The Aardvark Blog

What If?
25/02/2024

This morning when I was driving into the shop I was listening to Radio 3 when the announcer declaimed that today was the anniversary of the birth of Guy Burgess the author of 'A Clockwork Orange'. When I had recovered somewhat from my surprise that anybody working for R3 could be guilty of such a schoolboy error, I started to think what 'A Clockwork Orange' would have been like if Guy rather than Anthony Burgess had written it. And I thought that actually that was a book that I would have liked to have read. See also Guy Burgess's 'Earthly Powers' (Burgess had practical experience of many of the subjects covered).

And what about D H Lawrence's version of 'Seven Pillars of Wisdom', or T E Lawrence's rewriting of 'Women in Love' (less love and definitely fewer women). Jessica Mitford's 'A Pursuit of Love' would clearly have been more political, but I like to think that Nancy Mitford's retelling of 'The American Way of Death' would have been almost as good. Emily Bronte's Jane Eyre was even more gothic than the original, and Alice James brought a whole new understanding to the female characters in 'The Bostonians'.

And why limit ourselves to sibling transference? Famously, P G Wodehouse and Raymond Chandler were pupils together at Dulwich. Chandler's ' The Code of the Woosters' is an undoubted masterpiece in the offing, whilst who wouldn't want to read PG's edition of 'Farewell My Lovely'. And amongst other schoolmates, Shakespeare's 'Polyolbion' was if anything an improvement, whilst Michael Drayton's 'Henry V' left something to be desired.

Famously Chesterton and Belloc wrote several books together, but sadly these are not as good as those they wrote solo. See also Shakespeare and Fletcher or Shakespeare and Kid, whose joint creations were something of a let down.

So perhaps it is just as well that we have the books that we have. But if you believe the scientists/mathematicians who tell us that there are an infinite number of possible universes, then in one there is a 'Clockwork Orange' penned by Guy, and let us hope there is also an Aardvark Books to sell it to you.