Martin Amis and The Rub of Time
Rest in peace, Martin.
Your writing has been called "unpleasant," and you got a reputation as a literary bad boy (whatever that might be... though it actually sounds like fun) yet your writing is, in truth, the opposite of unpleasant: it is always insightful, more patient than I would be, and wonderfully, bitingly funny.
There is love to be found in the reviews and interviews in "The Rub of Time." Love of literature, love of reading and writing. Love for life.
Maybe it was your honesty that rubbed people the wrong way. You were too insightful and ironic, and some folks are never going to "get" that. But reading your stuff definitely added a little zest to this reader's life. And it will continue to. Thank you.
In his reviews, we find that what Martin valued most of all is the GENEROSITY of the work. As a journalist, all his famously snide humor is merely ornamental, because what Amis sought, and delivered to his readers, was the HEART of the work.
As a reader and a reviewer, he's one of us, no more and no less. Over and over again, Amis states his case: we, as readers, must find that when we read we are tapping into a deep undercurrent of comprehension and innovation. The writer's task is monumental: he or she must be willing and able to forge scenes and images through words, which will come blazing to life in our minds.
Great writing provides a "throb", a feeling which reminds us of how mindboggly strange it is to be alive, how blessed we are to be here at all. Lacking that, Amis will savage you, snub you, label you as mediocre.
These words can be found on the final page of this treasure trove, words which encapsulate everything, about writing and about life, the way Martin Amis saw it:
"People are original and distinctive in their virtues; in their vices they are compromised, hackneyed, and stale."
Expressed in the words of a simpleton (me): excellence enriches us in a multitude of ways, while stupidity is always just the same old crap.
You were excellent, Martin. Thank you, and godspeed.
Your writing has been called "unpleasant," and you got a reputation as a literary bad boy (whatever that might be... though it actually sounds like fun) yet your writing is, in truth, the opposite of unpleasant: it is always insightful, more patient than I would be, and wonderfully, bitingly funny.
There is love to be found in the reviews and interviews in "The Rub of Time." Love of literature, love of reading and writing. Love for life.
Maybe it was your honesty that rubbed people the wrong way. You were too insightful and ironic, and some folks are never going to "get" that. But reading your stuff definitely added a little zest to this reader's life. And it will continue to. Thank you.
In his reviews, we find that what Martin valued most of all is the GENEROSITY of the work. As a journalist, all his famously snide humor is merely ornamental, because what Amis sought, and delivered to his readers, was the HEART of the work.
As a reader and a reviewer, he's one of us, no more and no less. Over and over again, Amis states his case: we, as readers, must find that when we read we are tapping into a deep undercurrent of comprehension and innovation. The writer's task is monumental: he or she must be willing and able to forge scenes and images through words, which will come blazing to life in our minds.
Great writing provides a "throb", a feeling which reminds us of how mindboggly strange it is to be alive, how blessed we are to be here at all. Lacking that, Amis will savage you, snub you, label you as mediocre.
These words can be found on the final page of this treasure trove, words which encapsulate everything, about writing and about life, the way Martin Amis saw it:
"People are original and distinctive in their virtues; in their vices they are compromised, hackneyed, and stale."
Expressed in the words of a simpleton (me): excellence enriches us in a multitude of ways, while stupidity is always just the same old crap.
You were excellent, Martin. Thank you, and godspeed.
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