From Blake Morrison's introduction to the 1996 Penguin version (published in the UK): "...in a novel which takes brainwashing as its subject, he intended his own form of brainwashing, which was to force readers to use a Russian dictionary." Although here are about two hundred new nadsat words introduced, the context often makes them clear (and, contrary to the other post, many are explained in other terms). Still, this is clearly not enough for anyone to understand anything other than fragmented rudiments of Russian. Even in the most nadsat-plenty passages, Russians would understand far less than an English reader on first glance. However, I haven't managed to find out anything about a bet...
It's also worth pointing out that the American version of this novel was missing the last chapter - something Burgess was greatly aggrieved by. Not only were the carefully-counted number of chapters very important - twenty one in total (alluding to the age at which one becomes an adult) plus three sections of seven referencing Shakespeare's seven ages of man - but Burgess thought that the curtailed ending showed too much pessemism and didn't allow for any moral growth.
Things like A Clockwork Orange... must be just horrid for you.
Actually, I found the nadsat quite easy to get to grips with. The original print of the book didn't have a glossary (that was added to the US version) because Burgess wanted his readers to use a Russian dictionary as they went through. Still, I found I could understand nearly all of it from the context and only rarely found myself skipping back a couple of pages to check previous meanings.
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Hence the hoorays. I know everyone agrees with me.
Me? If I knew more about chaos, I could probably attempt an answer to that question. As it is, I can only reckon that if God played dice, he'd win.
You realise this only affirms your guilt, right?
Too bad you don't live in Ohio...
From Blake Morrison's introduction to the 1996 Penguin version (published in the UK): "...in a novel which takes brainwashing as its subject, he intended his own form of brainwashing, which was to force readers to use a Russian dictionary." Although here are about two hundred new nadsat words introduced, the context often makes them clear (and, contrary to the other post, many are explained in other terms). Still, this is clearly not enough for anyone to understand anything other than fragmented rudiments of Russian. Even in the most nadsat-plenty passages, Russians would understand far less than an English reader on first glance. However, I haven't managed to find out anything about a bet...
It's also worth pointing out that the American version of this novel was missing the last chapter - something Burgess was greatly aggrieved by. Not only were the carefully-counted number of chapters very important - twenty one in total (alluding to the age at which one becomes an adult) plus three sections of seven referencing Shakespeare's seven ages of man - but Burgess thought that the curtailed ending showed too much pessemism and didn't allow for any moral growth.
Actually, I found the nadsat quite easy to get to grips with. The original print of the book didn't have a glossary (that was added to the US version) because Burgess wanted his readers to use a Russian dictionary as they went through. Still, I found I could understand nearly all of it from the context and only rarely found myself skipping back a couple of pages to check previous meanings.
No one can ever have that much semen...