Martin Amis: Lucre, Love and Literature by Peter Childs

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Martin Amis Lucre, Love and Literature by
Peter Childs

• English 1101-24
• Burgey
• Sheena Brown
• Tiffany Gillette
• Ashley Jordan
• Jermaine West
• Courtney Berry

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How could this article serve you?

• This essay rarely mentions Times Arrow and
  therefore would be useless for any further
  information on the novel.
• This essay would best be used to make a
  connection among Amis most praised works Money
  A Suicide Note, London Fields, and The Satanic
  Verses, The Information.
• It also provides a great analysis of the
  characters in the previously mentioned literary
  works.
• The previous articles presented in class focus on
  other literary works not mentioned in Childs
  essay. However, Understanding Martin Amis by
  James Diedrick does mention Vladimir Nabokov who
  Childs mentions as being a mentor to Amis.

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1. What is the purpose of this criticism?

• The purpose of this criticism is to provide
  literary analysis of an author, Amis, and how he
  is personally connected to his novels.
• It also serves to discuss the development of
  Amis writing style and connect the characters
  and plots of his literary works

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2. Does the author communicate and clearly debate
the issue (s), or does the author simply wish to
impress his audience or confuse the issue?

• The author clearly debates issues presented in
  the essay and strays from attempting to impress
  the audience. Instead the author focuses on
  presenting Amis works and their literal
  connections.

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3. On what aspect of the literature does the
author focus?

• The author focuses on Amis word choice, language
  usage, preferred style and effective storytelling
  methods.
• Amis is thus more interested in good and bad
  writing than in literature that attempts to
  delineate the good and the bad (Childs 35)

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4. Does the author build on unfounded assumptions
or on the work of others?

• Childs uses a few personal assumptions in his
  essay.
• Several times he mentions Critics but never
  provides any opinions or quotes that would give
  truth to statements like the following
• For many critics, Amis appeared to have little
  new to say (Childs 38)
• For many critics, Amis is the key English social
  novelist of the 1980s (Childs 39)

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5. What is the dominant method of persuasion?
Explain

• Childs utilizes reference to persuade the
  intended audience to understand the purpose of
  his essay.
• He provides several arguments and backs them with
  reference to Amis works, quoted statements, and
  several literary allusions, leaving the reader
  with no questions of validity to his essay.

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6. What is the thesis statement of this essay?

• Amis (b. 1949) is principally seen as a stylist
  and a satirist his books are often more praised
  for their use of language than for their subject
  matter, which has been criticized for its WASP
  insularity (Childs 35)

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7. How is the argument organized? List/Mark the
sub-points of argument.

• The argument is organized into three different
  sections. Each section discusses a different
  point about Martin Amis literary works. They
  discuss the criticisms about these works, the
  characters in them, and what roles the characters
  played in Amis life. The different sections are
  as follows
• 1.1.Literary History
• Dicusses the realation between Amis works and
  several of his mentors
• 1.2.Themes The Aesthetics of (Self-) Abuse and
  Apocalypse
• Makes a connection between the hardships faced by
  several characters in Amis works
• 1.3.Key Works Money, London Fields, The
  Information
• Focuses on three of Amis most famous literary
  works and how they depict Amis current position
  in life

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8. Explain the main argument in your own words.

• The main argument of Childs essay, which he
  mentions early on, is to prove that Amis writing
  style possesses qualities of an imposers.
• It is also it reveal how Amis makes a world of
  his own in the novels mentioned in the essay, a
  world of chaos, death, secrets, and pain.

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9. What is your reaction to his argument? Is it
the intended reaction? Does the author fail to
achieve his goal?

• In order for one writer to attempt and chastise
  another writers style and effectiveness there
  must be a lack in analysis of the writers
  preferences, however this essay provides a
  sufficient amount of proof and evidence of Amis
  intentions.
• It is possible that the author only expected for
  his readers to have a better understanding of his
  arguments and the way he views Amis literary
  style.