Reading postmodernism in Martin Amis

Abstract

This dissertation aims to address itself to the work of one of the most contentious British writers, Martin Amis, on the basis of probing what it would imply to proceed to read Martin Amis in the context of postmodernist thought and postmodernist literary styles and devices. Consequently, it is divided into two parts. In the first part I will attempt to analyse some of the theories on postmodernity that are particularly germane to my project. Therefore, I will be reviewing in some detail the work of Fredric Jameson, namely Postmodernism: The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism (1991), the work of Jean Fran~ois Lyotard, the work of Jean Baudrillard and the work of the renowned sociologist Zygmunt Bauman. These theorists' ideas on the postmodern as 'the condition of consumer society under late capitalism' are particularly relevant to Amis's vision of the contemporary. Chapter Two will then attempt an analysis of the way that these theories find themselves fictionally mirrored in Murtin Amis's novels A!oncy (198·1) and London Fields (1989), communicating them in a manner accessible to a general readership. The second part of this study focuses on postmodernism as a literary category, rather than a sociocultural or sociohistorical term. Martin Amis is often called a postmodern writer; however as I will show he does not readily fit into standard classifications of postmodernist fiction. The British novel is traditionally associated with realism, which is often seen as fairly traditional. However, as I shall argue realism, is best seen as a technique that can give rise to different narrative modes. The focus of Chapter Four will be on an analysis of Amis's novels. This will seek to trace the symbiosis between postmodern experiment and traditional realism. I will show that realist traditions are reworked by Amis. In addition, he uses complex narrative games associable with postmodernist fiction. This will lead to the conclusion that his novels obfuscate the boundaries between 'experiment' and 'realism', creating what Amy J. Elias has termed 'postmodern realism'