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While the works of Kingsley and Martin Amis differ in style and substance, intention and motivation, attitude and tone, all in varying degrees, they do have in common an elegant British misanthropy which becomes manifest through humour and pointed irony. Although David Lodge rightly emphasizes that Kingsley Amis’ comedy lies in a combination of situation and style, surprise and conformity, the true nature of Amis’ humour lies in an often disturbing blend of misanthropic bitterness and a satirical voice, which comes more from a moral quicksand than from any moral high ground. As Lodge reminds us that Jim Dixon’s resentment is often "interiorized, sometimes in fantasies of violence," we are in turn reminded of the moment in the novel which stands as Jim’s first major breakthrough against the oppressive bourgeois forces which propel his actions throughout the narrative. 83 The move from violent fantasy to the liberating act of violence itself, comes as Jim flattens Bertrand Welch:
While we can appreciate the obvious humour in this passage, it is also worth noting Jim’s other violent fantasies. Once he had acted on the above impulse, how likely is it that Jim would act on others:
As funny as Kingsley makes violent assault on a woman seem, it does raise questions over his morality. This point is made more overtly in I Want It Now, in which Ronnie Appleyard becomes frustrated over Simon’s frigidity. During their stay on Malakos, Appleyard considers rape as the best possible remedy, this being "a simple and splendid idea on the drive back and all the way to the bedroom." 86 While rape is ultimately discounted, how seriously are we to take Ronnie? The passage is apparently straightforward satire, encouraging us to find Ronnie’s lack of moral integrity amusing in its outrageous defiance of our own moral standards. When reconsidered, however, we may ask whether Kingsley’s satire is Janus-like, in that it actually reveals truths about his own moral fibre, his own opinions, while asking its readers to question their own integrity. It may take only an instant to find Ronnie’s idea of rape quite offensive, but how many of Kingsley’s male readers would have considered the same notion, regardless of final outcome, given the same situation? Martin Amis uses a similar brand of humour, which leaves the reader feeling amazed and startled at what he is reading, but also in quiet self-disgust at the thought of being able to appreciate, or at the least to understand what is being said. In The Rachel Papers, for example, Jenny and her husband spend weeks in fierce debate concerning her pregnancy, and whether or not she should keep the baby. Norman is passionately against the idea for reasons unknown; unknown, that is, until late in the novel when he finally reveals his argument to Charles:
While we laugh at Norman’s atrocious self-absorbed reasoning, it his hard not to feel slight unease at your empathy for him. And who couldn’t laugh when we learn that Terry’s father had killed his sister by hitting her over the head with a frying pan? The great anxieties and fears of both authors go some way to explain their misanthropic tendencies. They share the great ability of finding all that it is bitter and wrong with life, and making it funny. Kingsley’s great insecurities, made manifest in real life through a terror of the dark and of being left alone, have made him all the more sensitive to the anxieties of others, giving him the ability to create such brilliant comedy at their expense. Lucky Jim Dixon, for example, is deeply unhappy with his lot, as well as being the victim of a run of appalling bad luck, yet we find him greatly amusing. While Kingsley was deeply afraid of the dark, Martin has also confessed to waking, "defending himself in the middle of the night" from the painful criticism and personal attacks of fellow writers. 88 This particular anxiety, coupled with the more general fears brought about by the mid-life crisis, eventually produced The Information. In a novel which spawned so much adverse press before it had even arrived on the shelves, we see some of Amis greatest comic writing before, as Diedrick suggests, its "dark ending, an emotionally charged ‘pregnant arrest’ that abandons the generic stability of satire and leaves the reader stranded in the realm of nightmare." 89 While Kingsley’s fiction darkened over time, his anxieties biting deeper, the work of his son may break free from this precedent. Whereas there was certainly no cure for Kingsley’s most deep-rooted anxieties, other than the consumption of a gross amount of alcohol, the primary forces behind Martin’s greatest fears have now disappeared. In the Booked interview with Aaronovitch, the younger Amis not only reminds us that the real threat of nuclear apocalypse is over, "the human species having passed the test,", but also goes on to reassure us that his mid-life crisis is over. 90 Perhaps now we can look forward to some lighter, more hopeful fiction from Martin Amis, as the heavy personal, if not literary, influence of his father has also passed on: My mid-life crisis was wrapped up by the death of my father. It invigorates you, funnily enough. Even though you never get over the death of your father because he’s apart of yourself and that part has gone for ever, it makes you feel that you’ve come into your own seniority at last. 91
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