From: Celestina Groeberhorst
Category: Amis
Date: 9/14/99
Time: 9:44:00 PM
Remote Name: 129.219.126.131
http://www.buecher-im-netz.com/archive/abc/amis.htm The Sky Nonhoff interview
SKY NONHOFF: "Are you the Iggy Pop of British literature?"
MARTIN AMIS: "Well, I sure would be Iggy Pop, if Iggy Pop had had a father named *Sir Iggy*. My special predicament in English literature stems from that, that I'm my father's son. A whole lot of people have a prejudice against me. And if you then become amazingly famous, they'll see it as a self-fulfilling prophesy. Similarly---whatever you do, it attracts attention, whether it's interesting or not. But essentially the answer is: certainly, yes."
[And that's an extremely guessy translation. One of these days I'll translate the whole interview. If I can work up the masochistic willpower. Odilo Unverdorben's alter-ego said that German is "a language in which machines might converse when no human being is around to listen". Well, that's a moot speculation. My guess is that any self-respecting efficient machine would eschew German in favor of a more efficient language like Swedish or English. People wrongly assume that the German language is an efficient language, just because the Heineys themselves happen to be efficient workers who make efficient products. But in actuality, German usually requires more wordage than English.]
[In regard to David Bowie's hampton: I knew a guy named Joe Niccoli. And when Joe found out that *hampton* is a synonym for *penis*, he proceeded to coin the word *northhamptoner* and the word *southhamptoner*. A *northhamptoner* is a shaggadelic girl who inspires your penis to travel in a northerly upward direction. A *southhamptoner* is a homely girl who inspires your penis to stay south.]