He’s especially good on Jane Austen in TPW (with at least one gag he’d rehearsed elsewhere). But more than that, the main character, Keith Nearing (as the name suggests, an Amis substitute with subtle differences), works his way through the 18th and 19th century novel, with some assistance from the Borgesian ‘infinite library’ in the Italian castle he’s staying at, for the formative summer of 1970.
I think your colleague Nick mentioned Eliot in the course of the podcast, and it strikes me that TPW is also playfully Eliotic: there’s a Tradition and the Individual Talent dimension.
Great episode. I enjoyed the insights from you and Nick, such as that point you made about the library Amis shows his readers. I think he does that especially well in The Pregnant Widow.
omg, the Californication anecdote right at the beginning struck very close to home! I always like to think an early love of Hank Moody in a teenage boy is the slightly more sophisticated form of what Don Draper aping eventually became in many a young man.
My first Amis book was actually Money, which I remember buying from Waterstones with money earned from my newspaper round. I definitely remember reading it and feeling a voice that I hadn't heard before. A bit of the ridiculous, vulgar, but also an emptiness- it differed from Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment, which I'd also read- but there was a certain mirroring between the two that I felt reflected how culture had shifted.
Thanks for this as well- I certainly want to go back and re-read some Amis after this.
brilliant amis impression
Ha - thank you Charlotte! You’re the first and likely the only to say this!
He’s especially good on Jane Austen in TPW (with at least one gag he’d rehearsed elsewhere). But more than that, the main character, Keith Nearing (as the name suggests, an Amis substitute with subtle differences), works his way through the 18th and 19th century novel, with some assistance from the Borgesian ‘infinite library’ in the Italian castle he’s staying at, for the formative summer of 1970.
I think your colleague Nick mentioned Eliot in the course of the podcast, and it strikes me that TPW is also playfully Eliotic: there’s a Tradition and the Individual Talent dimension.
Sounds fascinating, and I wouldn't mind a formative summer in an Italian castle about now... thank you Robert!
Great episode. I enjoyed the insights from you and Nick, such as that point you made about the library Amis shows his readers. I think he does that especially well in The Pregnant Widow.
Thanks very much Robert - what does he rec in the Pregnant Widow?
omg, the Californication anecdote right at the beginning struck very close to home! I always like to think an early love of Hank Moody in a teenage boy is the slightly more sophisticated form of what Don Draper aping eventually became in many a young man.
My first Amis book was actually Money, which I remember buying from Waterstones with money earned from my newspaper round. I definitely remember reading it and feeling a voice that I hadn't heard before. A bit of the ridiculous, vulgar, but also an emptiness- it differed from Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment, which I'd also read- but there was a certain mirroring between the two that I felt reflected how culture had shifted.
Thanks for this as well- I certainly want to go back and re-read some Amis after this.
Thank you Sam!
v eloquent laidback podcast guest... natural ...
amis voice good imo (better than mine which is how i judge my standard for good or not)
thank you Ben - i feel like i escaped with my life this time...
Great work… your Amis impression dwarfed tragically by the big scoop of the poem. Brilliant discovery
other way round!