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Any Old Iron
Any Old Iron is prodigious entertainment, a grand and boisterous novel that sweeps us up and hurls us pell-mell through the major events of this century.Once in the land of Attila; then in that of Arthur; looted by the Nazis at Monte Cassino; seized by the Soviets to be exhibited in Leningrad, King Arthur's Excalibur is the flashing blade that hangs over the fates of men and women caught up in the chaos of history.
373 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published February 24, 1989
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About the author
Anthony Burgess
360 books4,254 followersLibrarian 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 .
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 .
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
March 16, 2020
Wars need weapon. Ultimately, iron is the stuff weapon is made of. Any Old Iron is a metaphor of arms and wars and history…
The bloody and mad twentieth century – the Sword of Damocles hangs over the head of humankind all the time…
But anyway, without iron there would be no modern civilization.
Steel, as you probably don’t have to be reminded, is an alloy based on iron. It contains anything from 0.1 to 1.7 percent of carbon, as well as traces of sulphur, phosphorus, manganese, nickel and chromium. It is tough and yet malleable, so you can make swords out of it. It is Mars’s own alloy. Its only trouble is that it deteriorates in air. The layman assumes that this has something to do with acids. But the deterioration is caused by electrolytic attack, and electrolytes do not have to be acid. Natural salts like sodium chloride and sal ammoniac can eat into steel and devastate it. I’m no metallurgist, merely a retired terrorist and teacher of philosophy, but I can see how metallurgists have to reject the claim that the sword Excalibur survived into the twentieth century. All those salts resident in air and soil and water, eating steadily at what was itself called the eater. For the name Excalibur comes from the Welsh Caledelch, which is tied up with the Irish Caladbolg, and Caladbolg means hard belly or capable of eating anything.
The bloody and mad twentieth century – the Sword of Damocles hangs over the head of humankind all the time…
In July 1940 the War Office belatedly decided on the formation of an Intelligence Corps, and Reg got himself into it. He was not dodging his duty of killing the enemy. He had left his weapons behind on two failed fields of battle and discovered that wars could be fought with the brain. Razorblades in pigswill. Bombardment of the innocent. Intelligence. Damn it, I was fighting a war with knees bend and arms stretch on chilly parade grounds.
But anyway, without iron there would be no modern civilization.
September 12, 2021
Это политический роман, роман о межнациональном согласии и вражде. Формат семейной саги выбран для того, чтобы захватить наиболее острые социальные, национальные, военные конфликты 20 века – от русской революции до второй мировой войны и арабо-израильского конфликта. Я думаю, что никого сейчас не удивишь ни русско-валлийским, ни иным семейным союзом, хотя поначалу валлийская культура огорошила своей неизведанностью, и именно из-за этого было ощущение надуманности. Надуманность все же есть, Берджесс любитель сочетания фантастики с выдумкой в обрамлении реальных исторических событий, и от этого роман проигрывает, ибо надуманность и фантастичность какого-то сюжетного хода дает привкус оторванности от реальности всему произведению. А для действительно важных проблем, поднимаемых в этом романе, такой привкус скорее вредит. Берджесс мастер эпитетов, чего стоят его «весело-злые» лица.
Берждесс наблюдает за логикой исторических процессов: «природа распоряжается по-своему: оберегает серость и уничтожает таланты, обрекая их на голод и мучительную смерть. Я часто думал о том, сколько ярких личностей погибло в Освенциме.» Но ведь и сейчас так, серость почему-то процветает. Он очень наблюдателен, этот Берджесс: «Вокруг теперь все ненормально. Куда мы идем, черт его знает. Мы не видим будущего, а прошлое окружаем романтическим ореолом. Живем в атомную эпоху, но никто толком не знает, что это такое. Разжигаем войны по мелочам, потому что боимся большой войны. Слишком много малых народов требуют независимости, а принимается в расчет мнение только двух держав.». Он анализирует причинно-следственные связи, может от и не прав, но не была ли революция 1917 года в какой-то мере романтизирована, а вышло все наоборот, страшно и кроваво: «Запомните мои слова: романтические идеи всегда ведут к разочарованию, а там и до насилия рукой подать. Так и возникает террор ради террора.»
Берждесс наблюдает за логикой исторических процессов: «природа распоряжается по-своему: оберегает серость и уничтожает таланты, обрекая их на голод и мучительную смерть. Я часто думал о том, сколько ярких личностей погибло в Освенциме.» Но ведь и сейчас так, серость почему-то процветает. Он очень наблюдателен, этот Берджесс: «Вокруг теперь все ненормально. Куда мы идем, черт его знает. Мы не видим будущего, а прошлое окружаем романтическим ореолом. Живем в атомную эпоху, но никто толком не знает, что это такое. Разжигаем войны по мелочам, потому что боимся большой войны. Слишком много малых народов требуют независимости, а принимается в расчет мнение только двух держав.». Он анализирует причинно-следственные связи, может от и не прав, но не была ли революция 1917 года в какой-то мере романтизирована, а вышло все наоборот, страшно и кроваво: «Запомните мои слова: романтические идеи всегда ведут к разочарованию, а там и до насилия рукой подать. Так и возникает террор ради террора.»
December 29, 2012
Any Old Iron by Anthony Burgess is a work that almost defies description. The only way to get a sense of its world is to enter it by reading the book. The novel’s journey is vast, it’s absurdity often hilarious and its dark humour often tinged with a biting perception of the real.
As with many Anthony Burgess novels, the start is staggering. The first hundred pages - as is usual for Anthony Burgess - race past at a hilarious pace. Reginald Morrow Jones - inevitably Vegetable Marrow Jones to his friends – is a Welshman. Enough said… So was King Arthur. What links them? Precious little until you have read the book and then, perhaps, quite a lot less.
But then, as ever with this author, after the initial headlong spurt the pace seems to fall away. It could come as a relief to many readers, since being dragged along at the rate of the opening could easily exhaust. There is, of course, the necessity to develop the characters and their predicaments. Anthony Burgess does this by viewing their lives from different perspectives. This works in part, but the overall similarity of style tends to blur this use of different points of view.
Merely listing the scenarios in which the characters find themselves raises the breathing rate. Anthony Burgess does not need to reinvent history so that his characters may live through it. So, in Any Old Iron, we have a Titanic survivor, Russians in New York with a restaurant business and a sex-starved daughter who seems to like the new cook. After a visit to the First World War, there’s an escapade or two on the streets of St Petersburg, Petrograd, Leningrad eventually - take your pick - as the Russian revolution unfolds. We participate. This is a long way from Wales, about twenty pages or so. Somehow we find ourselves in Manchester. There is a Jewish family with an even more sex-starved daughter. She takes up percussion with her musical ear. World War Two? Thought you would never mention it… Yes, let’s have a bit of that. How about a trek across the frozen wastes of the Soviet Union? Did I forget the posting to Gibraltar that had such a profound effect on a soldier’s career? And what about fluency in Spanish? Where did that come in? National identity is always good for the soul, so while we are talking about the foundation of Israel, why don’t we have a bash at Welsh independence?
The text is peppered with puns, intellectual references, linguistic tricks and occasional insight. We learn, for instance, in quite relevant circumstances, that for Russians water and vodka are regarded as being just about the same thing, the letter k being the only difference. We learn that a letter A embossed on a once shiny, now corroded steel sword originally signified ownership by one Attila the Hun. I mean, can we really dislike Attila the Hun? The same sword later became the property of one Arthur of Wales, the legendary King Arthur of the Knights and Round Tables. The sword, by the way, was later nicked, by theft, not corrosion, and had to be nicked back via an inside job at the Ermitage in Leningrad. (Got the name right this time…) Oh, and there’s that tour of duty in Gibraltar, where a serviceman kills an off duty German as part of the war effort and is accused of murder. What about the trek across a Soviet winter? Already mentioned that…
Any Old Iron, frankly, defies description. Right from the first paragraph, “I’m no metallurgist, merely a retired terrorist and teacher of philosophy” to the last, “It was a pity that Reg had lost his sense of smell,” Any Old Iron taunts the reader with innuendo, humour, double-entendre, intellectual challenge and linguistic trick. What it perhaps does not do is offer a rounded and familiar character that we thoroughly get to know. But part of the point in this novel that addresses ideas of identity is that none of us is knowable in that way. Life presents itself and we live it as it comes along. Circumstance, chance, imagined magical association and loyalty are all quite real and often get in the way. Any Old Iron is seriously funny.
As with many Anthony Burgess novels, the start is staggering. The first hundred pages - as is usual for Anthony Burgess - race past at a hilarious pace. Reginald Morrow Jones - inevitably Vegetable Marrow Jones to his friends – is a Welshman. Enough said… So was King Arthur. What links them? Precious little until you have read the book and then, perhaps, quite a lot less.
But then, as ever with this author, after the initial headlong spurt the pace seems to fall away. It could come as a relief to many readers, since being dragged along at the rate of the opening could easily exhaust. There is, of course, the necessity to develop the characters and their predicaments. Anthony Burgess does this by viewing their lives from different perspectives. This works in part, but the overall similarity of style tends to blur this use of different points of view.
Merely listing the scenarios in which the characters find themselves raises the breathing rate. Anthony Burgess does not need to reinvent history so that his characters may live through it. So, in Any Old Iron, we have a Titanic survivor, Russians in New York with a restaurant business and a sex-starved daughter who seems to like the new cook. After a visit to the First World War, there’s an escapade or two on the streets of St Petersburg, Petrograd, Leningrad eventually - take your pick - as the Russian revolution unfolds. We participate. This is a long way from Wales, about twenty pages or so. Somehow we find ourselves in Manchester. There is a Jewish family with an even more sex-starved daughter. She takes up percussion with her musical ear. World War Two? Thought you would never mention it… Yes, let’s have a bit of that. How about a trek across the frozen wastes of the Soviet Union? Did I forget the posting to Gibraltar that had such a profound effect on a soldier’s career? And what about fluency in Spanish? Where did that come in? National identity is always good for the soul, so while we are talking about the foundation of Israel, why don’t we have a bash at Welsh independence?
The text is peppered with puns, intellectual references, linguistic tricks and occasional insight. We learn, for instance, in quite relevant circumstances, that for Russians water and vodka are regarded as being just about the same thing, the letter k being the only difference. We learn that a letter A embossed on a once shiny, now corroded steel sword originally signified ownership by one Attila the Hun. I mean, can we really dislike Attila the Hun? The same sword later became the property of one Arthur of Wales, the legendary King Arthur of the Knights and Round Tables. The sword, by the way, was later nicked, by theft, not corrosion, and had to be nicked back via an inside job at the Ermitage in Leningrad. (Got the name right this time…) Oh, and there’s that tour of duty in Gibraltar, where a serviceman kills an off duty German as part of the war effort and is accused of murder. What about the trek across a Soviet winter? Already mentioned that…
Any Old Iron, frankly, defies description. Right from the first paragraph, “I’m no metallurgist, merely a retired terrorist and teacher of philosophy” to the last, “It was a pity that Reg had lost his sense of smell,” Any Old Iron taunts the reader with innuendo, humour, double-entendre, intellectual challenge and linguistic trick. What it perhaps does not do is offer a rounded and familiar character that we thoroughly get to know. But part of the point in this novel that addresses ideas of identity is that none of us is knowable in that way. Life presents itself and we live it as it comes along. Circumstance, chance, imagined magical association and loyalty are all quite real and often get in the way. Any Old Iron is seriously funny.
May 20, 2018
Mi dispiace abbandonare la lettura di un libro, anche se brutto, ma qui la sensazione è che sto solo perdendo tempo con un qualcosa di inutile.
September 23, 2014
This one of Anthony Burgess’ last novels and certainly not his best remembered. Highly praised when it was first published, it remains an exuberant, perhaps rather overdone tour-de-force through a series of the major disasters and conflicts of the Twentieth Century. Beginning with the sinking of the Titanic and concluding with the establishment of the Israeli state, the reader experiences World Wars 1 and 2, the Russian Revolution, as well as incipient and actual Welsh Nationalism through the eyes of two interconnected families, the half Welsh, half Russian Jones family and a family of Manchester Jews.
The novel is at times very funny, but at times the humour is perhaps too clever, Burgess enjoying rather too many in-jokes. The structural conceit is that of Arthurian romance and there are very many parallels: Reg Jones as King Arthur; his slightly simple brother as Parsifal, or perhaps Peredur, the prince with the wound which never heals; the sword itself (Excalibur-Caledvwlch) a metaphor of conflict and of violent nationalism; a final scene which echoes the events of the Morte D’Arthur; a wonderful sequence when Reg places the sword in the recently rediscovered (through a German bombing raid) stone and cannot withdraw it - until he discovers the trick.
Perhaps one of the most interesting aspects for me reading it in September 2014 was the imminent referendum on Scottish independence. Burgess’ portrayal of political nationalism certainly resonated and had not dated.
A real entertainment then, this novel, and one I recommend.
The novel is at times very funny, but at times the humour is perhaps too clever, Burgess enjoying rather too many in-jokes. The structural conceit is that of Arthurian romance and there are very many parallels: Reg Jones as King Arthur; his slightly simple brother as Parsifal, or perhaps Peredur, the prince with the wound which never heals; the sword itself (Excalibur-Caledvwlch) a metaphor of conflict and of violent nationalism; a final scene which echoes the events of the Morte D’Arthur; a wonderful sequence when Reg places the sword in the recently rediscovered (through a German bombing raid) stone and cannot withdraw it - until he discovers the trick.
Perhaps one of the most interesting aspects for me reading it in September 2014 was the imminent referendum on Scottish independence. Burgess’ portrayal of political nationalism certainly resonated and had not dated.
A real entertainment then, this novel, and one I recommend.
July 20, 2011
Burgess is one of our most underrated novelists and this is a million miles away from his best known work, A Clockwork Orange. Spanning some of the great events of the 20th Century, this book follows the fortunes of a family of Welsh-Russians, the Jones, as they become bound up with the ancient sword of King Arthur, Excalibur, Welsh Nationalism and Anglo-Russian relations. There is also the small matter of the birth of the state of Israel and the Jewish family who's fortunes become entangled with the Joneses.
If all this sounds slightly fantastic, it is a credit to Burgess' talent that he makes the whole thing immensely readable and enjoyable. Burgess takes the position that the world went to Hell in a handcart after the second world war and makes that point over and over again through the travails of the Jones family as they are buffeted by the events of the First and Second World Wars and their aftermath.
A note to Dan Brown: this is how you weave a pseudo-historical mystery into your narrative and invest it with meaning and symbolism. Recommended.
If all this sounds slightly fantastic, it is a credit to Burgess' talent that he makes the whole thing immensely readable and enjoyable. Burgess takes the position that the world went to Hell in a handcart after the second world war and makes that point over and over again through the travails of the Jones family as they are buffeted by the events of the First and Second World Wars and their aftermath.
A note to Dan Brown: this is how you weave a pseudo-historical mystery into your narrative and invest it with meaning and symbolism. Recommended.
September 24, 2021
La novela trata en sí, sobre el concepto del nacionalismo. ¿Qué significa para cada quién? ¿Y qué clase de mente hay que tener para obsesionarse tanto por cosas que, al final del día, son tan sólo un mero símbolo?
Una familia galesa en la primera mitad del siglo veinte tiene encuentros cercanos con el comienzo del nacionalismo galés el nacionalismo rampante de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, el nacionalismo emergente del nuevo estado judío en Israel, más sus propios conflictos internos respecto a qué se supone que le son leales. En medio de todo esto una subtrama con una espada antigua tan oxidada que podría pasar por cualquier hierro viejo, salvo que ésta tiene una A que podría definirla como Caledvwlch, la espada del rey Arturo, el mítico guerrero galés (no inglés, como los galeses se aseguran de recordarnos). ¿Cuál espada es realmente, la espada en la piedra o la de la dama del lado? Porque los mitos arturianos son un lío tal que ya nadie puede estar seguro de nada… también podría ser la espada de Atila el Huno, que la dejó abandonada durante su paso por Europa del Este.
Por supuesto, podría ser sólo un pedazo de hierro que alguien encontró con un detalle curioso, similar a la supuesta tumba de Arturo encontrada por arqueólogos, que podría ser la tumba de otro tipo con un nombre que evoque algo similar y nada más… porque ése es el problema con los símbolos nacionalistas: son un verdadero test de Rorschard, donde cada uno interpreta lo que le motive más o le haga sentir mejor con respecto a sus ideales.
La novela es una comedia. Gran parte del humor está asociado a juegos de palabras en varios lenguajes, y el resto a las situaciones variopintas en las que se ven envueltos los miembros de la familia Jones. El humor es bastante sencillo, no tan a la altura de otros libros de Burgess, pero de todos modos es bienvenido, salvo por una parte específica en la que Reg Jones es testigo de la entrega de los prisioneros de guerra soviéticos a las tropas de este país al final de la guerra. Aquellos que saben de historia saben cuál es la situación aquí, y ciertamente la escena en sí es tratada de forma seria, pero el problema es que las escenas de antes y después no lo son, lo que lo hace incongruente y algo incómodo.
Por cierto, hay mucho galés sin traducir en este libro. Uno corre el riesgo de querer arrancarse la lengua y volver a ponérsela para ver si así le es más fácil pronunciar lo que está leyendo.
Una familia galesa en la primera mitad del siglo veinte tiene encuentros cercanos con el comienzo del nacionalismo galés el nacionalismo rampante de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, el nacionalismo emergente del nuevo estado judío en Israel, más sus propios conflictos internos respecto a qué se supone que le son leales. En medio de todo esto una subtrama con una espada antigua tan oxidada que podría pasar por cualquier hierro viejo, salvo que ésta tiene una A que podría definirla como Caledvwlch, la espada del rey Arturo, el mítico guerrero galés (no inglés, como los galeses se aseguran de recordarnos). ¿Cuál espada es realmente, la espada en la piedra o la de la dama del lado? Porque los mitos arturianos son un lío tal que ya nadie puede estar seguro de nada… también podría ser la espada de Atila el Huno, que la dejó abandonada durante su paso por Europa del Este.
Por supuesto, podría ser sólo un pedazo de hierro que alguien encontró con un detalle curioso, similar a la supuesta tumba de Arturo encontrada por arqueólogos, que podría ser la tumba de otro tipo con un nombre que evoque algo similar y nada más… porque ése es el problema con los símbolos nacionalistas: son un verdadero test de Rorschard, donde cada uno interpreta lo que le motive más o le haga sentir mejor con respecto a sus ideales.
La novela es una comedia. Gran parte del humor está asociado a juegos de palabras en varios lenguajes, y el resto a las situaciones variopintas en las que se ven envueltos los miembros de la familia Jones. El humor es bastante sencillo, no tan a la altura de otros libros de Burgess, pero de todos modos es bienvenido, salvo por una parte específica en la que Reg Jones es testigo de la entrega de los prisioneros de guerra soviéticos a las tropas de este país al final de la guerra. Aquellos que saben de historia saben cuál es la situación aquí, y ciertamente la escena en sí es tratada de forma seria, pero el problema es que las escenas de antes y después no lo son, lo que lo hace incongruente y algo incómodo.
Por cierto, hay mucho galés sin traducir en este libro. Uno corre el riesgo de querer arrancarse la lengua y volver a ponérsela para ver si así le es más fácil pronunciar lo que está leyendo.
June 28, 2022
Что есть для нас история, память наших предков, дела давно минувших дней? Надо ли нам беречь прошлое, собирать его по крупицам и с гордостью вносить на красной бархатной подушечке в будущее? Если не задумываться и привычно обобщить все и вся (ведь так удобнее и быстрее, не так ли?), почти каждый ответит: "Да, мы помним! Мы не забудем!" А вот Берджесс сомневается. Однако он не призывает разрушить все до основания, а потом построить чистенький такой, блестященький новый мир, он лишь подводит нас к мысли о том, что иногда прошлое - это не драгоценность, а всего лишь грязь. Иногда.
Вступая в будущее, всегда несешь на сапогах грязь прошлого, и никаким скребком ее не отодрать.
В книге "Железо, ржавое железо" много истории, много воспоминаний о прошлом. Начинается она событиями конца XIX - начала ХХ века, проходит через две мировые войны и заканчивается первыми годами существования независимого Израиля. Ох, и понамешано же здесь - и валлийцы, и русские, и евреи, и ирладнцы! Кого только не встретишь! И они все, сменяя друг друга, поочередно выходят на первый план. Сначала одно поколение, потом другое, третье... Обилие второстепенных персонажей тоже добавляет масла в огонь - все вокруг кажется порой полным безумием, но из-за этого с каждой страницей все лучше и лучше понимаешь, что иногда стоит оставить призраков прошлого в покое и начать новую жизнь.
Мне нужно было сердцем, всем своим существом прикоснуться к романтическому прошлому, чтобы понять, что это всего лишь железо, ржавое железо. Теперь я должен научиться жить в сегодняшнем мире.
8 / 10
June 16, 2020
Excellent writing, but apparently not memorable, because I apparently read it about 25 years ago and wasn't sure about having read it until the last few pages. It all just seemed like deja vue.
The story begins with David Jones, a young Welsh boy, running away from home, joining the merchant marine and winding up on the Titanic. He survives and the story follows him and his family through the World War I, the Russian revolution, the Spanish Civil War, and WWII up through the founding of the State of Israel. It's a wonderful story, but the writing is exquisite. Burgess's language, vocabulary, rhythm and ear for dialect is flawless. If you've read nothing by him but Clockwork Orange, try this or Earthly Powers.
The story begins with David Jones, a young Welsh boy, running away from home, joining the merchant marine and winding up on the Titanic. He survives and the story follows him and his family through the World War I, the Russian revolution, the Spanish Civil War, and WWII up through the founding of the State of Israel. It's a wonderful story, but the writing is exquisite. Burgess's language, vocabulary, rhythm and ear for dialect is flawless. If you've read nothing by him but Clockwork Orange, try this or Earthly Powers.
May 23, 2015
Up there with Burgess' better novels. Having read a lot of Burgess, you start to see some of the same things coming up again, especially when he's trying to pass on knowledge/trivia. Little things, like the Russians "having no 'h'" or, if you've read his highly entertaining autobiographies, the fact that he and his wife once waited four hours for a meal at a Soviet hotel and then it was cold. One thing about his style that irks me is how he'll make a good joke but then explain it (for the benefits of those who might not have picked up on it) in the next sentence or paragraph instead of leaving the delight of getting the joke to the reader. But Burgess does know how to tell a story, and this was a good one. Dealing with an extended family with Welsh, Russian, and Jewish roots and how they become intertwined in their compatriots rallies for independence. Taking in significant historical events of the first half of the 20th century, starting with David Jones being a survivor of the Titanic (I found the first chapter with this a little slow, but things pick up from chapter two on), and with special focus on WWII. Here Burgess reworks his own time spent in Gibraltar during the War. The book is also very funny, which is something Burgess is very good at. I laughed out loud a few times towards the end.
December 14, 2018
Clearly an important novel, this is probably better than 'Earthly Powers', which I'd previously taken to be his masterpiece. If you like your humour pitch black and your war stories convincing, this one's for you. A harrowing march through the battlefields of both world wars, it spares us no harrowing details. It's a scandal that more people have read the comparatively ordinary 'Clockwork Orange' than this. On the minus side, the female characters are a comparatively formulaic and under-written. That aside (and I admit it's a big 'that'), it's an amazing work. If I hadn't read 'The Secret Agent' earlier in the year, it'd probably be the best Twentieth Century novel I've got through in 2018.
August 10, 2015
Burgess has written novels about themes and people I'm passionately interested in: Mozart, Shakespeare, darling Keats, not to mention the best ever novel about Marlowe. So when I belatedly realised this was Burgess's Arthurian novel, I snapped up a copy right away.
The eponymous iron is (perhaps) what's left of Excalibur, with the novel set in the first half of the 20th century, and specifically in the Great Wars. I am sure I didn't understand all the meanings and allusions, but this was a good read, and engrossed me throughout.
I don't think I'm smart enough for Burgess, but I like the things that he likes, and he sure knew how to spin a yarn.
The eponymous iron is (perhaps) what's left of Excalibur, with the novel set in the first half of the 20th century, and specifically in the Great Wars. I am sure I didn't understand all the meanings and allusions, but this was a good read, and engrossed me throughout.
I don't think I'm smart enough for Burgess, but I like the things that he likes, and he sure knew how to spin a yarn.
June 16, 2009
you know, a was amazed by this kind of saga and burges, and how different he may be, and by his style, and by...everything, actually. still, there was something in this book that made me not like it completely, something i'm not sure about
Want to read
February 28, 2016Novela titaniartúrica de Burgess. Edición española.
March 3, 2020
This one is difficult to rate and review. The allegory of past present and future was beautifully woven. It was familiar to Dostoevsky in depth of human condition, but with a relative difference in time.
I would rate this five stars for how great this story is, but I believe my baggage of the events it entails tainted my reception. Titanic, WWI, WWII, I've learned a lot about them all, but they had always been a shame of history to me. I tend to shy from war because why would anyone run to it? So subject matter and personal depiction.
Also, the sword. I thought the myth would be woven throughout. It is; but it wasn't evident until the end. That disappointment, however, is what made this book so amazing. The first 4/6 is a story that sets up one of the most valuable lessons in life, the buildup is entertaining and the payoff in the end is profound.
I would rate this five stars for how great this story is, but I believe my baggage of the events it entails tainted my reception. Titanic, WWI, WWII, I've learned a lot about them all, but they had always been a shame of history to me. I tend to shy from war because why would anyone run to it? So subject matter and personal depiction.
Also, the sword. I thought the myth would be woven throughout. It is; but it wasn't evident until the end. That disappointment, however, is what made this book so amazing. The first 4/6 is a story that sets up one of the most valuable lessons in life, the buildup is entertaining and the payoff in the end is profound.
August 14, 2021
It was a very different kind of novel than the ones I usually read, but it was definitely very interesting, and I wanted to read works of Anthony Burgess.
I have to say, for someone like me, it was difficult to get through a lot of the pages just beacause of the language, the words, and the style of writing. But I learned a lot! Things that I would not seek out, for sure. And the pace was not bad, even for a thrillseeker.
What I really enjoyed was that there really wasn't a defined "slow" segement. The story kept moving a pace, generation through generation even. And it reminded me of the tall bedtime tales I used to be read when I was a child, albeit with a some heavy philosophy and moral dilemma.
I have to say, for someone like me, it was difficult to get through a lot of the pages just beacause of the language, the words, and the style of writing. But I learned a lot! Things that I would not seek out, for sure. And the pace was not bad, even for a thrillseeker.
What I really enjoyed was that there really wasn't a defined "slow" segement. The story kept moving a pace, generation through generation even. And it reminded me of the tall bedtime tales I used to be read when I was a child, albeit with a some heavy philosophy and moral dilemma.
Read
June 25, 2023Page 91 and I'm still only being introduced to the characters and their histories. Where is Arthur's sword? I thought I was going to be reading a book about Arthur's sword. I've been trapped by false advertising.
Page 91 and his style of writing hasn't started to flow comfortably for me. I'm still more aware of the writing than the story.
I did find it a bit of an eye opener how disorganised getting an army together and into position and how economically bumbling it was even for a country that was meant to be on top of its game.
Page 91 and his style of writing hasn't started to flow comfortably for me. I'm still more aware of the writing than the story.
I did find it a bit of an eye opener how disorganised getting an army together and into position and how economically bumbling it was even for a country that was meant to be on top of its game.
March 22, 2025
Re-read after 35 years - it still holds up. Novel about a Welsh-Russian-Jewish family in the fist hald of the 20th century. The first, Welsh David Jones, after surviving the Titanic marries a Russian and has three children, one who marries a Jew who writes the book. Excalibur and Welsh independence are the main topics as family members are involved in the Russian Revolution, WWI, Israel's creation, and WWII. Language is wonderful, the situations comic, the whole novel picaresque.
June 4, 2021
Burgess' erudite vocabulary must have been quite something before the invention of the online thesaurus. "Any Old Iron" is trapped by its own lingusitc cleverness and historical concoctions because there is nothing mush else there: the plot sprawls and Burgess fails to deliver a focused, emotionally connected story or clearly-defined character development.
February 27, 2022
Anthony Burgess was a polymath and a very fine writer, so any novel by him will at the very least be great fun to read. And so this is. It didn’t impress me as much as Earthly Powers but I still had a great time reading it.
October 31, 2022
A lesser cousin of Earthly Powers.
June 9, 2023
Classic Burgess: a must read!
December 24, 2023
certainly different than A Clockwork Orange.
May 30, 2025
Titanic in scope and goes down as easy, fucking loved it
November 3, 2016
Any Old Iron is another great book by Anthony Burgess. It is the story of a Welsh/Russian family and their journeys in the 20th Century; from the Titanic, through the First and Second world wars, the Russian revolution, then later Stalin's Russia, and up to the establishment of the Israeli state.
My first thought - and possibly yours too - was "didn't Burgess already do all this in 'Earthly Powers'?" And there are some similarities, but as the charachters are mainly Welsh the challenges and events they experience are viewed from the perspective of the struggle for a free Wales, which explains the signficance of King Arthur's sword, Caledvwlch (or Excalibur), which follows them on their journey.
This book has all the humour and style of Burgess' other works, and similar to much of his other works is lacking the critical acclaim it deserves.
What I liked was the multiple characters (we had several different accounts of different aspects of WW2, which was great), also the really strong female characters, and (as always) the use of different languages throughout the book - english, welsh, russian and german.
What didn't I like? I did get a little confused when the story changed from one character to another, or went unexpectedly backwards in time.
This is a really interesting book, and would recommend it to anyone who wanted a different perspective on British/European history, or Weslh history.. For most people I would recommend Earthly Powers first though.
My first thought - and possibly yours too - was "didn't Burgess already do all this in 'Earthly Powers'?" And there are some similarities, but as the charachters are mainly Welsh the challenges and events they experience are viewed from the perspective of the struggle for a free Wales, which explains the signficance of King Arthur's sword, Caledvwlch (or Excalibur), which follows them on their journey.
This book has all the humour and style of Burgess' other works, and similar to much of his other works is lacking the critical acclaim it deserves.
What I liked was the multiple characters (we had several different accounts of different aspects of WW2, which was great), also the really strong female characters, and (as always) the use of different languages throughout the book - english, welsh, russian and german.
What didn't I like? I did get a little confused when the story changed from one character to another, or went unexpectedly backwards in time.
This is a really interesting book, and would recommend it to anyone who wanted a different perspective on British/European history, or Weslh history.. For most people I would recommend Earthly Powers first though.
July 10, 2013
Burgess obviously has a love for the sound and meaning and history of words. His writing is musical, intricate and inventive.
Any Old Iron is one of his lesser known works. The only other I've read is his most famous, A Clockwork Orange, but that I read long enough ago that I remember only that I liked it, and the rest is supplanted by images from the even more famous movie.
This book is grounded in history, and the struggles of nations and people to make history, or to rewrite history, or to forget history if they can. So it is bound up not only with the two world wars, but with the Russian revolution and the creation of the Israeli state. It's fitting that it was published in 1989, the year that the Soviet Union met its symbolic end, encompassing as it does the Russian revolution, the uneasy alliance of WWII, and the start of the cold war. For me is was something of a history lesson, making immediate and particular some of the events of the last century that I had only understood in general terms before.
Any Old Iron is one of his lesser known works. The only other I've read is his most famous, A Clockwork Orange, but that I read long enough ago that I remember only that I liked it, and the rest is supplanted by images from the even more famous movie.
This book is grounded in history, and the struggles of nations and people to make history, or to rewrite history, or to forget history if they can. So it is bound up not only with the two world wars, but with the Russian revolution and the creation of the Israeli state. It's fitting that it was published in 1989, the year that the Soviet Union met its symbolic end, encompassing as it does the Russian revolution, the uneasy alliance of WWII, and the start of the cold war. For me is was something of a history lesson, making immediate and particular some of the events of the last century that I had only understood in general terms before.
February 5, 2013
Started reading it with huge enthusiasm and was taken by the language and style of it as well as by the story itself. Then the novelty wore off, I got tired of its sarcasm and I am now struggling on the last few pages, hardly interested. Found dozens of funny bits, dozens of witty ones, but cannot fully emphatise neither with its protagonists nor with its ideology.
If I have to relate it to other authors, Tibor Fischer comes to my mind and maybe a bit of Vonnegut. Also would not be surprised if he inspired Guy Ritchie at some point in his life.
Don`t regret reading it, would not re-read.
If I have to relate it to other authors, Tibor Fischer comes to my mind and maybe a bit of Vonnegut. Also would not be surprised if he inspired Guy Ritchie at some point in his life.
Don`t regret reading it, would not re-read.
July 29, 2016
События развиваются во множестве направлений. Читатель становится участником крушения Титаника, революции в России, Первой и Второй Мировых войн, стоит у истоков основания Израиля, пребывает в поисках легендарного меча короля Артура. Бёрджесс старательно выписывает собственные теории, подавая их с особым цинизмом, словно забивая пустоты самыми скверными предположениями. У книги получилась трудно поддающаяся определению атмосфера действительности, якобы без красок, но при этом измазанная чернотой с первой до последней страницы.
(c) Trounin
(c) Trounin
November 23, 2014
i had not read any Burgess for years until I picked up this book: pleasantly surprised by the wit, humour and verbal dexterity.
Yes, there are times where you need to use an encyclopedia to unwind his references ans he was a morbid fascination with the collapse of bodies at death but Burgess was a literary force.
This retelling of Arthurian legend is gripping, exciting and funny: time to seek the grail your self!
Yes, there are times where you need to use an encyclopedia to unwind his references ans he was a morbid fascination with the collapse of bodies at death but Burgess was a literary force.
This retelling of Arthurian legend is gripping, exciting and funny: time to seek the grail your self!
July 14, 2014
I read this book when it came out about 20 years ago. So glad I chose to re-read it. While it's challenging reading early morning during my train commute, it's such a rich, complex, layered story about such an interesting family and time in history.
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