Bekentenissen van een jeugdig delinquent die in onconventionele taal vertelt over zijn criminele uitspattingen en zijn heropvoeding. - Oorspr. uitg.: 1962. Set in a dismal dystopia, it is the first-person account of a juvenile delinquent who undergoes state-sponsored psychological rehabilitation for his aberrant behavior. The novel satirizes extreme political systems that are based on opposing models of the perfectibility or incorrigibility of humanity. It is written in a futuristic slang vocabulary invented by Burgess, in part by adaptation of Russian words. Alex, the protagonist, has a passion for classical music and is a member of a vicious teenage gang that commits random acts of brutality. Captured and imprisoned, he is transformed through behavioral conditioning into a model citizen, but his taming also leaves him defenseless. He ultimately reverts to his former behavior.