Venture beat one hand clapping tv#

Janet flees with the remainder of their money, to begin a new life abroad, taking her husband with her in a chest. Janet resists, killing Howard with a coal hammer. On their return, however, Howard, disgusted by the corruption of the world they have seen - and troubled by prophetic glimpses of a coming decline in civilisation - declares that they must commit suicide together by barbiturates. He gambles his winnings on race horses and the couple become extremely wealthy and travel the world, staying in luxury hotels. He then discloses another gift: he is clairvoyant and can predict racing results.

Venture beat one hand clapping tv#

He uses his talent to enter, and win, a mega-money TV quiz show. Howard has an unusual talent: he has a photographic memory. The English saying 'It takes two to tango' has a similar connotation.Īnother novel by Anthony Burgess, The Enemy in The Blanket, also has a title that is a translation of a Malay proverb ('Musuh Dalam Selimut'). The phrase 'one hand clapping', if translated literally into Malay, means 'Bertepuk sebelah tangan', which usually means unrequited love when used in context of a relationship or romantic feelings. Burgess explained the title as follows: 'The clasped hands of marriage have been reduced to a single hand. The line, 'Two hands clap and there is a sound what is the sound of one hand?' is a traditional Zen koan, and the novel takes its title from this. The entire vocabulary in One Hand Clapping amounts to approximately 800 words. The novel was intended as an indictment of what Burgess saw as the degradation of contemporary Western education and culture.īurgess deliberately toned down his trademark love of vocabulary for the novel, which among other things lampoons the British television host Hughie Green. One Hand Clapping is a 1961 work by Anthony Burgess published originally under the pseudonym Joseph Kell in the UK.