Again with the Bragging
Posted by: Keir Graff
I haven’t even read Martin Amis’ new novel, House of Meetings, yet, and already he’s talking to Reuters about how much we’ll hate the next one:
“It’s not that far from being finished, so it’s long-ish and very autobiographical and very indiscreet and it will be much hated, and I will be, again.”
Why will we hate Amis and his book?
“There are very recognizable people in it. It’s a sort of celebrity novel but high-brow.
“Mostly what it is is women . . . you know, how it went with women. It’s very much about a period of history I lived through, which is the entire sex revolution starting in the 60s coming up to now. The title is The Pregnant Widow. It’s a Russian-inspired title.”
October 24th, 2006 at 10:26 am
[...] The narrator is a man who’s done terrible things and is able to look at them philosophically–a perfect character for a writer like Amis, who isn’t afraid to say anything. (And who indeed may fear the idea of failing to outrage people.) But I do suspect that old age leads us toward extremes of either nostalgia or disillusionment, and the narrator is at a point in his life where there’s nothing to be gained by dishonesty. (Although I find myself wondering why he’s so blunt with Venus, the young woman for whom he’s writing.) [...]