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people up, and I wore Dr Martens rather than ballet
shoes! But like her, I was an autodidact, always looking
for something new.
BG: Whereas Clockwork Orange has the fictional
behaviour-control of the ludovico technique, the Bill
and Bob technique of your book is a direct attack on the
very real techniques of Alcoholics Anonymous and the
self help industry in general.
BW: My book isn’t a prediction, but looking at how
things could go if we follow America in this way, as
we do in so many other ways. The addiction ‘industry’
is massive in America, whole communities are leaving
this sober, denying life. It preaches that nothing is about
social conditions, it just says you’re morally defective
in some way.
BG: Your Alex is a symbol of autonomy against this
deterministic outlook?
BW: It’s about more than autonomy. It’s been said the
characters of the Scottish writers Kelman and Welsh
are informed a great deal by existentialism, determining
your own way no matter what the consequences, and no
matter what structures are in place. That’s true of Alex
certainly, she’s in tune with her inner existentialist!
BG: The invention at work in the language is probably
the books biggest achievement. Have you always been
into playing with language in this way?
BW: On one level it’s a really juvenile thing, playing
with words like toys. Its like a puzzle thing, playing
BUY Belinda Webb books online from and
with puzzles. But on another, language is so vital, so
important. Noam Chomsky talks about how language
informs power structures, how the words you use both
signify and inform your politics, where you’re coming
from. It all comes together in the book.
BG: Your language is inspired by Burgess’ ‘nadsat’,
but at the same time is very different to it. Once again,
its nothing like a pastiche.
BW: Burgess was a very intelligent man, and a linguist,
he was drawing from other languages, Russian, Spanish,
Italian. I know English and that’s all I know – I
think that’s enough to be getting on with! I looked at
English words which we no longer use for whatever
reason. Latin too, which has long been the preserve of
the elite. Once again, as with her intellectual passion, I
wanted Alex to reclaim these things for normal people.
BG: The Mancunian dystopia you explore is female
dominated, with males largely obsolete. Is female
domination a bad thing, or is this one positive aspect of
an otherwise grim future?
BW: Not it’s not positive. The perspective of the book
is I’d say humanist rather than feminist, and the fact
men are on the way out is drawing on the marginalisation
of men today in working class communities
like Moss Side. Male lives are wasted and that’s not a
good thing.
BG: Some readers might be surprised to see a book set
in Moss Side with little mention made of race, and the
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