Homage to Qwert Yuiop

First edition (publ. Hutchinson)

Homage to Qwert Yuiop (1986) — published in the United States as But Do Blondes Prefer Gentlemen? — is a collection of essays by Anthony Burgess.

Book reviews form the bulk of the content, though there are various essays and an interview Burgess conducted with Graham Greene.

Large tracts deal with the written word, especially a variety of linguistic reviews and papers, as well as a great many dictionaries, phrase books, books of quotations, etc. Burgess was widely known as a polyglot, and frequently includes linguistic anecdotes (etymology and so forth), from English, Russian, Greek, Latin and Malay.

A section of the book deals with the movie business, including histories of a variety of film stars and early Hollywood producers, about many of whom Burgess had strong opinions.

Another section is devoted to reviews of biographies of authors, including Dickens, Beckett and Hemingway. The book finishes with reviews of literature by novelists including H. G. Wells and Kingsley Amis.

The book displays the tremendous amount of knowledge Burgess had accumulated by the age of 66, especially concerning geography, travel, cultures, languages and literature.

The title of the collection is a reference to the urban legend of an Hungarian man named Qwert Yuiop, who supposedly invented the modern English keyboard layout and left his name lightly hidden in it ('qwert yuiop' are the ten letters that make up the top row of letters on a standard QWERTY keyboard).

(1986) ISBN 0-349-10440-9

Works by Anthony Burgess

Novels	The Long Day Wanes Time for a Tiger The Enemy in the Blanket Beds in the East The Right to an Answer The Doctor is Sick The Worm and the Ring Devil of a State One Hand Clapping A Clockwork Orange The Wanting Seed Honey for the Bears Inside Mr. Enderby The Eve of St. Venus Nothing Like the Sun A Vision of Battlements Tremor of Intent Enderby Outside M/F Napoleon Symphony The Clockwork Testament Beard's Roman Women Abba Abba 1985 Man of Nazareth Earthly Powers The End of the World News Enderby's Dark Lady The Kingdom of the Wicked The Pianoplayers Any Old Iron Mozart and the Wolf Gang A Dead Man in Deptford Byrne

Short story collections	The Devil's Mode

Poetry	Moses: A Narrative Revolutionary Sonnets

Essays	An Essay on Censorship Homage to Qwert Yuiop One Man's Chorus

Critical works	Shakespeare Joysprick Ninety-Nine Novels Language Made Plain A Mouthful of Air

Operettas	Blooms of Dublin

Symphonies	Sinfoni Melayu

Autobiography	Little Wilson and Big God You've Had Your Time

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