2025
Christopher W. Thurley
- Instructor
- Gaston College

Abstract
The research and work associated with producing a collection of Anthony Burgess’s (author of “A Clockwork Orange”) Shakespearean lectures at the City College of New York in 1973 and a critical edition of Burgess’s “Enderby’s Dark Lady” (1984) consists of investigating Burgess’s canon and archived materials for authorial context, as well as unraveling Burgess’s use of Shakespeare for educational and fictional purposes. Both projects concern Burgess’s treatment of William Shakespeare and therefore coincide in purpose. These two projects will significantly contribute to the discourse surrounding Burgess’s Shakespearean work and add depth and context to not only readers of Burgess, but Shakespeare too. To highlight the importance of these projects, it should be known that Burgess’s Shakespeare lectures are archived at the International Anthony Burgess Foundation in Manchester, UK and remain largely unknown, but are essential to investigating the allusions in “Enderby’s Dark Lady” and Burgess’s other Shakespearean writings: “Shakespeare,” “Will!,” “Mr. W.S.,” and “Nothing Like the Sun.” The result of this research and work will be two publications that not only provide new commentary on Shakespeare from a prominent twentieth century British author and man of letters, but to also explain the complexities of the final novel in the Enderby tetralogy.