The death of Anthony Burgess in 1993 brought an end to the career of one of the most prolific contemporary writers. Burgess was asked so frequently about his productivity that he eventually developed an apologia based on his energy, hard work, and sheer love of writing. In response to John Cullinan's opening question on the subject for an interview in the Paris Review (Spring 1973), he replied: "It has been a sin to be prolific only since the Bloomsbury group--particularly Forster--made it a point of good manners to produce, as it were, costively. I've been annoyed less by sneers at my alleged overproduction than by the imputation that to write much means to write badly." Burgess has also reminded his audience that unlike many writers, especially in the United States, he has supported himself entirely by his own writing and not as lavishly as some have. In the foreword to...