s and 70s. What has happened to all of that. That long. OK OK OK. I. I'm fascinated by your life as a musician which seems to involve it all your writing and I presume all your thinking how did you learn music.

What. Do you think that is. Do you think that's extraordinary among artists that you the way you shuttled back between the music and literary consciousness. And I said once a little bit differently. What's more is that extraordinary pause one two three four five. Is that extraordinary. You think the way you shuttle back and forth between music and literature. How many other writers as musical as you are.

And I didn't like the end of it. Isn't that extraordinary the way you shuttled back between music and literature or other others like you how many writers are as musical as you are. OK. I'm struck that in the in your new book you define the end of the world in terms of I'm struck that in your new book The End Of The World is almost defined as the destruction of all music except Mozart's Jupiter Symphony. And I'm struck that in this new book

you almost define the end of the world as a moment when all music is destroyed except for the spaceship cassette of Mozart's Jupiter Symphony. And I have to ask you what American writers are you reading these days. I have to ask you what American writers are you reading these days. OK. You're a moralist you're a musician you're a writer and a father. I want to ask you what you've learned about educating your son.

There are people here who remember your son age 8 I believe taking on all comers at chess. That's 10 years ago. If I may ask I'd like to know how you as a moralist as a musician as a writer have educated your son. Yeah. OK ready. Your new novel shifts the focus back and forth quite rapidly among different plots very much in the manner. Of television I want to really what you're saying about television. It does that short span of attention a great speed of television's focus is that for you a kind of openness to different kinds of reality or is it just a huge distraction.

OK. Yeah. But this television really worked to open us to more layers or does it really just excuse a huge distraction a lack of focus. OK. I want to ask that once more. But when you think about the effect of watching television does that quick change of focus really opened us up to more layers more reality or or does it just become a form of a huge distraction. OK. Do you defer in general OK do you defer to musicians. Do you defer to musicians as artists do you envy musicians.