Abba Abba

Abba Abba is a short novel published in 1977 by the English writer Anthony Burgess (his 22nd novel). The theme is the last months in the life of John Keats. In Part One, the poet has various adventures, meeting up with the great Roman (dialectal) poet Giuseppe Gioacchino Belli in the Sistene Chapel, and Pauline Bonaparte, sister of Napoleon, in the Pincio.

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Part Two consists of about seventy (from a total of 2279) amusingly blasphemous sonnets by Belli, purportedly translated by one "Joseph Joachim Wilson", a descendent of the Roman man-of-letters Giovanni Gulielmi (a character in Part 1). An elaborate passage describes how the Italian Gulielmis were transformed into English Wilsons, "during a wave of anti-Italian feeling occasioned by alleged ice-cream poisoning in the 1890's in the Lancashire coastal resorts of Blackpool, Clevelys, Bispham and Fleetwood". But AB is simply having fun; "J. J. Wilson" is a thinly-veiled "John Anthony Burgess Wilson".

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Anthony Burgess: Anthony Burgess (1917-1993) was an English novelist and critic. He was also active as a composer, librettist, poet, playwright, screenwriter, journalist, essayist, travel writer, broadcaster, translator and educationalist. Born John Burgess Wilson in Manchester, England, he lived and worked variousl...

John Keats: John Keats (October 31, 1795 – February 23, 1821) was one of the principal poets in the English Romantic movement. During his short life, his work was the subject of constant critical attacks, and it was not until much later that the significance of the cultural change which his work both pres...

Giuseppe Gioacchino Belli: Giuseppe Gioacchino Belli (March 7, 1791 - December 21, 1863) was an Italian poet, born in Rome. After a period of literary employment in poor circumstances, his marriage with a woman of means enabled him to follow his special vein of literature. He is remembered for his vivid popular poetry in the ...

Abba Abba related Images and Photos (experimental)

Abba	Abba	ABBA - Gold Logo	ABBA - Gold Logo
ABBA: Number Ones CD	ABBA: Number Ones CD