CRITICAL RECEPTION OF WORKS BY ANTHONY BURGESS IN SERBO-CROAT TERRITORY

Abstract

The author presents the critical reception of the oeuvre of Anthony Burgess in Serbo-Croat literary magazines, periodicals and dailies, until the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia in 1992. Accordingto the esearch, not many of his works were translated into our language within that period, and besides, almost all of the translations published in literary journals were essays. Contrary to that, the number of critical commentaries was much higher, and they mostly concerned two of his best-known books – A Clockwork Orange and 1985. Since they were both translated into Serbian, with the delay of only one decade, we can assert that our eadership was fairly acquainted with the opus of this writer. On the other hand, although the response of our reviewers to his works cannot be estimated as satisfactory in terms of volume, the quality of the critical reception was at a very high level. The authors of articles and reviews published in academic journals included some renowned Yugoslav literary experts and writers, such as Gordana B. Todorović and Borislav Pekić, while the content of these texts was rather appreciative. It can therefore be concluded that the overall reception of works written by Anthony Burgess corresponds to his merits, as they received due attention by our critics during the analyzed period.