Who wrote the novel A Clockwork Orange, adapted by Stanley Kubrick into his 1971 film?

Anthony Burgess wrote the novel A Clockwork Orange, which Stanley Kubrick adapted into his 1971 film.

Burgess published the novel in 1962. Its narrator, Alex, uses a distinctive slang vocabulary called Nadsat, which combines elements of Russian with English and invented terminology. The book explores free will, violence, conditioning, and the moral importance of choosing one’s actions.

Kubrick’s film follows the broad structure of the novel but omits its final chapter in the version published in the United States. That difference has caused recurring confusion: the American edition and Kubrick’s film end more pessimistically than the British edition, whose final chapter presents Alex moving toward maturity.

Malcolm McDowell played Alex in the film. Burgess’s novel is therefore the literary source, while Kubrick supplied the film’s visual style and controversial cinematic treatment.