Martin Amis – The Moronic Inferno (and other visits to America) (1986)
Essay collection – 210 pages – my copy (1987; paperback) bought for £2.99 from the fantastic Oxfam bookshop in Chiswick, London, in early 2009.
- 3 nods out of 5 -
When asked to pen a travelogue of the U.S. of A., Martin Amis initially bulked at the challenge: ‘America is more like a world than a country’. Yet after reflection, he realised he had already, in effect, written such a book; it being amassed from his collection of essays on American life, printed during the late 1970s and 1980s in such prestigious titles as The Observer, the New Statesman and Vanity Fair. A little editing and pruning and viola: The Moronic Inferno is available on all good book shelves.
However, do not be alarmed at the seemingly opportunist nature of the book (after all, a collection of typed up essays doesn’t sound like a classic in the making, perhaps more akin to a quick profit for both publisher and author); The Moronic Inferno has enough within the pages to make the reader gasp in wonder at the land of America.
The essays are primarily centred on public figures of American life in this period, charting Elvis Presley, Hugh Hefner, and Steven Spielberg; whilst in conversation with some of the great heavyweights of twentieth century literature such as Truman Capote, Joseph Heller and Kurt Vonnegut. American life is studied, from the deeds of multi-talented and multi-complex Gore Vidal, to Ronald Reagan, to the New Evangelical Right to the psychotic killings that took place in Atlanta (one of the book's strongest essays).
Of course, due to the nature of the book there is no coherent narrative; however, it can be satisfactorily taken up in any place and read with amusement. The reader is given a great snapshot of the time of 1980s Reaganite America: before the fall of Communism, before the new millennium, before 9/11, before the pain of Bush and before the optimism of Obama. Perhaps much of Amis’ insightful comments can be placed in his being primarily an outsider (though with an American wife and in American residence); but the chief reason why the book is such a joy is because of the author’s intelligent, witty writing style. Though chiefly an author of fiction, Amis has mastered the form of the essay. The reason why the Worm can go no further than 3 nods is due to the book’s ultimate flaw: it’s stunted conception as a band of previously penned words. The Worm calls on Amis to take to the road – Jack Kerouac style – and write a true travel book on this fascinating ‘world’.
Essay collection – 210 pages – my copy (1987; paperback) bought for £2.99 from the fantastic Oxfam bookshop in Chiswick, London, in early 2009.
- 3 nods out of 5 -
When asked to pen a travelogue of the U.S. of A., Martin Amis initially bulked at the challenge: ‘America is more like a world than a country’. Yet after reflection, he realised he had already, in effect, written such a book; it being amassed from his collection of essays on American life, printed during the late 1970s and 1980s in such prestigious titles as The Observer, the New Statesman and Vanity Fair. A little editing and pruning and viola: The Moronic Inferno is available on all good book shelves.
However, do not be alarmed at the seemingly opportunist nature of the book (after all, a collection of typed up essays doesn’t sound like a classic in the making, perhaps more akin to a quick profit for both publisher and author); The Moronic Inferno has enough within the pages to make the reader gasp in wonder at the land of America.
The essays are primarily centred on public figures of American life in this period, charting Elvis Presley, Hugh Hefner, and Steven Spielberg; whilst in conversation with some of the great heavyweights of twentieth century literature such as Truman Capote, Joseph Heller and Kurt Vonnegut. American life is studied, from the deeds of multi-talented and multi-complex Gore Vidal, to Ronald Reagan, to the New Evangelical Right to the psychotic killings that took place in Atlanta (one of the book's strongest essays).
Of course, due to the nature of the book there is no coherent narrative; however, it can be satisfactorily taken up in any place and read with amusement. The reader is given a great snapshot of the time of 1980s Reaganite America: before the fall of Communism, before the new millennium, before 9/11, before the pain of Bush and before the optimism of Obama. Perhaps much of Amis’ insightful comments can be placed in his being primarily an outsider (though with an American wife and in American residence); but the chief reason why the book is such a joy is because of the author’s intelligent, witty writing style. Though chiefly an author of fiction, Amis has mastered the form of the essay. The reason why the Worm can go no further than 3 nods is due to the book’s ultimate flaw: it’s stunted conception as a band of previously penned words. The Worm calls on Amis to take to the road – Jack Kerouac style – and write a true travel book on this fascinating ‘world’.
