Does Martin Amis have no friends who can have a quiet word with him? No sooner has he finished rubbishing that increasingly large and influential section of society, the elderly, who, he recently informed us "stink" (subtlety always his hallmark) than he turns his attention to his fellow writers. Prospect magazine in a preview of an interview it is about to publish with the Great Writer offers us a view of the second rate talents against whose mediocrity the talent of Amis shines out more brightly: "Coetzee, for instance—his whole style is predicated on transmitting absolutely no pleasure,” he explained. “I read one and I thought, he’s got no talent. But the denial of the pleasure principle has got a lot of followers.” How did we get here – to a world where Coetzee is declared to have no talent and Amis is fêted? Answers on a postcard please.
14 comments:
The problem is that poor Mart, now over 60, has grown old without growing up. He still has that deeply irritating adolescent habit of telling us all - very loudly -things we knew about already. Thus, he found out that nuclear weapons make a very nasty mess of people and things and told his father about it (see K. Amis's Letters), then that Stalin was really a very evil man indeed but no-one but Mart had noticed (can't remember the name of that fatuous book), then that people actually die ('The Information') - everybody!!! Now comes the startling apercu that before everybody dies a lot of them get very old.
As for the Coetzee thing - well, sometimes it's just better to look away and say nothing.
I would like to know why "Yellow Crome" by Aldous huxley ? Crome is the name of the manor, but why yellow ? Can you help me, thank you . Dominique .
The short answer is, I don't know. Chrome Yellow is the normal spelling of the pigment and Crome in the novel is a thinly-disguised Garsington. But why yellow? I will think a bit more about this. I liked your Bloomsbury blog by the way.
Thank you so much for your time !You probably know there is a most interesting exhibition at Roubaix, a french town in the north of France, " English Conversations", about the Bloomsbury Group .I live in London on a permanent basis but, as you understand reading me, my blog is in french !I am taking part in the "Bloomsbury Challenge" and it is very interesting, it a nice opportunity to learn so many things in so many fields . Thanks again .
Actually I didn't know about that exhibition although I have been to that wonderful space at Roubaix, called "La Piscine" isn't it? The Bloomsbury Group still raises contradictory passions and some people are bored by it. On the other hand these were people of real talent.
To tell the truth, I don't find most of these people very pleasant, but so many talents together especially painters, writers ... As a french woman it is a perfect way to learn more and more about a moment of history and to feel beeing a " Sherlock holmes en jupon", because they were like circles in a pond, you cast a stone and you see one, two circles ...and you discover friends of friends of the bloomburians and it seems never to end, such fun . yes, "La Piscine" a Roubaix, such a new interesting place for exhibitions in such a ... town !D .
I would have thought, a while though since I've read Crome Yellow, is that yellow is probably what one could describe as the tonal colour of the work, in the somewhat light summery sense - perhaps a hopeful sense or antidote to the nightmare of WW1 etc. And the simple linguistic attraction of the title - he had a bit of a genius for titles.
H'm ...for sure Crome Green would be totally meaningless but I am not totally convinced, I am afraid . I sent an email to Richard Ingrams , "The Oldie", whom family, I think, owned the Manor once . If ever I get an answer I'll let you Know and if I have the same explanation as yours, I'll be most happy, if you agree, to name you in my blog .Thanks again, D .
I am working actively on this, consulting some BIg Guns of Huxley scholarship, and I am sure we will get to the bottom of this. I have never been to Garsington but I think you are right that his brother (is it?) used to, or still does, organise opera at Garsington in the summer. By all means mention me in your excellent blog. I would be honoured.
Done ! Both in my answer to your comment and inside the text itself . Bravo pour votre excellent francais !
Virginia Woolf : "Is the air ever normal at Garsington ? no, I think even the sky was done up in pale yellow silk "( read in "Uncommon Arrangements" by Katie Roiphe) and Miranda Seymour in her biography of Lady Ottolline notes "the entrance hall,[...] vivid sunflower yellow" . It might be the answer ...?
Another clue: the first edition of Crome Yellow was bound in yellow boards.
couln't it be the consequence (the existing title) and not the cause ?
Ordered yesterday (Amazon) "An English Intellectual", received it early this morning, very interesting and pleasant to read and what a work ! I am impressed .
Post a Comment