Anthony Burgess and the Short Story, Forty Years Later

Over forty years ago, the Journal of the Short Story in English was created by Prof. Ben Forkner. Anthony Burgess, a close friend of Forkner, was invited to give a keynote lecture on the short story at the inauguration of this new scientific journal. Burgess began his speech by announcing that he did not write short fiction himself, which was actually untrue. Burgess wrote thirty short stories during his lifetime. This article, therefore, studies the different characteristics of short fiction presented in Burgess’s 1983 lecture and uses his short story “Will and Testament” as a case study in order to highlight the techniques and traits typical of Burgessian short fiction.