Martin Amis is rude...

[DarkRoast]

Firstly, people love to jump on the comments of other people they don't like, make assumptions and skew them in a negative way, without giving too much thought to what the person was actually saying or meaning by their comments.
Secondly, I don't think whether a person is nice or not, has anything to do with being talented and able to offer the world something of value.
Secondly and a 1/2, it would be a dull world if all authors were banal and inoffensive all the time.
Thirdly, a person's public image doesn't really tell us much about what they are like as a whole person. It just tells us if they are good at marketing.
Fourthly, I am also surprised that so many readers haven't heard of him.
Still thinking about fifthly...

[doreenjoy]

it would be a dull world if all authors were banal and inoffensive all the time.

There's no danger of people being banal and inoffensive in this thread!

[david_e]

Let us also keep in the mind the vast difference between being able to read something and being able to comprehend something. Until participating in these forums I had never experienced so many of one group and so few of the other.

I find I must also remind myself (all to often) that, while most people with a voracious reading habit may have a greater intellect, the majority, and by no means all, of the active participants seem more interested in the DEVICES on which one COULD read and less interested in reading itself.

All this thread is really missing is for some dullard to come along and point out how this Mr. Amis, whom they've never heard of, writes his unknown works on a Macbook, making all of this the evil machinations of Apple and/or Steve Jobs.

[wowen]

I'm not a fan of his literature, but really, the statement was simply grandstanding. It is the literary equivalent of Lady Gaga turning up in a meat dress. Martin Amis is well aware of this, he is a skilled author with a flair for portraying indulgent characters, which clearly carries through into his own life.

Once you ignore the opening line you left with a statement saying that he writes for himself, he doesn't write for an audience, and believes the art of a novelist to do that rather than target your work to an audience. Therefore any attempt to write children's fiction is a compromise.

Of course you can disagree, but I like the fact he at least has dedication to his craft, even if I disagree with his stance and the way he expressed it.

Whether readers here are aware of him or not, or have read him novels or not, he is one of the most well known literary figures living in the UK today despite selling less books than JK Rowling or Jeremy Clarkson.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by TGS

You made an assertion which is unsupported by the text. My inference was however supported by the text - otherwise it wouldn't have been an inference.

Did you watch the interview, TGS? I did, and it really did not come across as "rude"? A transcription of somebody's words can often have a "tone" that's very different to actually hearing them say them.

[TGS]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Did you watch the interview, TGS? I did, and it really did not come across as "rude"? A transcription of somebody's words can often have a "tone" that's very different to actually hearing them say them.

No Harry I based my comments on the Telegraph article as is clear from my OP - as apparently did charleski, whose comments I was responding to. This whole thread is based on the Telegraph article, not on the televised interview, which quite clearly portrays Martin Amis as being rude, or at least as eliciting responses from children's authors themselves as though he was being rude or worse. Maybe you should take your point up with the editor of that paper, or with the children's authors who you seem to be claiming misunderstood his comments - unless you have some particular reason for repeating the same point to me.

Originally Posted by HarryT

But I may of course be wrong

You may, but you seem to be quite concerned with showing that I am.

[Richey79]

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.

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.

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.

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.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by TGS

Maybe you should take your point up with the editor of that paper, or with the children's authors who you seem to be claiming misunderstood his comments - unless you have some particular reason for repeating the same point to me.

I do disagree with the title of this thread: "Martin Amis is Rude". But as you point out, it wasn't you who made the claim, but the Telegraph, so yes, it's them that I'm disagreeing with, not you.

[TGS]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I do disagree with the title of this thread: "Martin Amis is Rude".

You think that Martin Amis is not rude?

[pdurrant]

I think some Belloc is called for.

When I am dead, I hope it may be said:
"His sins were scarlet, but his books were read."

— Hilaire Belloc.

It seems to me that Martin Amis's sin in this case is a very light pink.

[TGS]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I think some Belloc is called for.

When I am dead, I hope it may be said:
"His sins were scarlet, but his books were read."

— Hilaire Belloc.

It seems to me that Martin Amis's sin in this case is a very light pink.

Indeed! Rudeness is not the greatest of vices, and oftentimes can be quite entertaining or even necessary - particularly when practiced by such a skillful proponent as Martin Amis. I wasn't, after all, suggesting he was a bad man - merely a rude one.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by TGS

You think that Martin Amis is not rude?

He didn't strike me as being rude in the interview in question. I'm not sufficiently familiar with him to be able to judge whether or not, in a broader sense, he is a habitually rude person.

[queentess]

Originally Posted by HarryT

He didn't strike me as being rude in the interview in question. I'm not sufficiently familiar with him to be able to judge whether or not, in a broader sense, he is a habitually rude person.

Ditto. I've never heard of him before, but this comment didn't seem rude to me. Just a bunch of writers getting offended over nothing. It takes all types of people to do all types of jobs. *shrug* I'm not sure why someone saying they can't or wouldn't do a particular job is rude.

[queentess]

Originally Posted by doreenjoy

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.

I agree with your assessment.

[Dr. Drib]

I'm an admirer of Martin Amis's fiction, particularly his book of short stories titled "Heavy Water."

The short story, "Career Move," is a hilarious send-up of writers of poetry. In a kind of alternate world, one writer of poetry is flown all over the world and treated like a king as he options off a poem for the movies; while scriptwriters, on the other hand, struggle for publication and survival.

If you like slightly surreal fiction that plays with wild ideas, then I can highly recommend this book.


Don