Saturday 8 April 2006

Karma, Tooth Fairy Conspiring

All week I thought bad thoughts about Martin Amis. So much talent yet such a dick, etc. Then voila! one of my fillings fell out.

8 comments:

Kerryn Goldsworthy said...

Yes, that follows. In terms of logic, this makes a lot more sense than some of the things the RWDBs are saying over at LP about economic theory at the moment.

Tim said...

During my recent spate of mouth problems I've been thinking about Martin Amis even more than usual. Particularly the "teeth" sections of Experience. Which I happen to love. Even though everybody else hates it.

I only wish I was old enough to have read Martin Amis back when it was cool to do so. Sigh, I'm always behind the times.

(Although I agree, he is a bit of a dick. But I reckon I'd get along all right with him. Not sure what that says about me.)

lucy tartan said...

When was it cool to read MR? And does that mean it's not cool any more? So hard to keep abreast of these things.

The teeth parts of Experience are precisely what I was thinking of when I wrote this. I think there is tooth stuff in Dead Babies too? And others no doubt. Anyway, the teeth chapters are Martin at his best - without affectations. But that book contains some things that make me want to vomit. In particular there is a footnoted namedrop which makes completely gratuitous reference to the suicide of a near relation of the name-dropped person. You don't publish things like that unless you're a dick. I like the cover photograph very very much, however.

Tim said...

Can't remember the footnote in question. But yeah, there are a lot of bad teeth in Dead Babies.

I'm not sure when it was cool to read MA. Perhaps it never was, or perhaps it still is. Or isn't. I regularly get curled lips in response when I say he's a fave, though.

Juke said...

The fact that your filling fell out settles beyond dispute the question of Amis being a dick.

lucy tartan said...

Yes.

redbarren said...

i read mr 'i have a major daddy complex' amis' "the information" pre finding the voices i love ala zadie smith, david foster wallace, jon franzen, and nicole krauss and hubby safran foer. so amis definitely is an english pratt. and i much prefer brisbanewindow.com for an english pratt talking postmodernism in bris vegas as his geo-locating identify defers. agreed with your quote too lucy re conferences downunder, lets get some collaboration happening here. bb

lucy tartan said...

I should probably just leave this alone...but there were some things about the way Experience handled the West murders that disgusted me. At times I felt that Amis had kind of seized upon this event and from the start had (with some part of his mind) viewed it as writing-fodder, grist to his mill. I can't quite write him off for that though, much as it'd simplify things, because the book is honest, and he doesn't spare himself.