It started with a smuggled copy of James Joyce’s Ulysses. That illicit loan ignited a lifelong passion. Now, standing before the International Anthony Burgess Foundation, we celebrate the legacy of a literary giant. The International Anthony Burgess Foundation is an educational charity in Manchester. It promotes engagement with all aspects of the life and work of Anthony Burgess. He was a novelist and composer born in Manchester in 1917.
Established in 2003 by Liana Burgess, Anthony’s second wife. The Burgess Foundation cares for an extensive library and archive. It consists of books, photographs, music and personal papers. There are also business papers, furniture and other objects. These items belonged to Burgess, his two wives and his son.
Burgess’s love for James Joyce began early. As a student at Xaverian College in Manchester, his history master smuggled a copy of Ulysses out of Nazi Germany. This moment was seminal. Burgess said that after reading Joyce, neither literature nor life could ever be the same.
The International Anthony Burgess Foundation houses over 9000 volumes. Most formed Burgess’s private library. Topics include language, linguistics and literary criticism. You can find poetry, drama, social science and geography. There is history, politics and biographies. The collection also includes general fiction, art and architecture. TV, film and music are represented too. There are novels by Burgess in English and translation. The library contains copies of books and journals to which he contributed. It also holds secondary works on Burgess’s life and writing.
Browsing the collection reveals Burgess’s wider interactions and friendships. You can see his general interests and his work as a literary critic. The books inspired and informed his projects. Discover the authors he most enjoyed reading. James Joyce was Burgess’s favourite writer. The library contains approximately sixty copies of editions of works by Joyce. They are in English, Italian and French. This includes eighteen copies of Ulysses. There are ten copies of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Numerous critical studies of Joyce’s work are available. Find biographies and volumes of his collected correspondence. A cookbook features food and drink from Joyce’s Dublin. Burgess wrote the introduction.
Burgess measured himself hopelessly against Joyce each time he wrote fiction. Joyce was a source of great inspiration. Burgess wrote extensively on Joyce. He produced critical studies like Here Comes Everybody and Joysprick. He created an edition of A Shorter Finnegans Wake. Burgess made a BBC documentary, Silence, Exile and Cunning. He developed a program for American television, Lots of Fun at Finnegans Wake. He wrote a documentary about Joyce and Igor Stravinsky for Swedish television. An operetta, Blooms of Dublin, was based on Ulysses. He also composed musical settings of several Joyce poems. He penned introductions to reprints of Dubliners and A Portrait of the Artist.
Among the manuscripts are playing cards designed by Burgess in homage to Joyce. Inspiration for the suits and court card characters came from Joyce’s novels. The library and archive are open to researchers by appointment. The reading room welcomes visitors on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
The International Anthony Burgess Foundation contributes to the Archives Hub. Cataloguing of the archive is ongoing. Explore the growing range of resources at the Anthony Burgess website. Find exhibitions, podcasts and blogs. You can also follow the Foundation on Twitter.
So, as you leave the International Anthony Burgess Foundation, remember Anthony Burgess. He was a man deeply influenced by literature and music. His foundation ensures his legacy lives on. It inspires future generations.