• Menu

    What’s it going to be then, eh?

    The International Anthony Burgess Foundation
    About Anthony Burgess
    • Introducing Anthony Burgess
    • The Books of Anthony Burgess
    • The Music of Anthony Burgess
    Discover More
    • A Clockwork Orange
    • Earthly Powers
    • Anthony Burgess and Shakespeare
    • Dystopian Fiction
    About The Foundation
    • Our Mission
    • Visiting Us
    • The Burgess Bar
    • Support the Burgess Foundation
    • Join our mailing list
    • Contact us
    Anthony Burgess Archive
    • About the Archive
    • Visiting the Archive
    • Object of the Week
    • Contact the Archivist
    What's On
    • News and Blogs
    • Event listings
    • Venue hire
    • Burgess Prize
    • Exhibitions
    • Podcasts
    The International Anthony Burgess Foundation
  • What’s it going to be then, eh?

    OPENING TIMES
    Bar Open for events
    Reading Room Available for pre-booked appointments 10.00am - 3.00pm weekdays
    Office Hours By appointment: info@anthonyburgess.org
    HOW TO FIND US
    Engine House
    Chorlton Mill
    3 Cambridge Street
    Manchester
    M1 5BY
    Nearest train station Oxford Road More information
    Next event
    Talks: The Sex Lectures Thu 06 Apr 2023 7:00 pm £14.50 More information
  • The International Anthony Burgess Foundation
  • What's it going to be then, eh?

    Exhibitions. New writing. Concert commissions. Academic research. Public events, in venues and online. And at the core of everything, preserving and promoting our extensive Anthony Burgess archive.

    Your donation to the Burgess Foundation supports our mission to promote the life and work of Anthony Burgess in so many ways.

  • What’s it going to be then, eh?

The International Anthony Burgess Foundation The International Anthony Burgess Foundation
NEWS AND BLOG POSTS

Burgess Memories: David Crystal

  • David Crystal

  • 30th November 2017
  • category

  • Burgess Memories
  • tagged as

  • Anthony Burgess Memories Project
  • Burgess 100
  • David Crystal
  • Earthly Powers

It was the best put-down ever.

Although Anthony and I corresponded over various linguistic matters, I met him only once, during a conference organized – I think by the British Council – at Bush House in London, and I think it was in the early 1980s. As that sentence illustrates, I’ve forgotten all the relevant details. I can’t even remember whether I was talking at it, or was just there as a member of the audience. But I do have one clear memory.

Anthony had just given a talk, which included a reading from Earthly Powers, and it was question-time. A man in the audience wasn’t at all happy, and took him to task over something in the book that he clearly didn’t like. It was a haranguing statement, rather than a question, and I recall a Burgessian face of patient resignation as it went on.

‘You say in your book’, continued the haranguer, ‘that ….’ and he made some point that I also now forget.

‘I don’t say that,’ intervened Anthony quietly.

‘You most certainly do,’ said the haranguer, blood-pressure building, ‘I have it here’, and he opened the book and began to read the offending passage.

Anthony let him go on for a few moments, and then stopped him, saying again; ‘I didn’t say that’. ‘But… but…’ – and as the haranguer struggled to find further words of indignation, he added: ‘My character did.’ The audience roared.

For me, it was a lesson in literary analysis and creative writing in a single sentence.

David Crystal OBE is a linguist, academic, and author. He has written books on Shakespeare’s language, the history of the English Language, and English grammar. He is the leading authority on Original Pronunciation of Shakespeare’s plays and has been involved in stage productions all over the world. He is currently Honorary Professor of Linguistics at the University of Wales, Bangor and an Honorary Patron of the International Anthony Burgess Foundation.

  • Share | 
  • Print
Related Blog posts
A Shorter Finnegans Wake: editing an epic Andrew Biswell
Inside the archive: Restoring Joyce and Belli Anna Edwards
Blowing the horn for Anthony Burgess in 2023 Andrew Biswell
The 2023 Observer / Burgess Prize has a winner Ian Carrington
SEE ALL NEWS AND BLOG POSTS
Go to home page
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Go to home page
Follow us

© 2023 International Anthony Burgess Foundation

Charity no. 1102623

International Anthony Burgess Foundation
Engine House Chorlton Mill 3 Cambridge Street M1 5BY
  • Site map
  • Privacy policy
  • Terms of use
  • Designed by Instruct
  • Built by OH Digital