Book description
Who, I ask you, wants to drag his bones out of the earth,
reclothed in flesh which, in some foul magic of reversal, is
regurgitated by the worms, in order that his eyes may see God?
Who, I ask you, wants to live for ever?
Sadoc son of Azor, a retired shipping clerk lying diseased and
dying on the outreaches of the Roman Empire, sets down for future
generations a tale of epic proportions: he is charged with
recounting no less an event than the birth of Christianity. And what
an account it is Â- the story of a religion of love, born into the
cruelties of the kingdom of the wicked.
The Kingdom of the Wicked is one of Anthony Burgess's most
ambitious novels. Its ancient setting, recreated in vivid and
meticulous detail, is rendered new in this stunning account of the
Roman Empire and its clashes with Christianity.
Anthony Burgess (25th February 1917 - 22nd November 1993) was one of
the UK's leading academics and most respected literary figures. A
prolific author, Burgess found success as a novelist, critic, composer,
playwright, screenwriter, travel writer, essayist, poet and librettist,
as well as working as a translator, broadcaster, linguist and
educationalist. He is perhaps most famous for the complex and
controversial novel A Clockwork Orange, exploring the nature of evil.
Born in Manchester, he spent time living in Southeast Asia, the USA and
Mediterranean Europe as well as in England, until his death in 1993.
