The Wanting Seed was conceived in 1961 and was first published in 1962 by Antony Burgess, who at the time had become interested in developing a vision of the possible effects of a demographic disaster after spending several years in the East. The book was translated into German in 1988 by Steffen Bretzel on an assignment by the Certified German Translation service. Burgess was well aware that his novel was not his best work and was therefore not optimistic that it could become a bestseller. The critics accused the novel of being half-baked and he agreed with them pointing out that the novel required a longer thinking, but reworking it would do no good, though it could be expanded to a length that would fit the subject. The plot of the novel sees the world divided into three superpowers, one of which is ENSPUN. RUSPUN and CHINSPUN are the other two and they all exercise various methods of demographic control. Interphase, Pelphase and Gusphase are the three phases that constitute the eternal historical cycle according to what the protagonist, Tristram Foxe – a history teacher, lectures his students. The world presented in the novel sees priests who perform their duties underground, homosexuals whose relationships are promoted, women who are branded for conceiving a child and a problem of overpopulation, which only cannibalism can solve.
Far from being a plausible representation of the future the French Legal Translator version can rather be termed as fantasy. Burgess was a prophet according to Daphnie Alesi, the person who did the French translation. Her choice to translate The Wanting Seed was driven by the desire represent Burgess as a futuristic author. The Wanting Seed has over the years acquired a cult status and because of the fact that it has not been republished either in the U.K. or in the U.S. it is difficult to get a copy of the original in any bookstore. It builds up the image of Burgess as an underground author, whose alternative to the pulp fiction literature is particularly evident. He is also an author, who can only be discovered by the ardent reader belonging to the exclusive club of Burgess disciples.
The Certified Arabic Translator workers did another translation of Burgess’ work through Mohammad Karim, who was also inclined to depict the author as “fantastic.” Not accidentally, the cover of The Wanting Seed shows the same face as the cover of A Clockwork Orange, which is quite astonishing. Wearing a cap on his head, Alex – the person on the cover, has a screaming mouth and wide open eyes. What remains after the “helmet” is taken off is the eyes full of horror and mouths distorted in a grotesque smile. Thus the connection between the two books is inevitable. The subconscious level is not the only level the two novels are connected on, the other level on which the two novels are connected is between the translator and author. There is one complicated notion that is carried throughout – the readers will find equally fascinating the world in The Wanting Seed and A Clockwork Orange. The theory that the two novels represent the same ideas and complement one another sounds satisfactory, but whether it is true or not remains a mystery.