Visiting Mrs Nabokov And Other Excursions (2005) - Plot & Excerpts
Journalism, I think, is where Martin Amis is at his best, where his writing is the most entertaining and witty*. On this compilation of non-fiction essays he writes not only about accomplished writers such as John Updike, Anthony Burgess, Isaac Asimov, John Braine, Salman Rushdie, Graham Greene, etc... but also about random topics such as Roman Polanski, Madonna, Cannes or even much more mundane ones such as; a night of Poker with friends or Darts. I think the following quote from his review of More Die of Heartbreak by Saul Bellow is one that could best describes his style."We are all familiar with our Herzogs and Humboldts and Hendersons, we all know our Augies and our Arturs; but nobody here has read the new one. Perhaps you have heard tell of it, you are acquainted with its lovely title: More Die of Heartbreak. But only I have read it. That is to say I have reread it; and I become more and more convinced that you cannot read writers like Saul Bellow; you can only reread them. I have read the new one — and you haven't. Not even Saul Bellow has read it. Oh, he has peered at the typescript, he has agonised over the proofs. He has written it. But he has not read it, as I have.Once the first days of creation are over (once life has been assigned to various hunches and inklings), writing is decision-making. After the big decisions, the medium-sized decisions; then the little decisions, lots of little decisions, two or three hundred a page. When Bellow reads More Die of Heartbreak he isn't reading; he is squirming and smarting, feeling the pulls and shoves and aftershocks of a million decisions. For him the book is a million clues to a million skirmishes — scars, craters, bullet-holes. For me, it is a seamless fait accompli. And I am here to tell you - I am literally here to tell you - that it is as dense, as funny, as thought-crammed, as richly associational and as cruelly contemporary as anything he has written. He's over seventy. What's the matter with him?"Or this one from an interview with Isaac Asimov:"Professor Isaac Asimov sat in the opulent lobby of his New York apartment block, counting on his fingers. 'It took me nine months to write my autobiography.''Really?' I said. Isaac Asimov's autobiography is considerably longer than War and Peace.'Sure. It took me so long, I only published seven books the next year.''And that's well below average?''Yeah! People thought I was dead!'"That said, I can see where this review's is coming from:"i feel sad that mrs. nabokov had to put up with this guy in her old age."Amis tend to portrait a very arrogant and pretentious persona (like when he talks about his blue eyes and blond hair; like really? He can be very silly at times). So reviews like that one doesn't really surprise me and I kind of agree ~ definitely not everyone cup of tea. But still, focusing on the positive, he's writing is quite entertaining and with lots of good insights on different topics.* His talks are also very good! Probably my favourite thing. He has a great voice and always speaks in a very nonchalant almost threatening way, a bit arrogant at sometimes though... but well, I guess it's OK, no one is perfect.
Martin Amis writing jazzy, restrained, well-informed, and right-minded journalism about the titular Mrs. V.N., nuclear lunacy, the making of Robocop II, nude sunbathing at Cannes, darts, snooker, poker, getting expelled, John Updike, John Lennon, Elton John's soccer team's trip to China, in-flight turbulence, Nicholson Baker, Phillip Larkin, underhanded bouts of chess between Kasparov and Kaparov, Salman Rushdie, Saul Bellow, and the weird world of Republican primary buffoonery: what's not to love? Whether writing about being snubbed by Madonna or taking Roman Polanski to task for being a dirty, old pervert, Amis always makes for a compulsive voice to read.
What do You think about Visiting Mrs Nabokov And Other Excursions (2005)?
This is a compilation of some of Amis' best essays, book reviews and articles, published in the British press in the 1980s and 1990s. His writing is entertaining, witty and often humorous. However, the author shows a tendency to indulge in his own talent with words a bit too much sometimes, making the reader wonder if his pieces are about the subject at hand or, really, just about the author's own sharp mind.In any case, it has a few pearls, fabulous pieces about Salman Rushdie, Isaac Asimov, V.S. Naipaul...
—Valentina
As much as I love Amis' fiction (Money and Dead Babies especially), I love his works of journalism even more. One of my favorites I read in 2012. While some of the topics are dated--a 20 page treatise on the historically uneventful 1988 Republican Presidential Convention comes to mind-- the joy of writing and thinking shines through and guides the modern reader though. Cold war era nuclear fear is a running motif throughout most of the essays, as was common in Amis 1980s and early 90s work, but is thoughts are interesting enough to not seem dated. There is something interesting about talking a hyper-verbalist like Amis and making him write about rather silly themes like the Rolling Stones or Robocop 2, these essays hold up the best. 4/5
—Richard Bardon
