"On the 15th everybody got drunk."

"On August 5th Hiroshima was blasted, with over seventy-eight thousand dead.(...) On August 8th Russia declared war against Japan and, the following day, was perhaps present in spirit at Nagasaki when seventy-five thousand were blasted. On the 14th Japan surrendered unconditionally. On the 15th everybody got drunk."

A Vision of Battlements, Anthony Burgess

 To celebrate and commemorate Victory over Japan Day, the very end of World War II, I thought of this quote from the very first novel of my favourite writer. The novel is in fact a rewritten Aeneid, set in Gibraltar during the war. It is also a very fictionalised account of Burgess' own wartime experiences. I could have pondered a lot about the anniversary, but I don't think one can beat this brief yet very lively account. In essence, this is what it meant for the conscripts, maybe not so much the heavy loss of lives in a nuclear blast, but the end of a long time of servitude. And I will add that you read A Vision of Battlements for lines like these.

A Vision of Battlements

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of Anthony Burgess, his very first novel, A Vision of Battlements, has been re-edited, among other works, in hardcover. Which means that I will have it asap. I don't know when I will read it exactly, but it would be fitting to read it this year. I have always been curious about it. His first novel means, in a way, his literary birth, or his first literary child. Emulating James Joyce (Burgess' favourite writer) A Vision is a rewriting of The Aeneid, which I read, but decades ago. So I wonder if I should not revisit the epic poem first, or have it at hand here as a work of reference. In any case, I encourage you to cease the opportunity to buy it and discover it like me. And here is a promotional video, which gives you a foretaste of the work: