Needless to say, the film version has become so well known, this is one of of those cases where the original version has been forgotten.

Originally published by Heinemann, UK in 1962, A Clockwork Orange originally contained a 7th chapter which became an issue. In this extremely short Chapter 7, Alex began thinking about marriage and starting a family but the American publishers asked that it be cut—on the grounds that the cruel nature of the book had been lost—and published minus the chapter.

Kubrick based his movie on the versions without this final chapter (generally a movie script is based on the original version) and in Japan the old paperback edition was published in 1980 without Chapter 7.

Of course, the story is really entertaining without the last part but I think Kubrick’s decision was wrong, in the sense that the full version is not bad at all.

I love the movie version but because there was this Chapter 7, I wonder if read as part of the book, would the image of Alex be spoiled somehow?