Martin Amis is rude...

[TGS]

Whilst I agree that Martin Amis's comments about writing for children are possibly ill-considered, and he does come over as something of a vain, arrogant man who has probably already written his best and knows it, I don't think he can be blamed for the ignorance of some posters, and, perhaps, if you haven't heard of him that's indicative of a deficit in your knowledge and not evidence of his his crapness, (which, if you haven't heard of him you are hardly qualified to comment upon).

[JeremyR]

Originally Posted by Andrew H.

Martin Amis is extremely well-known; he's one of the most famous modern British authors.

Y'all should expand your horizons.

Sounds like he's the literary version of Robbie Williams. Incredibly (and inexplicably) popular in the UK, but mostly (and thankfully) unknown in the US.

(Just looking him up on the US version of amazon, his books do not seem particularly popular here).

J.K Rowling is great example of a most famous modern British author. Terry Pratchett. Bernard Cornwell. Even Jeremy Clarkson.

[GlenBarrington]

Martin Amis is extremely well-known; he's one of the most famous modern British authors.

Y'all should expand your horizons.[/QUOTE]

Well, apparently he isn't THAT famous! There is, after all, a difference between deserving fame and having fame. I will leave it up to others to determine the level of fame that he deserves.

[elcreative]

Confusing famous and popular authors that sell with critically famous literary author that most readers ignore because he's so far up his own... ideas...

Originally Posted by JeremyR

Sounds like he's the literary version of Robbie Williams. Incredibly (and inexplicably) popular in the UK, but mostly (and thankfully) unknown in the US.

(Just looking him up on the US version of amazon, his books do not seem particularly popular here).

J.K Rowling is great example of a most famous modern British author. Terry Pratchett. Bernard Cornwell. Even Jeremy Clarkson.

[soondai]

whataya expect from the author of "Dead Babies" ?

[hgwlackey]

I loved "Time's Arrow." Wasn't an easy read, but I found it worth it.

[doreenjoy]

There are some wonderful prose passages in Time's Arrow. He has a way with words, for sure.

I have no real comment about his comment that started this thread. Shrug.

[queentess]

"People ask me if I ever thought of writing a children's book.
"I say, 'If I had a serious brain injury I might well write a children's book', but otherwise the idea of being conscious of who you're directing the story to is anathema to me, because, in my view, fiction is freedom and any restraints on that are intolerable.
"I would never write about someone that forced me to write at a lower register than what I can write."

Translation from Egotistic Phraseology: I don't have the depth as a writer to write for a particular audience

[doreenjoy]

Originally Posted by queentess

"I would never write about someone that forced me to write at a lower register than what I can write."

Translation from Egotistic Phraseology: I don't have the depth as a writer to write for a particular audience

I think he's actually saying he could never write a young protagonist. It's not the audience he's saying is at a lower level, it's the character, IMO.

[SlowRain]

While his comment was somewhat rude, his reasoning is sound. I think Children's authors are talking it too hard because they have an overinflated sense of their own importance and skill, just like Amis has an overinflated sense of his own as well.

Still, jerk that he may be, he's one author I definitely want to read (I figure if I can distinguish between Gore Vidal's ability and personality, I should be able to do the same for Amis).

I'm also not surprised so few people on here have heard of him. He's in a category I don't see discussed much on MR.

[hidari]

Originally Posted by SlowRain

While his comment was somewhat rude, his reasoning is sound. I think Children's authors are talking it too hard because they have an overinflated sense of their own importance and skill, just like Amis has an overinflated sense of his own as well.

Still, jerk that he may be, he's one author I definitely want to read (I figure if I can distinguish between Gore Vidal's ability and personality, I should be able to do the same for Amis).

I'm also not surprised so few people on here have heard of him. He's in a category I don't see discussed much on MR.

He is definitely a strong personality. Maybe some member of MR have not hear of him, but he has been on bookshelves in North America and Europe for years. I read a lot of Lit and he his well-known for several of his novels and literary criticism. His book on Stalin Koba the dread is decent. I think too many people get into a huff on some of his comments. You should see how he slaughters authors in some of his literary critiques of books. Even he has admitted that he was too harsh in his younger days. I do not think he is a fan of Disneyland and other shallow tripe.

London Fields is probably his most famous work. I would recommend that or his literary criticism books for a start. He is "known" outside of Britain but does not write in popular genre styles like romance, SF, Fantasy, Mystery etc... so has a much smaller fan base.

[charleski]

Sure, Martin Amis is well-known to be arrogant and over-prone to self-importance, but I have a really hard time working out what is supposed to be rude about his remarks:

...the idea of being conscious of who you're directing the story to is anathema to me, because, in my view, fiction is freedom and any restraints on that are intolerable.

I would never write about someone that forced me to write at a lower register than what I can write.

Amis' style (at his best) is quite complex. He's saying that he'd be unable to convert that to something that children would grasp. Some authors can do that (James Joyce wrote a children's story a few years before finishing Finnegans Wake), but some can't, and Amis is in the latter group.

This episode is typical Amis, though, and I bet he's laughing his pants off at all those who've chosen to take umbrage - although there's no actual insult, it's easy to infer one, but that's just falling into the trap.

[BenG]

Few people over here have heard of him because he's never been picked by Oprah's Book Club or been on TZM.

[ardeegee]

Originally Posted by BenG

Few people over here have heard of him because he's never been picked by Oprah's Book Club or been on TZM.

Are you trying to be condescending and rude, or does it just come naturally?

[BenG]

Neither. It was tongue in cheek. I have heard of him and read reviews of his books but none have ever caught my interest enough to read him. Most culture (including mine) in this country is pop culture.
And I wasn't thinking of anyone in this thread just the country in general.

(and I mostly like Oprah, though I don't watch her very often)