From: Vivian Droptrou
Category: Amis
Date: 8/18/99
Time: 1:04:59 PM
Remote Name: 129.219.247.97
*HI, I'M MARTIN. MEET THE GOBLIN* / BY DESMOND CHRISTY / [FROM *THE GUARDIAN*. AUGUST 3, 1998.]
In *Bookmark* (BBC2) Martin Amis prepared to meet his maker. We watched him picking a few books from his shelves for the journey, packing his suitcase, getting into a taxi, checking into his hotel, unpacking his suitcase. Exciting stuff. Then he went to the castle where his maker lives. Well, it seemed like a castle, and it might almost have been his creator. In fact, it was the great American novelist Saul Bellow. Now 83, Saul was meeting his number-one fan.
It turns out that Saul is a fan of Martin, too, as we all are. Who can forget Martin's recent book? 'Janis, my wife, who's a great fan of yours', says Saul, who speaks like a gentle god, 'and I---I'm a great fan of yours, too---we've had some differences of opinion about Jennifer in your recent book.' 'Night Train', prompts Martin.
'In Night Train', continues Saul. 'What does the suicide of a young woman who has everything mean?' 'Well, it's I knew you would pounce on that', says Martin, sounding like he has just read a rather feeble essay to his tutor. 'Erm, it's an apparently meaningless suicide. That novel's a kind of devil's advocate and I did feel that a goblin was perched on my shoulder and was whispering into my ear. But, um, what I'm saying is that if you are conditioned by your work and your bent to think about other worlds, then human life does become much less significant.' Saul does not let Martin, or his whispering goblin, off the hook. 'That's possible, of course, but it would need a great deal of Dostoyevskian exposition to make the case.' (And the viewer concludes that writers should not listen to goblins.) 'Well', replies Martin, 'it's mentioned that a revolution in consciousness is afoot, one having to do with our repositioning in the universe in this century. But Copernicus only shifted us 93 million miles from the center of the universe and in this century the demotion has been much more spectacular.' Poor Martin, demoted from the center of the universe, along with Jennifer.
'But on the side of wonder', continues Saul, 'that is one of the chief ingredients of my existence. It is ungrateful to whoever it is that has made you human and given you this power of wonder---because it is something like that, a talent---to give it all away for a chance of having a flash of insight about the universe.' 'You are supposed to give the devil the best lines, and that's what I try to do', replies Martin. At least, you think it's his reply, because of the way the film is cut, but he is in fact thinking aloud---an afterthought, edited in. What did Martin actually reply? Perhaps he just repositioned himself in the universe, dazzled by those bright stars, Dostoyevsky and Bellow.
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