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The Wanting Seed

3.8 of 5 stars 3.80 · rating details · 2,331 ratings · 156 reviews

Tristram Foxe and his wife, Beatrice-Joanna, live in their skyscraper world where official family limitation glorifies homosexuality. Eventually, their world is transformed into a chaos of cannibalistic dining-clubs, fantastic fertility rituals, and wars without anger. It is a novel both extravagantly funny and grimly serious.

Paperback, Norton Paperback Fiction, 288 pages

Published December 17th 1996 by W. W. Norton & Company (first published 1962)

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Sep 13, 2007 Ian rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: fans of 1984, anyone scared of overpopulation, those who distrust the government.

Anthony Burgess is probably best known (at least among Americans) for his novel A Clockwork Orange. Like A Clockwork Orange, The Wanting Seed takes place in a near future society that is in the first stages of decline.

This book is hilarious and contains such things as reprocessing dead humans, promoting homosexual behavior as a way of population control, famine, and fake wars for the benefit of humanity as a whole. These things may not sound funny, but Burgess's language skills shine here, and...more

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Apr 07, 2013 Alan Smith rated it 3 of 5 stars

I first read this book when I was 12 years old, and even then I enjoyed it without understanding all the implications. Written at a time when the world was first beginning to comprehend the dangers of overpopulation, it is even more relevant today, when we threaten to out breed ourselves into oblivion. Yet, as always in Burgess' works (most notably the one that he wrote just before, "A Clockwork Orange",), there is the question - will taking extreme measures to solve the problem make things even...more

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Feb 23, 2013 James rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: humor, science-fiction, dystopia

Last month I reread Anthony Burgess's most famous novel, A Clockwork Orange. In it I found new insights into Burgess's creative thought, encouraging me to read more of hisoeuvre. I followed up on that idea with The Wanting Seed, which he wrote immediately following Clockwork. This dystopian novel demonstrates one of his persistent themes, the conflict between 'Augustinian' authoritarianism and 'neo-Pelagian' liberalism. The novel is set in a future similar to A Clockwork Orange, where Burgess pr...more Last month I reread Anthony Burgess's most famous novel, A Clockwork Orange. In it I found new insights into Burgess's creative thought, encouraging me to read more of his oeuvre. I followed up on that idea with The Wanting Seed, which he wrote immediately following Clockwork. This dystopian novel demonstrates one of his persistent themes, the conflict between 'Augustinian' authoritarianism and 'neo-Pelagian' liberalism. The novel is set in a future similar to A Clockwork Orange, where Burgess projects an England in which Christianity, fertility, and heterosexuality will have been outlawed. His heroine, Beatrice-Joanna, is a dissident earth-mother who runs away to Wales to give birth in the home of her brother-in-law. Her husband, Tristram, is a history teacher who, in an early scene in the novel, explains the history and meaning of pelphase (Pelagianism) and gusphase (Augustinianism), while his brother heads the Ministry of Infertility. The brothers' relationship leads Tristram to think, “If you expect the worst from a person you can never be disappointed.” Using an almost over-the-top comic style Burgess comments on themes including: the tyranny of the state, homosexuality, perpetual war, spontaneous orgies, the persistence of religious feeling, and cannibalism. After his escape from prison Tristram hitches a ride from a sort of local militia-man who comments: "There doesn't seem to be a government at the moment, but we're trying to improvise some kind of regional law and order. . . We can't have all this, indiscriminate cannibalism and the drains out of order. We've got our wives and children to think of." (pp 171-2) Although the setting of the novel demonstrates the worst aspects of pelagian liberalism and addresses many societal issues, the primary subject is overpopulation and its relation to culture.

The novel is inventive with a comic seriousness that is humorous with periodic moments of unease; the line between the comic and the serious is sometimes blurred. The author's signature fecundity of ideas, his love of quotations and literary allusions, and his brilliant use of language carries the reader through the rough spots. However, it is not hard to understand why it was "considered too daring" by potential backers of Carlo Ponti's proposed film version. My admiration for Burgess as a novelist of ideas grows with each of his novels. This comically heretical entry, combines with its predecessor to provide a veritable one-two punch of dystopian delight.(less)

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Nov 16, 2011 Shayna L rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is very much a future dystopia novel. It takes place in what was once the UK and follows the lives of a married couple, Tristram and Beatrice-Joanna. They are heterosexual couple living in a world where homosexuality and castration are heavily encouraged in order to curb the out of control world population. Breeding is shunned, a social faux pas. As poor crops and government law begin to come down on the people, they change to answer in strange and frightening ways.
It's an interesting take...more

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Jan 06, 2013 Eustachio rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: britannici, romanzi, ebook

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Nel ventunesimo secolo l'Inghilterra è sovrappopolata, il governo promuove l'omosessualità e l'infecondità: gli omosessuali hanno facilitazioni nel lavoro e ottengono ruoli di spicco, mentre alle coppie eterosessuali è concesso al massimo un figlio, ma anche quello è visto negativamente.

I protagonisti sono una coppia eterosessuale, Tristam e Beatrice-Joanna.
All'inizio del romanzo lei ha appena perso il figlio e si consola con l'amante, suo cognato Derek, che ha ottenuto un lavoro al Ministero sp...more Nel ventunesimo secolo l'Inghilterra è sovrappopolata, il governo promuove l'omosessualità e l'infecondità: gli omosessuali hanno facilitazioni nel lavoro e ottengono ruoli di spicco, mentre alle coppie eterosessuali è concesso al massimo un figlio, ma anche quello è visto negativamente.

I protagonisti sono una coppia eterosessuale, Tristam e Beatrice-Joanna.
All'inizio del romanzo lei ha appena perso il figlio e si consola con l'amante, suo cognato Derek, che ha ottenuto un lavoro al Ministero spacciandosi per omosessuale. Tristam invece è un insegnante e lo conosciamo mentre spiega alla classe una visione ciclica della storia divisa in tre fasi:
1) L'uomo è perfettibile, lo Stato fa da guida, non ci sono leggi brutali (Pelfase);
2) Subentra la delusione, l'uomo non è perfettibile, lo Stato adotta misure violente (Interfase);
3) Lo Stato ha esagerato, diminuiscono le sanzioni, ma l'uomo è peccaminoso di natura, non ci si aspetta nulla di buono (Gosfase).
Che è anche quello che accade nel romanzo.

Osserviamo questo futuro distopico dal basso, principalmente attraverso il punto di vista dei Foxe, solo una volta da quello di un ministro. Nonostante il punto di vista ogni tanto traballi e lo stile sia un po' arzigogolato si lascia leggere.
Ho trovato affascinante vedere il futuro, un futuro che potrebbe essere questo, immaginato dagli anni '60, con assurdità come il mobilio che si evoca con un interruttore o aspetti ai nostri occhi anacronistici, come la necessità di mandare lettere e la mancanza di cellulari e computer.

Il seme inquieto non cerca comunque di essere realistico o serio: quando si affrontano temi come la prigionia, il cannibalismo o la guerra c'è sempre un velo d'ironia, nella fame di Tristam, nella pazzia del prete, nella naturalezza con cui i bambini accettano il fatto che un compagno di classe sia stato mangiato e nella sfacciataggine con cui Tristam si fa indicare una via di fuga dalla finta guerra — e in generale la sua fortuna in tutto: l'aiuto in prigione e per strada da parte di emeriti sconosciuti, l'essere unico superstite del suo battaglione e l'arrivare sano e salvo alla fine.

Non è Arancia meccanica, ma si riconosce lo stile di Burgess, specialmente nei neologismi e nell'uso di un linguaggio gergale. Va preso però per un romanzo, non per una rappresentazione seria di quello che accadrà a causa del sovrappopolamento. Altrimenti si potrebbe già partire a smontarlo pezzo per pezzo chiedendosi il senso di promuovere un orientamento sessuale piuttosto che un altro.(less)

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Feb 19, 2011 Julie rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: gender, science-fiction

I read this about a week or two ago, but it's already fading in my memory.

I guess the basic premise is that the world is overpopulated, so you're limited to how many children you can have. But polite, genteel people don't have any.

Which has a knockoff effect of, if you're gay (particularly male and gay) you advance more quickly in your career, and things like that. So there's a real advantage to pretending to be gay. And the culture has adopted gay dress and mannerisms. And that is really the mo...more

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Feb 16, 2011 Tancredi rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: inglesi, sci-fi

"Così va il mondo, non puoi far altro che accettarlo: gloglottii coitali e abbandono alla promiscuità, masticazione di tessuti corporei e militaresco inquadramento."

Il problema dei romanzi a tesi, è che se la tesi non ti convince proprio, beh, non puoi nemmeno consolarti con un bel romanzo. E' questo il caso di Il seme inquieto: un romanzo che, lo dico adesso e lo ribadirò più e più volte, fosse solo per dare la misura del mio sgomento, non sembra affatto scritto dalla stessa mano che ha concepi...more "Così va il mondo, non puoi far altro che accettarlo: gloglottii coitali e abbandono alla promiscuità, masticazione di tessuti corporei e militaresco inquadramento."

Il problema dei romanzi a tesi, è che se la tesi non ti convince proprio, beh, non puoi nemmeno consolarti con un bel romanzo. E' questo il caso di Il seme inquieto: un romanzo che, lo dico adesso e lo ribadirò più e più volte, fosse solo per dare la misura del mio sgomento, non sembra affatto scritto dalla stessa mano che ha concepito Arancia meccanica.
Eppure è lo stesso Burgess a rivendicare questo romanzo come un figlio del suo celebre capolavoro: lì il problema della delinquenza giovanile e la questione morale della scelta, nel bene e nel male; qui il problema del sovrappopolamento, della scarsità delle risorse alimentari e la questione morale della difesa della vita, a tutti i costi. E così costruisce un mondo distopico nel quale le autorità rispondono al problema del sovrappopolamento con l'esaltazione dell'omosessualità, il controllo delle nascite, l'uso pilotato dei conflitti bellici e persino il cannibalismo. Le premesse sono ottime: i risultati, piuttosto deludenti.
Innanzitutto non emerge chiaramente quella che vuole essere la tesi di fondo. E anche quel poco che Burgess lascia trapelare pare poco convincente e plausibile. Pericolosissima è soprattutto l'analogia tra l'omosessualità e il cannibalismo, analogia vista, oltretutto, nell'ottica di un imperante cristianesimo di ritorno.
Non convince granché nemmeno la caratterizzazione di questo mondo distopico: una trattazione confusa, sconnessa, a tratti superficiale, mentre altre volte Burgess indugia fin troppo in dettagli inutili in modo imbarazzante. La distopia da lui creata pare dunque un'accozzaglia di idee prese qua e là, un saccheggio, oserei dire, delle grandi distopie del novecento, da Orwell a Bradbury a Philip K. Dick.
I personaggi, ancora, paiono incomprensibili: tanto il punto di vista del protagonista quanto quello della moglie traditrice (perché mai Burgess abbia scelto una donna che tradisce il marito col cognato - e ne rimane pure incinta, in barba alle leggi sulla riproduzione - come simbolo della difesa della vita, è difficile da capire) non sono condivisibili, né tantomeno riescono a suscitare nel lettore un minimo di coinvolgimento.
Quale interpretazione, dunque? Poco appetibile è la tesi di fondo dell'autore, ed errata mi pare l'interpretazione, che altrove ho incontrato, della storia narrata come farsesca, volutamente surreale, parodica (di parodico, forse, c'è solo l'apparente lieto fine). Non basta nemmeno la chiave di lettura bellico-centrica dell'altrimenti ottima postfazione di Paul Fussel, contenuta in questa edizione, che pone l'accento sulla parte finale del romanzo, in cui l'arruolamento, su inganno, del protagonista, permette a Burgess delle lucidissime riflessioni sulla guerra, in particolare sulla sua esperienza della Grande guerra.
Nemmeno le colte citazioni letterarie (da Shakespeare a Petrarca!) riescono a salvare questo romanzo; e dolorosa mi pare l'occulta autocitazione di Arancia meccanica, che fa intravedere Alex e i suoi drughi intenti a picchiare uno sprovveduto barbone ubriaco.
Piuttosto che calarmi in interpretazioni forzate, o lasciarmi convincere dalle tesi dell'autore, dunque, preferisco credere che questo romanzo non sia stato scritto davvero da Burgess, e lasciare così perfettamente immacolato il ricordo prezioso della lettura del suo grande e insuperato Arancia meccanica.(less)

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May 02, 2011 La Stamberga dei Lettori added it · review of another edition

Shelves: tancredi

Il problema dei romanzi a tesi, è che se la tesi non ti convince proprio, beh, non puoi nemmeno consolarti con un bel romanzo. E' questo il caso di Il seme inquieto: un romanzo che, lo dico adesso e lo ribadirò più e più volte, fosse solo per dare la misura del mio sgomento, non sembra affatto scritto dalla stessa mano che ha concepito Arancia meccanica.

Eppure è lo stesso Burgess a rivendicare questo romanzo come un figlio del suo celebre capolavoro: lì il problema della delinquenza giovanile e...more

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Mar 15, 2013 Amanda rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: standalone, dystopian, scifi

This book is….very strange, and I honestly am not exactly sure what Burgess himself is saying, although some of the characters say some horrible things.

The first half of the book reads like a treatise by a Quiverfull (Evangelical Christians who believe in having as many children as possible, more info) with some terror of a hyper-liberal future where people are denied their right to choose to have children (funny how they fear that but don’t get that pro-choice is all about protecting a woman’s...more This book is….very strange, and I honestly am not exactly sure what Burgess himself is saying, although some of the characters say some horrible things.

The first half of the book reads like a treatise by a Quiverfull (Evangelical Christians who believe in having as many children as possible, more info) with some terror of a hyper-liberal future where people are denied their right to choose to have children (funny how they fear that but don’t get that pro-choice is all about protecting a woman’s right to choose what to do with her own reproductive organs but that’s another rant for another day), and people are forced into being gay/lesbian. I know this sounds like it could be an interesting flip-flop of current times, but it didn’t read that way for me. It read as a lot of homophobia and yelling about how population control goes against god’s plan and going against god’s plan sends the plagues. Seriously. That’s how it reads. But, I traveled on because this is Anthony Burgess, and characters don’t have to be likeable. They could be used to show the opposite point. But that’s not really what happens. What happens is that this set-up gets ditched for a mad-cap dash through sociology.

The last half of the book is kind of an interesting sociological exploration of how the world moves through the liberal/conservative/military cycle. It is mad-cap and bizarre, and as a person with a BA in History, I really enjoyed seeing a country move through those cycles at rapid-fire in a slapstick humor style. This part of the book felt like an entirely different book in fact. But I also think only a certain type of person would enjoy it. (Like, oh, Political Science and History majors).

As for character development, there is none. Everyone ends up pretty much where they started after having lived through the cycles of political change. It really reminds me a lot of playing Civ or SimCity where you move artificial people around to illustrate greater points. I enjoyed this alright, but I would have preferred stronger characterizations or at least some growth.

So, is the book a phobic conservative dream of what a liberal society would look like? I don’t think so. I think Burgess actually presented each part of the political cycle as awful, including the fall into tribal-feeling paganism. It sort of felt like the book was saying that someone somewhere will always be unhappy no matter what the political/sociological situation is. Depressing, huh? And yes I know it’s dystopian and lot of people think dystopias are innately depressing, but personally I think they can frequently offer a lot of insight and hope for the future. This just felt a bit defeatist. With some Quiverfull and homophobic characters to boot.

Overall I’m left feeling decidedly no reaction either way to this book, which is not what I was expecting from Burgess. I was neither offended nor enlightened and mildly entertained but I could have had the same entertainment from playing Civ on my computer. I think this book best appeals to readers who also enjoy studying political science or the history of societies, but even they should proceed with the caution that this is decidedly a mad-cap, non character-driven look at those topics.

Check out my full review.(less)

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May 16, 2009 William rated it 3 of 5 stars

this book, from what i understand, is snubbed by anthony burgess scholars. no doubt. if you want a distopian future novel you would have read his A Clockwork Orange. this, however, is completely... already done. and kind of homo-phobic. you read it and you just have to wonder... "this was written in a different time, right? surely today burgess would defend this lifestyle, right? he wasn't bucking against it was he?" but as i kept reading, i liked it more. i mean... any government who promotes a...more

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Sep 26, 2011 Mitch rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction

This book, written by the author of "A Clockwork Orange", is similarly dark and grim. Sadly, someone from the London Times called it 'fantastically funny'. That has to be one of the most moronic statements I've read in a long time.

The book deals with the problem of overpopulation and suggests some accompanying solutions: war with an unusual aim in mind, and cannibalism. Do these subject lend themselves well to laughing out loud?

Not in this book, they don't.

I would have rated it higher but it was...more

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Oct 07, 2008 Stephanie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I am a sucker for a good 1984-esque book. Also, I adore Burgess and all his linguistics talents. I loved his idea of cyclical history, one that is at least somewhat comforting in the midst of current economic crises. This is a must-read for any Burgess fan.

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Sep 19, 2011 Kerry rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: read_for_school, post-apocalyptic, dystopia

I read this in high school . . . I bought it because it was by Anthony Burgess, and then ended up writing a report about this, We , 1984 , and A Brave New World , all of which are (if I recall correctly) dystopian novels with authoritarian governments. The report talked about how the governments in these novels used love and sex to control their populations.

I don't actually remember much about this particular book, though. But I think I liked it? Liked it and thought it was weird? Dunno.

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Mar 15, 2011 Gerald Emerald rated it 2 of 5 stars

Mildly offensive (homophobic) with an air of hysteria. The lament for traditional gender roles leaves me particularly cold.

The style is visual and emotional and enriches the text to the extent that the author's failure to anticipate technological advances (a general feature of quality dystopian fiction) in, for example, controlling reproduction and surveillance, is mostly unnoticed.

The novel is clearly demarcated into three parts (the urban, rural and military experiences of the protagonist) whi...more

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Mar 10, 2013 Shruts rated it 4 of 5 stars

After seeing and reading A Clockwork Orange over 40 years ago, I burned through, and loved, every one of Anthony Burgess's novels that I could get my hands on. His use of satire on timely topical themes really connected. Civil Violence. The Cold War. Overpopulation. Government as Big Brother.

I devoured this novel then, and grabbed it at B&N when I spied it by chance last week.

In the rear view mirror, this novel truly does stand the test of time, largely because the central theme of governm...more

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Jul 29, 2011 Nicole added it

This book offers a great story and a less discreet parody of society. It is highly critical of government interference, and more importantly those people who rise in government. It is a lighter Brave New World. On the face, it is a malthusian comedy as the back cover will suggest, but really it's that circle of societal affects that becomes apparent in dystopian novels. Our hero is unhappy but achieves in the society, and on some level whether an epiphany or something bad happens, he demonstrate...more

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Mar 26, 2013 Niki rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: english

Burgess has a kind of weird obsession with homosexuality, also seen in "Honey For The Bears". In both novels, he treats homosexuality like a kind of exotic plot device. "The Wanting Seed" is a dystopian future, but not a particularly interesting one, in which gay people have social privileges because they don't add to overpopulation. Predictably, society won't have it and starts a revolution. There's nothing in this book that hasn't been done better by other authors. One of the very few novels I...more

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Jul 10, 2010 Sarah Steele rated it 2 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Apr 02, 2010 Selena Buzinky rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: No one really

Recommended to Selena by: Goodreads

Much like A Clockwork Orange, this is a very, very weird dystopian novel by Anthony Burgess. It describes an overpopulated, futuristic society in which homosexuality and self-sterilization are encouraged. The government is very powerful and repressive. When the protagonist, Tristram, gets involved in a protest, he is taken from his wife and put in jail. While he is imprisoned, CHAOS ensues. The masses of London revolt, revive religion, and adopt cannibalism. When, at the end, Tristram is finally...more

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Jun 01, 2011 Jen rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book is made for people who like weird comedies. This author wrote A Clockwork Orange, so be prepared for strangeness. I think this book is a very interesting look at our society of today. The futuristic society in the novel is a complete 180 of what we have right now and it really puts priorities into perspective. I recommend this to anyone who doesn't mind reading about love, loss, government corruption, starvation, cannibalism, all told in an upbeat and cheerful manner.

This book is a co...more

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May 19, 2009 Andy rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is a fairly interesting dystopic novel. In the future, people have realized that society moves in a cycle between totalitarian fascism and more open liberalism. During the fascist part of the cycle, life is cheap, procreation is encouraged and there are wars, even if the government has to manufacture reasons to fight. During the liberal part of the cycle, life becomes expensive, people are encouraged to be homosexual and penalized for procreating. There are obvious drawbacks to both extreme...more

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Jul 03, 2012 Tom Lucas rated it 5 of 5 stars

For the most part I like people, even though many of them suck. I am also convinced that the world grows a bit more stupid every day and that we slowly move away from any kind of social evolution. Sure, there's plenty of technological innovation, and dentistry is a far better experience today, but people don't seem to be improving.

We still love screwing each other over, arguing about false issues, and murdering each other. Infrastructures are straining under corruption, graft, and greed. Congres...more For the most part I like people, even though many of them suck. I am also convinced that the world grows a bit more stupid every day and that we slowly move away from any kind of social evolution. Sure, there's plenty of technological innovation, and dentistry is a far better experience today, but people don't seem to be improving.

We still love screwing each other over, arguing about false issues, and murdering each other. Infrastructures are straining under corruption, graft, and greed. Congress is highly polarized and our "representatives" do little beyond hooking their friends up and padding the checking account.

The worst part of it all is that stupid people just keep breeding.

Anthony Burgess, perhaps best known for A Clockwork Orange (most likely you've seen the Kubrick film) had this book published in the same year (1962), and it fits nicely along other literary dystopic works such as 1984, Brave New World, and Anthem. However, as much as I loved it, it's probably not in the same weight class.
The Wanting Seed begins in a world that is vastly overpopulated, and extreme measures have been institutionalized to handle it. People live in tiny box apartments, homosexuality is the social norm (and it's policed), and everyone eats a protein mush as there just aren't enough damn cows in the world to handle the load. As you wrap your head around this world (seems like it would be easier to just castrate people instead of implemented totalitarian fabulousness), Burgess throws a curve ball and suddenly society collapses.

Yep, you're just reading along, dum dum dum dum dum, and hey, the world's ending.

The citizens of the world respond to their overcrowding and repression by engaging in mass cannibalism, groovy sex parties, and general mayhem. No, this isn't a spoiler alert, it's on the damn back of the book, so no comments please. Then, as you would imagine, things level out a bit.

There's this brainy back story to the book, that Burgess is essentially commenting on the cyclical nature of human history (which you'll also find in A Clockwork Orange and I'm sure in his other books as well). In short, people suck, they have always sucked, and they will continue to suck. So, why not read a good book and forget about it for a while?
(less)

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Jul 24, 2009 Wendy Perkins rated it 2 of 5 stars

A satire about a future world suffering from out-of-control human population growth. This story was probably a lot funnier when it was published in the 60s because of how many taboo ideas it proposes as reasonable solutions to dealing with population growth. Unfortunately for the satire, it's not the 60s, the world has changed quite a bit, and many of the taboo ideas aren't anymore. As a result, I had a hard time seeing and appreciating the satire; and, at times, couldn't identify what was suppo...more

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Mar 16, 2013 Angela rated it 3 of 5 stars

For a while there, I really wasn't sure where this book was going, or why it was worth my time to read it. But, I stayed the course, and I have to admit, I had a hard time putting it down in the final few chapters as the book reached its climax and attempted resolution. The final chapter was pure elegance, and while I don't don't feel it resolved the plot well enough for my taste, I appreciated the power of Burgess' prose.

The problem with reading this book today is quarter-fold. First of all, B...more

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Nov 16, 2012 Eraserhead rated it 5 of 5 stars

Loved this book. Hilarious and energetic. Comes at you like a psychedelic rock song. I found the story pretty clever but really loved Burgess' sense of apocalypse, as if he transcribed images from Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights. I loved Tristram's trek thru degenerating England, the slow sprawl of history, moving from extreme police states on opposite poles of the structure.

Yes, the love story was clumsy, but t served the purpose of showing this world's dichotomy and hypocrisy, his wife leav...more Loved this book. Hilarious and energetic. Comes at you like a psychedelic rock song. I found the story pretty clever but really loved Burgess' sense of apocalypse, as if he transcribed images from Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights. I loved Tristram's trek thru degenerating England, the slow sprawl of history, moving from extreme police states on opposite poles of the structure.

Yes, the love story was clumsy, but t served the purpose of showing this world's dichotomy and hypocrisy, his wife leaving him for a fake gay man, being cursed in either worlds for asking questions and being against the establishment no matter who is in charge. The final payoff of the book wasn't as great as the sum of its parts.
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An amazing hallucinatory romp through what could be called social commentary, the main purpose of The Wanting Seed is to examine the ebb and flow of political life, how the world seems to veer from one set of rules, of justifications, to the next. The plot is nothing special, but Burgess creates such a skewed and hilarious world of cannibalistic spiritualism, forced sexuality, contrived war that the novel's other flaws are only minor stumbling blocks. He achieves this satire by having his world try to re-create the doings of the past---most hilariously by staging wars to create jobs and keep the population in check.

But where the novel really succeeds is representing how each authoritarian figure in the novel grasps almost mindlessly at the next perfect doctrine for controlling the world, be it a general whose only understanding of war is through old movies and the War Poets (a man of many famous first lines) or Tristram's brother, who callously jumps onto each new moral ideal, going from a leader in the INFERTILITY POLICE, needing to hide his illegitimate children in fear of being arrested, to a higher-up in the FERTILITY POLICE, now using those same bastard children as a method of advancing his career.

A wondrous, but flawed, novel. You truly get a sense of this sprawling world, and the journey chapters are very effective.

Think A Modest Proposal on bad Acid. (less)

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Dec 31, 2011 Al rated it 4 of 5 stars

the book was very well written, much like 1984, Fahrenheit and a brave new world at times. it took these novels a bit further though by explaining a bit of history. the main character a history teacher Tristan Foxe explains that there country goes though cycle phases. starting in a society where people believe that everyone is good and punishments are lite because they think people will learn. then the government gets fed up with how people can't be all good and more policing is needed. essentia...more

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Jan 27, 2012 Susan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Recommended to Susan by: Katy & Ron Phillips

Shelves: dystopia, science-fiction, glbt, fiction

This book was first published in 1962. That makes it one of the earliest dystopias I know about, though written more than a decade after Orwell's 1984. The author describes it as "a Malthusian comedy about the strange world overpopulation will produce." Early on, a main character, a historian, describes the way society continually goes through cycles (which he names Pelagian and Augustinian), and over the course of the book, the society actually morphs through both of those as well as some inter...more

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Feb 11, 2010 Adam rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: worldview, recent-enthusiasms

Set perhaps in the mid 22nd century, Anthony Burgess’s The Wanting Seed pictures a supremely progressive society which has failed to come to grips with the population problem. London now covers one-third of England. Homosexuals are a privileged class, and heterosexuals are quietly discriminated against and limited to one birth (live or dead) per couple.

Tristram Foxe, as a history teacher, is one of the few who understands the great changes when they come, literally turning his world on its head....more Set perhaps in the mid 22nd century, Anthony Burgess’s The Wanting Seed pictures a supremely progressive society which has failed to come to grips with the population problem. London now covers one-third of England. Homosexuals are a privileged class, and heterosexuals are quietly discriminated against and limited to one birth (live or dead) per couple.

Tristram Foxe, as a history teacher, is one of the few who understands the great changes when they come, literally turning his world on its head. He understands that human civilization exists as a pendulum that swings periodically between progressive and conservative theories of society. Not long after Tristram’s son dies and he finds that his successful “homosexual” brother--a ladder climber in the Ministry of Infertility--is having an affair with Tristram’s wife, England suddenly shows signs of becoming a police state. Famine has broken out, bands of deputized hoodlums roam the city streets, and there are rumors of cannibalism and . . . religion.

Tristram recognizes this as signs of the Interphase, a transition state between a progressive and a conservative society. The tension between true human nature and the progressive governmental suggestions (as opposed to laws) has reached the breaking point. The system cannot reconcile--on such a massive scale--the demands of famine, Utopian views on civil rights, and the unpredictability of the individual ego. Were can things go from here? Imagine this: population control through wars against an imaginary enemy--a confusion of the ends and the means of warfare.

Burgess’s talent for rhythmic prose and the “novel of ideas” makes, here, for a farcical dystopian story with tremendous narrative momentum and dark humor, a book that will suggest associations with Brave New World and Dr. Strangelove. Also, on the one hand, this 1962 novel has a wonderfully “old sci-fi” feel with its dated view of technology, and on the other hand, it is truly ahead of its time on topics like the carbon footprint obsession and progressive profiling for social mobility.(less)

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Dec 10, 2012 Mel rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 20th-century-fiction, scifi, distopia

I have to say the original "dystopia" sounded totally Utopian to me. In the world, homosexuality was encouraged, breeding was discouraged, race was something that was ignored and everyone had enough to eat, there was no war, no military, no religion, there was a liberal government that seemed half way between communism and anarchy. Of course the homophobic main characters didn't get a lot of sympathy from me, but I loved the setting. Of course things didn't stay that way as society was changing,...more

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Aug 15, 2009 Scott rated it 3 of 5 stars

If you like unbelievable use of Vocabulary you will like Anthony Burgess. And Burgess' novel The Wanting Seed will not let you down in that fashion. Overall the novel is dealing with population control in a futuristic dystopian society. More acute themes deal with desires, sexual, for life, and love. And how one can never give up trying to pursue what they believe in... especially love. The wanting seed is pretty epic as it follows the life of the main character Tristram. The journey reminded me...more

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About Anthony Burgess

Anthony Burgess was a British novelist, critic and composer. He was also a librettist, poet, playwright, screenwriter, essayist, travel writer, broadcaster, translator, linguist and educationalist. Born in Manchester, he lived for long periods in Southeast Asia, the USA and Mediterranean Europe as well as in England. His fiction includes the Malayan trilogy (The Long Day Wanes) on the dying days o...more

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“If you expect the worst from a person you can never be disappointed.” — 48 people liked it

“...We're a government that believes in everybody having the illusion of free will.” — 9 people liked it

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