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Originally Posted by HarryT
It came across to me that he was simply saying that he personally is not able to write at a "lower level" than he does. I didn't take it as a general statement about people who do write for children.
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This is probably the right interpretation.
Were I to find myself interviewing Martin Amis, I'm not sure I would have asked the question, 'would you ever consider writing children's fiction'. It's actually quite a good question, though - his answer was certainly very revealing about his attitude towards his own writing and what he wants to achieve with it.
Where his statement becomes rather annoying is that he seems to be implying that he is a 'literary' author, and doesn't want to debase his writing by penning genre fiction. Children's literature is just another genre, in that you write with a particular implied reader in mind and there are certain conventions to follow - or break.
I disagree strongly with this dichotomy between 'literary' and 'genre fiction'. Consider the author of The Wasteland writing Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. The author of Lady Lazarus writing Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams. Look at Samuel Beckett's unironic love of end-of-the-pier slapstick comedy routines. Roald Dahl's adult fiction. Martin Amis' own Night Train: pretty much a straight piece of detective fiction; albeit embellished with Amis' typically imaginative linguistic flourishes.
It's funny, too, because I think that this linguistic playfulness is often the most child-like thing about his work (it's certainly the best thing about it), and something that would translate very well into children's fiction.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Xoanon
He's one of those literary types who always go around with a face that looks like they have a little bit of poo stuck under their nose.
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This sums up Amis' public persona very well. If you read his autobiographical 'Experience', you find that he's quite aware of what he is. Remember that he's the son of Kingsley, and grew up marinading in all of his old-English (and upper-middle class) prejudices and the literary circles Kingsley moved in.