famous Amis on infamous Atta

When I saw the picture on the strapline I thought: Christ, he’s looking like his dad these days. The body may still be trim and elfin, but the head’s just exploded to about three times normal size. There’s a big Kingsleyface bulging out front, that disapproving lipline and farmer’s jaw. Git orf my laaaand….which about summarises Amis senior’s latterday politics really.

Anyway. Where were we? Amis on Atta. I think this was published in the States a few months back. My friend Cheryl at Whirledview wasn’t too impressed, I recall. I couldn’t get beyond the first few paras before I slumped. Writer of self-consciously classy social comedies (mainly) takes on terrorist warrant officer in Sunday supplement death match. Time was when I’d be down at ringside with a brick in my handbag like a granny at the wrestling, but now I can’t be bothered.

Next week, Mart’s going to expand on the general topic of terrorism. Well, I’ll give it a look. The problem when Martin does the big stuff is that he seems to be so scared of being thought didactic that he can’t take a position on anything. Instead, he delves deep into the human and comes up with endless buckets of mush.

Comments

[Backword Dave]

Oh, crap, I started writing about that this morning but had to go out and didn't finish it. Amis's prose was a contributing factor. FYI, he 'reviewed' (scare quotes because he doesn't mention it or its author once) a book on 9/11 for the Times here.

[Martin Wisse]

I went off Martin Amis (in as far as I was ever "on" him) shortly after the September 11 attacks, when he wrote a particularly pompous article about how hard it was to be a novelist now "everything had changed".

Made me fair retch, it did.

[Jimmy Doyle]

9/11: The planes strike - as Martin Amis memorably describes them - 'sleeking in like harsh metal ducklings'.

Thus the Iannucci/Morris spoof of 9/11 punditry in the Groan in 2002. I'd never seen a note-perfect Amis parody before.

[jamie]

It's the made-up verb that does it, I think.