The Wanting Seed

by Anthony Burgess

The Wanting Seed could be described as a Malthusian comedy, for its underlying theme is the problem the whole world may soon have to face--over-population--and its technique is fantasy and caricature. The setting is England (one of the chief members of Enspun or the English-Speaking Union) and the time is less the future than a sort of extension of the present.

The story is concerned with the vicissitudes of Tristram Foxe and his wife Beatrice-Joanna in their skyscraper world of spacelessness where official family limitation glorifies homosexuality ("It's Sapiens to be Homo") and which is eventually transformed into a chaos of cannibalistic dining-clubs, fantastic fertility rituals, and wars without anger. It is a novel both extravagantly funny and grimly serious.

"[The Wanting Seed] is wildly and fantastically funny. …Here too is all the usual rich exuberance of Mr. Burgess's vocabulary, his love of quotations and literary allusions--the book ends with a quotation from Valery--his fantastic dream and nightmare sequences. …a remarkable and brilliantly imaginative novel, vital and inventive."
-- Times Literary Supplement

Genres: Fiction, Science Fiction, Dystopia, Classics, British Literature, Literature, Novels

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1962

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Seriocomic novels of noted British writer and critic Anthony Burgess, pen name of John Burgess Wilson, include the futuristic classic A Clockwork Orange (1962).

He composed also a librettos, poems, plays, screens, and essays and traveled, broadcast, translated, linguist and educationalist. He lived for long periods in southeastern Asia, the United States of America, and Europe along Mediterranean Sea as well as England. His fiction embraces the Malayan trilogy ( The Long Day Wanes ) on the dying days of empire in the east. The Enderby quartet concerns a poet and his muse. Nothing like the Sun re-creates love life of William Shakespeare. He explores the nature of evil with Earthly Powers , a panoramic saga of the 20th century. He published studies of James Joyce, Ernest Miller Hemingway, Shakespeare, and David Herbert Lawrence. He produced the treatises Language Made Plain and A Mouthful of Air . His journalism proliferated in several languages. He translated and adapted Cyrano de Bergerac , Oedipus the King , and Carmen for the stage. He scripted Jesus of Nazareth and Moses the Lawgiver for the screen. He invented the prehistoric language, spoken in Quest for Fire . He composed the Sinfoni Melayu , the Symphony (No. 3) in C , and the opera Blooms of Dublin .

Reviews

[Fergus, Weaver of Autistic Webs · Rating 3 out of 5]

In 1973 I suffered a Kierkegaardian Sickness Unto Death over this one - now, in retrospect, I feel strangely vindicated by my so doing.

Same feeling - different judgement - does what came around go around? Well, maturity heals.

In '73, you see, I was a lame duck Nemo in a hole of a bureaucrat's office - relegated to hopeless oblivion by my first-gen neuroleptic mood stabilizers in a grim green fog of nothingness.

Burgess was then my pastime. He confirmed my recent hospitalized paranoia in spades!

It was a confirmation of truly Sartrean nausea.

Okay - what, exactly, is that nausea? An acute perception of the Void within us, and in those around us. It is the Clear Light in The Tibetan Book of the Dead. AKA, God’s conviction.

Many put that inevitable fact off indefinitely, sloughing it off as the “correct” perception of absolute atheism. Yet it will convict us endlessly and relentlessly unless we’ve let ourselves be led from hand to hand by hand.

Ron Fockitt was such a wastrel. He took endless older-and-wiser delight in being given a special delivery package for senior managers requiring signature.

Old Gus in the Mail Room, in which Ron was a runner, called it - leering - a BY-HAND. So wise-guy Ron learned to leer knowingly too. He considered himself Wiser than other Goody-goody Simpletons.

It's the germ of pop-up Mad Ads spiralling through our brains, having issue in a new paucity - a desert of endless wanting - in an environment of plenty, which morphs in turn, overnight, into scarcity.

You’re the wiser man, remember?

But in a society headed toward anarchy, the seed produces monstrously ghoulish forms of wanting. Literally dog EAT dog.

It's downright nightmarish. Yes, Burgess is right.

A little "harmless" in-crowd gentrification is a dangerous thing.
***

Well, Fergus, you say. So how come Burgess' literary stock has mushroomed in value since your harping and carping (remember the ancient Thomas the Rhymer?) review of Napoleon Symphony?

Simple. I relaxed.

Since starting his phenomenal Here comes Everybody (a wonderfully informal and erudite look at the staggering oeuvre of James Joyce) I've seen that Burgess is a pretty decent fellow and a Genius to boot!

And I saw the only thing that survives us is our love.
***

And The Wanting Seed is very close to being a dystopian masterpiece.

Nowadays, we all want. All the time. The seed has sprouted.

Beware.

It's SO important that this seed -

Which once was embedded in our subconscious "Full Fathom Five" -

NEVER undergoes a monstrous "Sea Change" into such a monstrous, "Rich and Strange" transmogrification as in this book.

Note: the novel, at time of review, was due for RE-RELEASE.

I wouldn't hold my breath.

[Tom Lucas · Rating 5 out of 5]

For the most part I like people, even though many of them suck. I am also convinced that the world grows a bit more stupid every day and that we slowly move away from any kind of social evolution. Sure, there's plenty of technological innovation, and dentistry is a far better experience today, but people don't seem to be improving.

We still love screwing each other over, arguing about false issues, and murdering each other. Infrastructures are straining under corruption, graft, and greed. Congress is highly polarized and our "representatives" do little beyond hooking their friends up and padding the checking account.

The worst part of it all is that stupid people just keep breeding.

Anthony Burgess, perhaps best known for A Clockwork Orange (most likely you've seen the Kubrick film) had this book published in the same year (1962), and it fits nicely along other literary dystopic works such as 1984, Brave New World, and Anthem. However, as much as I loved it, it's probably not in the same weight class.
The Wanting Seed begins in a world that is vastly overpopulated, and extreme measures have been institutionalized to handle it. People live in tiny box apartments, homosexuality is the social norm (and it's policed), and everyone eats a protein mush as there just aren't enough damn cows in the world to handle the load. As you wrap your head around this world (seems like it would be easier to just castrate people instead of implemented totalitarian fabulousness), Burgess throws a curve ball and suddenly society collapses.

Yep, you're just reading along, dum dum dum dum dum, and hey, the world's ending.

The citizens of the world respond to their overcrowding and repression by engaging in mass cannibalism, groovy sex parties, and general mayhem. No, this isn't a spoiler alert, it's on the damn back of the book, so no comments please. Then, as you would imagine, things level out a bit.

There's this brainy back story to the book, that Burgess is essentially commenting on the cyclical nature of human history (which you'll also find in A Clockwork Orange and I'm sure in his other books as well). In short, people suck, they have always sucked, and they will continue to suck. So, why not read a good book and forget about it for a while?

[Steven Godin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this back in the early 60s the whole thing I'd imagine would have seemed completely laughable, wholly fictitious and highly unlikely to ever mirror reality. Like, say, a J. G. Ballard for instance, who was also ahead of his time when it came to warning us of the potential dangers that lie ahead in the near future, Burgess writes an overpopulation satirical comedy that reading in the 21st century becomes terrifyingly realistic. It is still extremely funny in parts—British readers may get more of the humour than others, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't spooked when thinking of China’s draconian one-child policy which came into effect 18 years after he wrote this, along with food and energy shortages, and governments telling us what we can and can't do more than what they should be. At its centre is scholar and teacher Tristram Foxe, his wife Beatrice-Joanna—they recently lost a child, her affair with his brother, and the resulting pregnancy. Marital troubles and illegal babies are the last thing you need when society is literally falling apart right outside the window. Interestingly; but more worryingly, parts of London and other major cities seem to be falling apart, with daily riots and looting that don't even get mainstream media coverage. Like its become the new normal, so why bother. The Wanting Seed will always live in the shadows of A clockwork Orange, which for me is the better book, but I'd say this does probe away more on a deeper level and shouldn't be overlooked.

[Mars R · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you enjoy lackluster writing, prejudices from 30 years ago, unrelatable characters, and inexplicable plot twists, then this is the novel for you! If these things annoy you as much as they annoy me, then this is probably not worth reading.

Honestly, the most amusing part of the novel was completely unintentional, because things we take for granted in modern society (Biracial people! Gays! Non-conformity to gender norms! VEGETARIANS!) are the crux of what makes this future world a dystopia. It reminded me of a late-written Agatha Christie novel, where the writer's bitterness and disapproval of the way society is swinging is palpable. Except instead of having interesting plot keeping you involved, all you have in The Wanting Seed is Tristam and Beatrice-Joanna, wandering around being dull and confusing (Now he hates her! Now he's crazy! Now she's giving birth in an outhouse! NOW HE LOVES HER AND FORGIVES HER!) I finished this book mostly because Burgess' terror at what is completely normal now was mildly amusing.

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anthony Burgess is probably best known (at least among Americans) for his novel A Clockwork Orange. Like A Clockwork Orange, The Wanting Seed takes place in a near future society that is in the first stages of decline.

This book is hilarious and contains such things as reprocessing dead humans, promoting homosexual behavior as a way of population control, famine, and fake wars for the benefit of humanity as a whole. These things may not sound funny, but Burgess's language skills shine here, and offer great commentary on the danger of becoming obsessed with our survival while we forget why we want to survive in the first place. There are many twists and turns in the book, and it should be read for the ending alone. I'll give a hint: it has something to do with perpetual war.

[William2]

A dystopic satire set in a future in which an overbearing government tries to deal with horrendous population growth. The government obsesses about whether it can feed the vast population. So very Malthusian in that sense. As a means of doing so doctor's hasten the deaths of the sick whose corpses are turned into fertilizer. As until recently in China, fertile couples are allowed only one child. London has grown so wildly that it has reached its south and east-most shores. It can only grow north and west now. Soon it will swallow Wales and Scotland. First published in 1962.

[aPriL does feral sometimes · Rating 2 out of 5]

‘The Wanting Seed’ by Anthony Burgess is a disguised religious novel by an intellectual who may or may not still have been a Bible believer, but he most certainly retained gender prejudices and a blinkered social paradigm only someone raised in the Catholic Church would have. I think Burgess’s mind was trapped inside a Christian Catholic-themed box with a set number of rigid philosophies. Reading his novels is like living in a world with only two choices possible for every question of self, civilization, politics and social governance. An either-or paradigm of Humanity. Plus, he seemingly enjoyed poking political activists of all sorts into a rage.

I should note here when I read A Clockwork Orange, Burgess’s most famous novel, I researched the author. He gave interviews and declared himself, in my opinion, an intellectual Catholic (perhaps a non-believer, or maybe only a philosophical Catholic believer, I don’t know). He felt people needed to be able to be free to choose Good or Evil without government or social interference. I thought his beliefs very childish and incoherent, frankly.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...

For those of you who have seen the American movie based on the American version of the novel ‘A Clockwork Orange’, the original English novel had a chapter included called the ‘Redemption Chapter’, which was censored in the American version. The book can today be purchased in its fully restored condition in America.

‘The Wanting Seed’ supposedly is a satire of current (1962) trends: overpopulation, homosexual rights, growing legal authoritarianism enforcing primarily political leftist thought. Although the book can be understood as a pox on all political houses, I don’t think so. To me, there is an extremist paradigm to the plot carried over into black-and-white religious nonsense, which is typical of satires, but at the same time, I noticed a ‘slight’ attitude of homophobia and anti-government libertarianism.


Quotes from ‘The Wanting Seed’:

“”There we are, then,”” said Dr. Acheson heartily, a fat gelding of an Anglo-Saxon.”

“Beatrice-Joanna looked with distaste, entering the lift, on the embracing giggling pair. The two women, both Caucasian types, were classically complementary—fluffy kitten answered stocky bullfrog. At the fifteenth floor the lift picked up a foppish steatopygous young man, stylish in well-cut jacket without lapels, tight calf-length trousers, flowery round- necked shirt. He turned sharp eyes of distaste on the two lovers, moving his shoulders pettishly, opting with equal disgust at the full womanly presence of Beatrice-Joanna. He began, with swift expert strokes, to make up his face, simpering, as his lips kissed the lipstick, at his reflection in the lift-mirror.”

“”It’s the old story. Liberalism prevails, and liberalism means laxness. We leave it to education and propaganda and free contraceptives, abortion clinics and condolences. We encourage non-productive forms of sexual activity. We like to kid ourselves that people are good enough and wise enough to be aware of their responsibilities. But what happens? There was the case, only a few weeks ago, of a couple in Western Province who’d had six children. Six. I ask you. And all alive, too. A very old-fashioned couple—God-followers....””

““Well, it’s an old book [the Bible] full of smut. The big sin is to waste your seed, and if God loves you He fills your house with kids...””

““We’ve been praying, you know,”said Shonny, pouring out more wine for the ladies, “though, of course, that’s illegal, too. They used to leave us alone in the old days, but now they’ve got these infernal police on the job, spying and arresting, just like in the ancient penal days of sacred memory. We’ve had mass here a couple of times. Father Shackel, God bless and help the poor man, was picked up in his own shop the other day by some of these simperers with guns and lipstick...”

From beginning to end, the novel is a bitter tirade more than it is a satire. I lost patience. It was more like a libertarian tract which rephrased a single joke for over 200 pages, using homosexual prejudice as the punchline in all of the rephrased variations of the joke. I only recommend the novel to those who have enough of an intellectual streak to explore the ideas without succumbing to its single-dimensional Flatland (Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions) representation of social values.

[Sve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Добрите анти-утопии си приличат по това, че твърде много приличат на настоящата реалност. В този смисъл да четеш тази книга през 2022 си е зловещо - сред пандемия, екологична катастрофа и на прага на потенциална война.
Светът в 'Непокорното семе' е изправен пред проблема с изчерпаните ресурси, които не могат да поддържат живота на увеличаващото се население на земята. Затова не-раждането на деца се насърчава, а многодетните родители са преследвани като престъпници. Няма бог, няма свобода на словото. Затова пък в обществото цари ред и относително доволство.
В един момент обаче, махалото се залюлява в обратната посока, настъпва хаос и цялата подредба рухва.
Дали е по-нехуманно да ограничаваш свободата на хората или да ги оставиш да вярват, че имат избор, докато всъщност ловко ги манипулираш чрез страх и умело режисирана пропаганда? Решението на продоволствения проблем и в двата случая е жестоко, а отделният индивид е ценен дотолкова, доколкото може да допринесе за засищането на глада като биологична маса.
Наистина силна книга, макар че героите ми се сториха недоразвити и едноизмерни. Но всъщност - прагматичните решения не позволяват да се захласваме по романтични концепции като 'дълбока и сложна душевност'.

[Ben · Rating 2 out of 5]

What a peculiar novel - Anthony Burgess certainly has a marvellously wicked mind to come up with premises such as this and that in A Clockwork Orange. It tells the story of how society crumbles around the main characters, Tristam Foxe and Beatrice-Joanna, as overpopulation drives it into anarchical behaviour, cannibalism and chaotic orgies in revolt of the Malthusian world and the government's strict anti-natal policies.
I originally wanted to read this book after seeing it referenced in a review paper on Calhoun's rodents, which investigated the effect of overpopulation on the psychology and behaviour of rats in a utopian environment. The idea behind it interested me greatly and I was eager to see Burgess' interpretation.
What I didn't expect was the idea of this 'dystopia' being a rather attractive society to live in - one where homosexuality is not only legal but promoted and religion is absent. The entire narrative is laced with repugnant prejudices, which was to be expected from a novel written in the 1960s - however it was laughable to me that something which seemed to be viewed as a terrifying future in this book is rightfully accepted today. I eventually learned to just grit my teeth and bear it, although it originally made it hard to sympathise with any of the characters. Beware those who are easily offended, there is some especially incendiary stuff in here.
Burgess' vocabulary is astonishing, and his writing style is engrossing - I learned many words which I have never heard or seen before, words which I struggled to even find definitions for in standard dictionaries. However, this did get a bit difficult at times, and his constant referral to the 'cycle of society', from Pelphase to interphase to Gusphase, was slightly confusing. Despite this, the writing was wondrous and a pleasure to read.
What I do see missing is how this book was comedic - I didn't find myself laughing all that much, contrary to the quote on the cover which says it is "fantastically funny". Maybe I just don't connect with that level of humour.
Overall, a pretty decent read. If you can get past the abominable homophobia and other offensive language and ideologies and concentrate on the intriguing and thrilling storyline, it would be well worth it.

[Eraserhead · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this book. Hilarious and energetic. Comes at you like a psychedelic rock song. I found the story pretty clever but really loved Burgess' sense of apocalypse, as if he transcribed images from Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights. I loved Tristram's trek thru degenerating England, the slow sprawl of history, moving from extreme police states on opposite poles of the structure.


Yes, the love story was clumsy, but t served the purpose of showing this world's dichotomy and hypocrisy, his wife leaving him for a fake gay man, being cursed in either worlds for asking questions and being against the establishment no matter who is in charge. The final payoff of the book wasn't as great as the sum of its parts.
|

An amazing hallucinatory romp through what could be called social commentary, the main purpose of The Wanting Seed is to examine the ebb and flow of political life, how the world seems to veer from one set of rules, of justifications, to the next. The plot is nothing special, but Burgess creates such a skewed and hilarious world of cannibalistic spiritualism, forced sexuality, contrived war that the novel's other flaws are only minor stumbling blocks. He achieves this satire by having his world try to re-create the doings of the past---most hilariously by staging wars to create jobs and keep the population in check.

But where the novel really succeeds is representing how each authoritarian figure in the novel grasps almost mindlessly at the next perfect doctrine for controlling the world, be it a general whose only understanding of war is through old movies and the War Poets (a man of many famous first lines) or Tristram's brother, who callously jumps onto each new moral ideal, going from a leader in the INFERTILITY POLICE, needing to hide his illegitimate children in fear of being arrested, to a higher-up in the FERTILITY POLICE, now using those same bastard children as a method of advancing his career.


A wondrous, but flawed, novel. You truly get a sense of this sprawling world, and the journey chapters are very effective.

Think A Modest Proposal on bad Acid.

[Terri · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book. I haven't read Clockwork Orange, but I have read many of Anthony Burgess' other books and this is by far my favorite. The story is set in an extremely overpopulated future. Fascinating plot, intriguing ideas, plenty of social commentary and Burgess' signature use of made up words. Starts a little slow (as most of his books do) but once you get into it you won't be able to put it down. Definitely leaves you thinking when you finish it.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a sucker for a good 1984-esque book. Also, I adore Burgess and all his linguistic talents. I loved his idea of cyclical history, one that is at least somewhat comforting in the midst of current economic crises. This is a must-read for any Burgess fan.

[Daria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Czym jest właściwie ta książka z intrygującym tytułem?

Poznajemy Beatrice Joanne i Tristrama Fox, nauczyciela, historyka, którzy stracili pięcioletniego syna. W ich związku wszystko tylko pozornie układa się dobrze, bo Beatrice ma romans z bratem Tristrama – Derekiem. Warto dodać, że bracia się nie cierpią, a Derek dla swojego interesu udaje homo. Pewnego dnia Tristram dowiaduje się o romansie i wtedy zaczyna się prawdziwa przygoda.

Obserwujemy życie tych ludzi na tle gwałtownych przemian społecznych i politycznych, o których Tristram opowiada swoim uczniom. Te pojęcia i ogólnie to, co Tristram mówi młodzieży na zajęciach może być trudne do zrozumienia dla czytelnika, ale warto przez to przebrnąć. Te zmiany w społeczeństwie nie mają pozytywnych skutków – głód, kanibalizm i ogromne rozluźnienie seksualne (np. publicznie dobieranie ludzi w pary, którzy idą potem szaleć na polu).

‘’Z tabletką, z tabletką unikniesz ciąży letko.’’

Państwo przedstawione przez Burgessa dba tu o równowagę, a dokładniej unika przeludnienia, aby zasobów ziemskich starczyło dla wszystkich. Praktycznie nie istniały podziały etniczne. Śmierć człowieka nie była dla urzędników i władzy powodem do smutku, a wręcz przeciwnie – martwe ciało zyskiwało nazwę pięciotlenku fosforu, które miało ‘’nakarmić’’ Ziemię. Ciężko więc o jakiekolwiek zaufanie do lekarzy, którzy, chociaż mają ratować życie, mogą przyspieszyć śmierć. Dla wielu matek odejście dziecka to wręcz powód do radości, bo kondolencje jakie otrzymają od ministerstwa, są w formie pieniężnej i chętnie rozmawiają miedzy sobą z uśmiechami na twarzach w jaki sposób zginęły ich pociechy. Nie ma znaczenia w jakiej rodzinie się urodziłeś i jakie masz wykształcenie – liczy się ilość urodzeń, bycie homo albo zostanie kastratem. Robienie dzieci uznano za zajęcie dla ‘’przeciętniaków’’. Jeśli chcesz awans w pracy, to mimo dużego stażu, dostać go mógł byle młodzik tylko dlatego, że jest homo albo kastratem.

O Bogu coś się mówiło, ale władza niemal go wyeliminowała z myśli ludzi. Nie było też wojen i bomby atomowe czy gaz musztardowy były tylko odległą historią.

Język Burgessa jest bardziej dosadny, ostrzejszy, pełen przekleństw i niektóre sceny mogą nawet obrzydzić. W porównaniu z ,,Mechaniczną Pomarańczą’’ tu nie ma stylizacji językowej, więc książkę na pewno będzie czytać się łatwiej. Wbrew pozorom nie jest to dzieło śmiertelnie poważne, ma w sobie coś z czarnego humoru, który do jednych trafi, a do innych nie. Do mnie trafił i podoba mi się ten klimat.

Jednak to, co mnie zdziwiło była spora ilość błędów w tekście jak, np. jedna litera oddzielona od pozostałego słowa (‘’w ięc’’, chociaż w przypadku Burgessa jestem skłonna uwierzyć, że to zamierzone), kilka braków w oddzieleniu dialogu od myśli/czynności, brak wielkiej litery, przecinka, a nawet słowa (‘’Teraz już poczuł, że może chodzić, ale mu bardzo zimno.’’). Trochę to razi w oczy, jeśli zwraca się uwagę na takie szczegóły. Problemem może też być to, o czym wspomniałam wcześniej – niezrozumienie niektórych słów i pogubienie w bardziej fachowych terminach, nawet jeśli otrzymujemy wyjaśnienie od bohatera.

Warto przeczytać ,,Rozpustne nasienie’’ tak samo jak ,,Mechaniczną pomarańczę’’, bo jednak zmuszają one do myślenia i chociaż sama wizja raczej nie ma szansy narodzić się w naszym społeczeństwie, to jednak w obu dziełach autor stawia dość aktualne pytanie: czy eliminowanie zła kosztem wolnej woli, czy nawet życia, dla dobra społeczeństwa powinno mieć miejsce?

‘’Wrócimy do domu,
Do swojego domu
W styczniu, w maju albo czerwcu.
Przyjdzie na to pora,
Z rana czy z wieczora,
Tylko miej nadzieję w sercu.’’

[Leah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Required reading in high school, however, I absolutely loved this novel. The Wanting Seed is THE reason I began reading books like 1984 and Fahrenheit 451. I loved the setting of the novel, and how terrifyingly realistic it was.

I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone, and I would recommend Anthony Burgess' other works as well.

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

Situationally, The Wanting Seed reminded me of one of Philip K. Dick's more goofball novels (without the goofball inventiveness of PKD's futuristic concepts). In the future, a profoundly overpopulated earth contains a placid, "liberal" (in this case, as defined by the Catholic Burgess, meaning Godless and permissive) society where homosexuality, medically induced infertility, and childlessness are encouraged (but not strictly enforced, this being a "liberal" society and all).

Tristram Foxe, a history teacher, and his wife, Beatrice-Joanna, have just lost their infant son. Beatrice-Joanna is also having an affair with Tristram's brother Derek, a government official who pretends to be gay in order to climb the ladder of success. But the overpopulation, combined with a worldwide blight, causes unrest, which in turn causes the government to begin enforcing its suggestions as laws. Just when Tristram finds out about his wife's and brother's affair, he gets caught up in a food-shortage riot outside his building and is arrested. While he is in prison, the government completes its shift from what Burgess calls the Pelagian Phase to an Intermediate Phase (on its way, eventually, to the Augustinian Phase), wherein the previously liberal government becomes a repressive dictatorship. The once-placid world gives way to police roundups, rampant cannibalism, a resurgence of Christianity, and war.

Billed as a satire, I found The Wanting Seed to be plenty absurd, but not particularly funny. Fifty years ago (the book was written in 1962), I have no doubt that much of the "humor" was intended to be derived from the unnatural homosexual behavior of a few of the principal characters and several of the incidental characters. (I don't put "unnatural" in scare quotes above because the idea here is that the homosexual behavior of these characters is truly unnatural. That is, they would be heterosexual if it were up to them, but because of society's strictures, they are essentially forced to ACT gay in that stereotypical, homophobic way, with lots of mincing around, simpering, etc.--in addition to having sex with members of the same sex. Of course, in Burgess's view, clearly, all homosexuality is unnatural, thus making the use of the word "unnatural" redundant in this context, as far as he's concerned.)

Setting aside the outdated view that one's sexual orientation is a choice (i.e., that gay people are gay because they decided to be, not because it's a part of their genetic makeup)--not to mention to absurdity of believing that any society could successfully repress an entire civilization's sexual orientation (good luck convincing a horny teenage boy that he can't have sex with girls [or with boys, if that's his preference] because it's good for society)--why must the new norm of homosexuality in the distant future require the perceived characteristics of gay men circa 1962? Did the ancient Spartans sashay around with limp wrists, saying things like "Oh my gawd, bitch, where did you get those shoes"? Unlikely. Burgess was a Catholic, so his limited vision is not entirely surprising, but it still reveals his serious misunderstanding of how sexual attraction to one's own gender works, not to mention his inability to conceive of a new way in which men of the future, who have sex with other men, might act. In the end, Burgess used homosexuality as nothing more than a useful shorthand for showing how a Godless society has ruined itself.

As such, The Wanting Seed is embarrassingly dated, not to mention fairly unbelievable. And this unbelievability extends to other parts of the novel as well. When the civilization devolves, quite quickly, from a sterile, basically vegetarian society to a cannibalistic one, no one (including the main character) seems to have an even initial reaction of disgust to breaking one of the fundamental taboos of Western culture. I am reminded of the sci-fi novel Lucifer's Hammer in which a band of survivors after a worldwide catastrophe engage in cannibalism as a way of acclimating themselves to it, in case it becomes an absolute necessity as the world crumbles around them. But no one's happy about it, and most of the members of the group are pretty much forced to partake, because the thought of doing it voluntarily is, at first, too repellant. Not so in The Wanting Seed, where everyone seems pretty much OK with it (even enthusiastic about it) from the start.

Speaking of cannibalism, I found it equally unlikely that Tristram, after having escaped prison and trying to track down his wife during a brief period of lawlessness, is taken in by a small town of cannibals and treated generously. When he first arrived, I naturally believed that they would try to lure him in with their smiles and then eat him. But no, they were happy to feed him and send him on his way, which leads me to wonder where, exactly, they're getting all this human meat they're eating. Would they rather eat their own friends, family, and neighbors than some drifter passing through? I'm no cannibal, so maybe I just don't get it, but that seems unlikely to me.

The one part I found entirely believable is the final section, in which the unsuspecting and gullible are conscripted into a newly organized army (as wars had been a thing of the distant past) and forced to fight one's own countrymen, unknowingly, as a way of generating vast amounts of human meat for the remaining population. A sinister concept that rings true in an era where wars are already waged for ignominious reasons. For this (and for Burgess's usual lexical dexterity) I give the book two stars instead of one.

[James Henderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Last month I reread Anthony Burgess's most famous novel, A Clockwork Orange. In it I found new insights into Burgess's creative thought, encouraging me to read more of his oeuvre. I followed up on that idea with The Wanting Seed, which he wrote immediately following Clockwork. This dystopian novel demonstrates one of his persistent themes, the conflict between 'Augustinian' authoritarianism and 'neo-Pelagian' liberalism. The novel is set in a future similar to A Clockwork Orange, where Burgess projects an England in which Christianity, fertility, and heterosexuality will have been outlawed. His heroine, Beatrice-Joanna, is a dissident earth-mother who runs away to Wales to give birth in the home of her brother-in-law. Her husband, Tristram, is a history teacher who, in an early scene in the novel, explains the history and meaning of pelphase (Pelagianism) and gusphase (Augustinianism), while his brother heads the Ministry of Infertility. The brothers' relationship leads Tristram to think, “If you expect the worst from a person you can never be disappointed.”  Using an almost over-the-top comic style Burgess comments on themes including: the tyranny of the state, homosexuality, perpetual war, spontaneous orgies, the persistence of religious feeling, and cannibalism. After his escape from prison Tristram hitches a ride from a sort of local militia-man who comments:  "There doesn't seem to be a government at the moment, but we're trying to improvise some kind of regional law and order. . . We can't have all this, indiscriminate cannibalism and the drains out of order.  We've got our wives and children to think of." (pp 171-2)  Although the setting of the novel demonstrates the worst aspects of pelagian liberalism and addresses many societal issues, the primary subject is overpopulation and its relation to culture.

The novel is inventive with a comic seriousness that is humorous with periodic moments of unease; the line between the comic and the serious is sometimes blurred. The author's signature fecundity of ideas, his love of quotations and literary allusions, and his brilliant use of language carries the reader through the rough spots. However, it is not hard to understand why it was "considered too daring" by potential backers of Carlo Ponti's proposed film version. My admiration for Burgess as a novelist of ideas grows with each of his novels. This comically heretical entry, combines with its predecessor to provide a veritable one-two punch of dystopian delight.

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

Orwell meet Burgess, Burgess meet Orwell. Do I say it? The Wanting Seed is an Orwellian imagining of a future wherein the earth is so taxed by overpopulation that homosexuality is encouraged and is necessary to achieve promotion in society. Food is rationed, families may have only one child, if any, media is controlled. All of this negation of fecundity is creating a backlash - crops are failing, animals are dying. Soon jackbooted thugs are patrolling the streets. People are drafted into a military that is out of practice and at war with no one. But the killing fields are there. One woman is about to sneak off to the country and have a child by her lover. When she does, Dionysus returns and with him is ecstasy, cannibalism, debauchery and ultimately balance.

[Miroslav Maričić · Rating 3 out of 5]

Љубитељ дистопије воли дистопије и пише такве књиге. Једини начин да укаже на неправилности, а да при томе не оде у моралисање, јесте да са пуно сарказма приступи дистопијском роману. Ипак тај сарказам не скрива, оштар је у говору и самим тим се не приближава топ класи дистопијског романа, а још је даље од високе класе сарказма. Ипак рећи да Пожудно семе нема сјајну идеју и сјајан почетак била би чиста глупост. Прва половина књиге је фантастична, чак можда и мало више од половине, али проблем је крај, за мој укус превише утопијски, кукавички, да не кажем превише романтичан. И не бих имао ништа против утопије или романтике, мада ретко читам такве књиге, да ово није дистопијски роман, са дистопијском темом.
Пожудно семе је књига која има идеју да укаже на проблем пренасељености у свету, а са пренасељеношћу долази и проблем глади. Идеју за књигу Барџис је добио током боравка у Малезији, где вероватно постоји тај проблем. Књига представља парњак са Пакленом поморанџом, издате су истовремено са планом да се читају као наставци. Две стране света, два различита проблема, а Барџис воли да укаже на проблем. Како се он бори са проблемом? Стварањем једног суровог света у коме је брачном пару дозвољена једна трудноћа, било успешна или безуспешна. Особе које се огреше о овај закон губе све бенифиције, посао, стан, заштиту. У овом свету сваки елемент има своју улогу, па и мртви, који се више не сахрањују већ се претварају у фосфатно ђубриво и бивају расути по земљи. Оброци су редуковани на по један малени оброк дневно и све намирнице су претворене у одређене енергетске плочице и гелове, као и сасушене елементе који се кувањем претварају у назови храну. А ко је главни у држави? Ко је тај који има све бенефиције? То су они који се подвргну добровољној стерилизацији и припадници класе Хомо. Министарство које има највећи утицај јесте министарство неплодности.
Строги закони, немогућност да се кроз љубав и храну задовоље минимални прохтеви, доводе до масовне хистерије и побуна, које доводе до природне селекције у којој они млађи, слабији и усамљенији бивају поједени. Канибализам расте, одсуство рата ствара проблем (са ким ратовати и како се то ради кад рат припада историји) и са ким ратује мобилисано људство у моментима када постоји само један град на острву. Подстицање хомосексуалности представља одговор на проблем стерилизације, а проблем недостатка хране и пренасељености решава се ратом, очајничким ратом са самим собом, са својим народом. Да ли се иза сваког човека крије одређена маска, да ли смо се сви претворили у инструмент пожуде и животињске борбе? Дело препуно симболике и алузија на нека претходна дела, не само књижевности (Пуста земља- Т.С. Елиот), већ и музике (Вагнерова обрада мита Тристан и Изолда), ипак и поред добре идеје не износи сав потенцијал на видело. Може се рећи да сву снагу коју Паклена поморанџа има, Пожудно семе губи у одређеном тренутку. Штета.

„Разочарање. Разочарање. РАЗОЧАРАЊЕ! Разочарање отвара перспективу хаоса. Наступа неразумност, наступа паника. Кад нестане разума, улази суровост. Окрутност! Премлаћивања. Тајна полиција. Мучење у бљештаво осветљеним подрумима. Осуда без суда. Кљештима ишчупани нокти. Справе за мучење. Поступак са хладном водом. Копање очију. Стрељачки вод у хладно праскозорје. И све то само због разочарања!“

[tortoise dreams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Upon (short) reflection, this story is more complex than it seemed on reading. The two main themes are a malthusian nightmare that leads to food shortages & odd societal responses, & the the strands of history that guide the apparently unguidable. Must note that The Wanting Seed is not for those who insist on political correctness in their books, who can't deal with the rough & tumble of the "real" world. This is not for those who insist that a writer from the early Sixties write as if he was writing in 2019. At that time ZPG & overpopulation must've been overwhelming concerns -- something we hear much less than the current fears of climate change. For me it was interesting that some of the effects that Burgess predicted due to overpopulation (e.g., multiculturalism & the social acceptance & perceived advantages of homosexuality), have occurred, but not as threats to societal stability. Published the same year as his more renowned A Clockwork Orange, this is also a dystopian (is anyone getting tired of that word?) journey. Despite his immense vocabulary, this was an easy though not quick read, mostly linear & told with a light & comic tone until the last couple pages. During the read I was right there moving along, but looking back Burgess hits so many issues from religion & cannibalism (they overlap) to the fragility & resilience of family & society. Not quite the masterwork that is A Clockwork Orange, but a worthy companion. While reading it often reminded me of Brave New World, & while I don't think it's quite to the level of that one or the other early classics such as 1984, Fahrenheit 451, or The Handmaid's Tale, it certainly deserves a seat at the table & a place in the conversation.

[Papaphilly · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Wanting Seed is a great read. Part societal study and certainly a criticism of British society. Anthony Burgess ask what happens to British society if the population overwhelms food supplies. This has been called a comedy, but I am not sure I agree. It is certainly satire, but not so sure it is funny. He certainly lampoons the upper crust and social climbers along with British stoicism, yet it is wrapped in tragedy.

The Wanting Seed watches the death of government, but not of a people and how somehow they manage to carry on in their own way. How different levels of society first react and then respond to the failing food and their way of rationalization to differentiate themselves from the "others" and their lower ways. It is also a analogy of changing times England faced when the book was written and should be seen in this light. It is a statement of the ordinary average man in changing times where he no longer recognizes his place. Nothing is normal and the world he knows is gone upside down.

This is a great read and I have not done the book justice with this review. The Wanting Seed is well worth the time.

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this about a week or two ago, but it's already fading in my memory.

I guess the basic premise is that the world is overpopulated, so you're limited to how many children you can have. But polite, genteel people don't have any.

Which has a knockoff effect of, if you're gay (particularly male and gay) you advance more quickly in your career, and things like that. So there's a real advantage to pretending to be gay. And the culture has adopted gay dress and mannerisms. And that is really the most interesting and appealing part of the book, so it's a shame that this isn't dealt with much and is soon enough overthrown.

Because limiting population goes against the natural order of things and society tries to restabilize itself with heterosexual orgies. And oh yea, cannibalism comes into play too.

And you don't realize, or I didn't realize, right off that this is some sort of absurdist fiction. That I'm not meant to take it too seriously. Which can work, but sort of only if you also care about the characters. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is silly, but.. you can feel for Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect is fun, and some of the other characters are fun and/or interesting. And in this book, just.. no, you can't really like them. Well, I can't like them.

So the book is kind of interesting in an intellectual way, but I wouldn't call it particularly enjoyable on any other front.

[Al · Rating 4 out of 5]

the book was very well written, much like 1984, Fahrenheit and a brave new world at times. it took these novels a bit further though by explaining a bit of history. the main character a history teacher Tristan Foxe explains that there country goes though cycle phases. starting in a society where people believe that everyone is good and punishments are lite because they think people will learn. then the government gets fed up with how people can't be all good and more policing is needed. essentially that society turns into a totalitarian government. the public will eventually betray or the government will change to stay in power or because they see their ways as wrong and will finally turn to a society of free will and havoc may be created because of this until a government is then created with small amount of law once again starting the cycle. found this part most interesting but also the ideas of over population and war. population being to high, people being encouraged by promotions and morals to be gay or asexual to help the nation. signs encouraging this. the loss of God. War being a solution to population. not know who we are fighting but fighting just the same to bring balance and help the economy. interesting ideas in this dystopian novel that bring a lot of thought to our own future.

[Димитрина Събчева · Rating 4 out of 5]

Разбирам защо за тази книга има толкова противоречиви мнения. За мен това е една много важна спекулация, която обаче прави смели стъпки към осъществяването си в реалността. Човеконенавист, гримирана с добри намерения. Препоръчвам.

[Ajeje Brazov · Rating 5 out of 5]

Il mio libro preferito in assoluto é e (penso) rimarrà: "Arancia Meccanica" di Anthony Burgess. Letto la prima volta più di 10 anni fa, mi aveva sbalordito in un modo mai sentito con qualsiasi altro libro letto. Mi era talmente piaciuto che lo avevo identificato come una sorta di cimelio della letteratura, difficilmente eguagliabile, perché Arancia Meccanica é l'emblema della libertà, senza edulcorazioni del caso. Così mi ero informato sull'autore e avevo identificato altri suoi libri che mi sarebbe piaciuto leggere: "1984 & 1985", una sorta di continuo di "1984" di Orwell, anche se penso sarà qualcosa di particolare e non una sorta di scopiazzamento del capolavoro orwelliano, perché Burgess ha una penna molto originale e personale. Me ne sono accorto leggendo "Arancia Meccanica" e ancora di più nella mia prima sua rilettura. Sì, perché avevo così paura di restare deluso da un suo qualsiasi altro libro, dato che "Arancia Meccanica" lo ritenevo e lo ritengo ancora, inarrivabile. E poi "Il seme inquieto", titolo quanto mai curioso ed enigmatico.
Così passano diversi anni e della bibliografia di Burgess, conto ancora soltanto due letture di "Arancia Meccanica", straordinarie, ma era ora di passare ad altro, quindi era arrivato il momento d'iniziare "Il seme inquieto". Il timore di incappare in una delusione era sempre dietro l'angolo, anche perché questo libro ha un'aura di critica non da poco. Di solito questo m'incuriosisce ancor di più, ma in questo caso la curiosità si era trasformata in profonda incertezza.
Ora che l'ho concluso, posso affermare che l'autore sia a tutti gli effetti uno scrittore e un pensatore straordinario e che scrive per far riflettere, perché non ci sono, praticamente, pagine superflue senza un fondo di riflessione, tutto é stato realizzato per far sì che il lettore alzi la testa sulle varie problematiche sociali, politiche ed esistenziali.
Quello che sbalordisce é il tono, a volte molto diretto e violento che fa arrivare il messaggio come un pugno nello stomaco, ma allo stesso tempo é raccontato in modo estremamente grottesco e soprattutto farsesco, teatrale, come se tutta la vita non sia altro che uno spettacolo e questo é così attuale da risultare inquietante. Scritto più di 60 anni fa, nello stesso anno di "Arancia Meccanica"... nel senso, Burgess ha scritto due romanzi di tale riscontro sociologico, politico e di critica ai governi autoritari, in un anno solo?! Stupefacente!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jt6RZ...

[Jillian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Burgess has created a dystopia in which it's a sin to have sisters, a crime to have children, and a large ancestry can cost you your job. The story opens with Beatrice-Joanna Foxe receiving her "consolation" gift following the death of her infant son. She seeks solace in her brother-in-law Derek Foxe, whose career has grown thanks to his willingness to act gay. As spies and Beatrice-Joanna's husband learn of Derek's indiscretion, she is forced to head off to the Northern Provinces, where totalitarianism has only begun to reach.

With a typical Burgess "happy ending" (of sorts) but without the ultra-violence and confusing linguistics of "A Clockwork Orange," "The Wanting Seed" is my favorite Burgess (which is why I'm re-reading it after ten years).

[Joseph Reilly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This may be the most mad and outrageous book I ever read. Cannibalism and endless war become solutions to the population bomb about to detonate in the not-so-far-off future. Burgess writes with a mix of humor and horror, the humor makes the story easily digestible and enjoyable. He likes to push his reader and all the shock and disgust you may feel has an ultimate purpose as it is thought-provoking. This is one of the great dystopian novels. "The Wanting Seed" was released the same year as his other classic dystopian novel "A Clockwork Orange" and ultimately has the same feel.

[Charlene Intriago · Rating 2 out of 5]

First published in 1962, it is a dystopian novel, but absurdly out there as far as imagination and word usage. Overpopulation and, as a consequence, the lack of food, seems to be the main problem - but there are many other issues. The government has come up with novel solutions and uses lots of propaganda. Hard for me to rate - there were parts I really liked - and I see some parallels to today - but I'm not sure I liked the ending.

[Blair Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Wanting Seed is what you get if you blend Harrison’s Make Room! Make Room!, Orwell’s 1984, and Burgess’ A Clockwork Orange.

“If you expect the worst from a person, you can’t ever be disappointed. Only the disappointed resort to violence.”

“All dirty words are fundamentally religious they are all concerned with fertility and the process of fertility and the organs of fertility.”

“…but sanity’s a handicap and a liability if you’re living in a mad world.”

“History is a wheel. This sort of world can’t go on for ever, either.”
–Anthony Burgess

[Go Ask Jordan, I Think She'll Know · Rating 5 out of 5]

How does one describe the indescribable? This book has had me obsessed throughout, and I apparently spent 3 hours and 49 minutes reading this (spread over a couple of days). That's how enthralling it is, and it's considerably more complicated than most of what I've been reading lately (no slight intended, it's just the truth).

I came upon this intending to read A Clockwork Orange as I imagine so many people come across Burgess. I've also intended to read this author's work for a few years, as he's classic (for a bit I didn't even know Clockwork Orange was his).

Naturally, as I am cheap, I turned to e-books from my local library to get a taste of Burgess. I was hoping to read the aforementioned A Clockwork Orange; alas, they only had the audiobook and I'm not a huge fan of those. However, this spectacular work popped up available for me to borrow.

Needless to say this will not be the last Anthony Burgess book I am going to read.

Ever wanted to take a long strange trip without using anything illicit? That's what this book is. You're forced into another world, much of which remains unexplained even until the very end. The author is good at ushering you into this land of confusion. Threads unravel and you begin to feel the motivations of the characters and the cracks in the strange society that Burgess portrays.

The plot is nearly irrelevant. However the novel opens with a set-up that would chill anyone who's not a complete psychopath to the bone: a mother being told that her infant son is being sent to the "Department of Agriculture"... to be turned into fertilizer. Screw Brave New World, we are on another level of dystopian horror here.

Scenes ebb and flow throughout the novel. I cannot exactly call it non-linear, although it feels that way sometimes. In a sense nothing happens, but everything is happening.

The stroke of genius, the entire purposeful, page-turning element you will find here is how Burgess tackles extraordinarily sensitive and relevant topics in a way that can only be described a distinctive. This book is disturbing, revolting, and occasionally terrifying. It is also graceful and magnificently composed.

Some of the topics you will find discussed here include: religion/atheism, government, heterosexuality and homosexuality, contraception, abortion, population control, the role of children in society, the role of adults in society, the nuclear family, police brutality, the ethics of consuming meat, food supply chains, prison, wars, survivor's guilt, death, and several bizarre dystopian tropes that might be found in other novels... yet seemed fairly distinct to me. Much of this will turn your stomach.

Yet the beauty in all of this is that Burgess refuses to show his hand. One nearly gets the sense that he's not exactly giving an opinion but rather telling a story. Ultimately, I think this gets into the typical dystopian "governments can be scary" thing but I'm not even certain that was the intent here. This book simply exists for your enjoyment and for your imagination and opinion to run wild.

A truly unique, creative, and special work. I strongly recommend this.

[Mel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to say the original "dystopia" sounded totally Utopian to me. In the world, homosexuality was encouraged, breeding was discouraged, race was something that was ignored and everyone had enough to eat, there was no war, no military, no religion, there was a liberal government that seemed half way between communism and anarchy. Of course the homophobic main characters didn't get a lot of sympathy from me, but I loved the setting. Of course things didn't stay that way as society was changing, the state became totalitarian, filled with secret police and torture, which led to LOTS of cannibalism, paganism, sex, and the creation of an army. The characters in the book were a little underwhelming. Though I did like the fact that the main character was opposed to all the different governments. But really this book was about the setting, different reactions to a chronically overpopulated planet. It was disturbing and great. I shall definitely read more Burgess.