Martin Amis: Postmodernism and Beyond

267 Pages·2006·1.26 MB·English

by  Gavin Keulks (eds.)

Martin Amis: Postmodernism and Beyond
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Martin Amis:
Postmodernism and Beyond
Edited by Gavin Keulks
palgrave
macmillan
© Editorial matter, selection and Introduction © Gavin Keulks 2006
All remaining chapters © respective authors 2006
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2006 978-0-230-00830-4
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this
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work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2006 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN
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Companies and representatives throughout the world
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave
Macmillan division of St. Martin’s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd.
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ISBN 978-1-349-28391-0 ISBN 978-0-230-59847-8 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230598478
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully
managed and sustained forest sources.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Martin Amis : Postmodernism and beyond / edited by Gavin Keulks.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-349-28391-0 (cloth)
1. Amis, Martin–Criticism and interpretation. 2. Postmodernism
(Literature)–Great Britain. I. Keulks, Gavin.
PR6051.M5Z75 2006
823′.914–dc22 2006045216
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06
For
R.S.B. & E.C.R.
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Contents
Acknowledgements ix
Notes on the Contributors x
Introduction 1
Gavin Keulks, Western Oregon University (USA)
1 “My Heart Really Goes Out to Me”: The Self-indulgent
Highway to Adulthood in The Rachel Papers 9
Neil Brooks, University of Western Ontario (Canada)
2 Looking-glass Worlds in Martin Amis’s Early Fiction:
Reflectiveness, Mirror Narcissism, and Doubles 22
Richard Todd, University of Leiden (the Netherlands)
3 The Passion of John Self: Allegory, Economy, and
Expenditure in Martin Amis’s Money 36
Tamás Bényei, University of Debrecen (Hungary)
4 Money Makes the Man: Gender and Sexuality in
Martin Amis’s Money 55
Emma Parker, University of Leicester (UK)
5 Martin Amis and Late-twentieth-century Working-class
Masculinity: Money andLondon Fields 71
Philip Tew, Brunel University (UK)
6 The Female Form, Sublimation, and Nicola Six 87
Susan Brook, Simon Fraser University (Canada)
7 Martin Amis’sTime’s Arrowand the Postmodern
Sublime 101
Brian Finney, California State University, Long Beach (USA)
8 Under the Dark Sun of Melancholia: Writing and Loss
in The Information 117
Catherine Bernard, University of Paris 7, Denis Diderot
(France)
9 Mimesis and Informatics in The Information 137
Richard Menke, University of Georgia (USA)
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10 W(h)ither Postmodernism: Late Amis 158
Gavin Keulks, Western Oregon University (USA)
11 J.G. Ballard’s “Inner Space” and the Early Fiction of
Martin Amis 180
James Diedrick, Agnes Scott College (USA)
12 A Reluctant Leavisite: Martin Amis’s “Higher
Journalism” 197
M. Hunter Hayes, Texas A&M University-Commerce (USA)
13 Nonfiction by Martin Amis, 1971–2005 211
Bibliography, compiled by James Diedrick and M. Hunter Hayes
Index 235
Acknowledgements
This collection is the product of more than two years of correspon-
dence, thought, and effort. I thank my contributors for their dedica-
tion to the project, their generosity of spirit, and their collegial
enthusiasm. It has been an honor to work with each of them as this
book – and our professional relationships – evolved.
I also thank my wife, Preeti, for so patiently enduring the emotional
economy of scholarship.
ix