![]() ![]() Burgess also projected The Rhapsody Man as a “not over-long novel” about George Gershwin that would be “highly entertaining as well as thoughtful and moving”. With a beady eye on the marketplace, Burgess boldly saluted “the cinematic possibilities” of this novel, speculating that George C Scott might reprise his Oscar-winning success in the 1971 film Patton. ![]() This would narrate the imaginary career of General Patton from D-Day until the moment when, “with the connivance of a dithering Eisenhower”, Patton would drive through Berlin and “plant the US flag on the Kremlin, fulfilling Churchill’s own mad dream”. This New York “book packager”, a mix of hustler and literary agent, had enjoyed some success approaching well-known literary “names” with promises of huge publishing contracts from established American houses.Ĭollins’s tempting overture persuaded Burgess to dash off, on his Smith-Corona electric typewriter, new synopses for the “George trilogy”, retitled “an American trilogy”, including The True Patton Papers, “a very concise novel, totally unwindy, well-written but admitting no literary flourishes”. He knew he was bankable and was determined to cash in.Įnter Thomas P Collins, self-styled president of the (now defunct) Collins Corporation. ![]() Stanley Kubrick’s movie of A Clockwork Orange (1971) was enjoying worldwide acclaim, but its success had brought Burgess only meagre rewards. ![]()
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