Martin Amis: Lucre, Love and Literature by Peter Childs

1. �Martin Amis: Lucre, Love and Literature� by Peter Childs English 1101-24 Burgey Sheena Brown Tiffany Gillette Ashley Jordan Jermaine West Courtney Berry

2. How could this article serve you? This essay rarely mentions Time�s Arrow and therefore would be useless for any further information on the novel. This essay would best be used to make a connection among Amis� most praised works: Money: A Suicide Note, London Fields, and The Satanic Verses, The Information. It also provides a great analysis of the characters in the previously mentioned literary works. The previous articles presented in class focus on other literary works not mentioned in Childs essay. However, �Understanding Martin Amis� by James Diedrick does mention Vladimir Nabokov who Childs mentions as being a mentor to Amis.

3. The purpose of this criticism is to provide literary analysis of an author, Amis, and how he is personally connected to his novels. It also serves to discuss the development of Amis� writing style and connect the characters and plots of his literary works 1. What is the purpose of this criticism?

4. 2. Does the author communicate and clearly debate the issue (s), or does the author simply wish to impress his audience or confuse the issue? The author clearly debates issues presented in the essay and strays from attempting to impress the audience. Instead the author focuses on presenting Amis� works and their literal connections.

5. 3. On what aspect of the literature does the author focus? The author focuses on Amis� word choice, language usage, preferred style and effective storytelling methods. Amis is thus more interested in good and bad writing than in literature that attempts to delineate the good and the bad� (Childs 35)

6. 4. Does the author build on unfounded assumptions or on the work of others? Childs uses a few personal assumptions in his essay. Several times he mentions �Critics� but never provides any opinions or quotes that would give truth to statements like the following: �For many critics, Amis appeared to have little new to say�� (Childs 38) �For many critics, Amis is the key English social novelist of the 1980�s�� (Childs 39)

7. 5. What is the dominant method of persuasion? Explain� Childs utilizes reference to persuade the intended audience to understand the purpose of his essay. He provides several arguments and backs them with reference to Amis� works, quoted statements, and several literary allusions, leaving the reader with no questions of validity to his essay.

8. 6. What is the thesis statement of this essay? �Amis (b. 1949) is principally seen as a stylist and a satirist; his books are often more praised for their use of language than for their subject matter, which has been criticized for its WASP insularity� (Childs 35)

9. 7. How is the argument organized? List/Mark the sub-points of argument. The argument is organized into three different sections. Each section discusses a different point about Martin Amis� literary works. They discuss the criticisms about these works, the characters in them, and what roles the characters played in Amis� life. The different sections are as follows: 1.1�.Literary History Dicusses the realation between Amis� works and several of his mentors 1.2�.Themes: The Aesthetics of (Self-) Abuse and Apocalypse Makes a connection between the hardships faced by several characters in Amis� works 1.3�.Key Works: Money, London Fields, The Information Focuses on three of Amis� most famous literary works and how they depict Amis� current position in life

10. 8. Explain the main argument in your own words. The main argument of Childs essay, which he mentions early on, is to prove that Amis� writing style possesses qualities of an �imposers.� It is also it reveal how Amis makes a world of his own in the novels mentioned in the essay, a world of chaos, death, secrets, and pain.

11. 9. What is your reaction to his argument? Is it the intended reaction? Does the author fail to achieve his goal? In order for one writer to attempt and chastise another writers style and effectiveness there must be a lack in analysis of the writers preferences, however this essay provides a sufficient amount of proof and evidence of Amis� intentions. It is possible that the author only expected for his readers to have a better understanding of his arguments and the way he views Amis� literary style.