Ironic, Grotesque, Farcical and Tragic Depiction of Totalitarianism in Martin Amis’s Selected Works

• Authors: Stolarek Joanna
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

The aim of this article is to present an ironic, grotesque, farcical and tragic dimension of totalitarianism in Martin Amis’s selected works. The author is going to analyse and juxtapose three dictatorial ideologies: Nazism, Communism and Islamic fundamentalism while showing Martin Amis’s distinctive literary techniques, styles and modes used with reference to the examination of each of these three issues. Firstly, the emphasis will be placed on the exploration of those novels of the British writer that present Nazism and Communism and their aftermath, namely Time’s Arrow, House of Meetings and Koba the Dread: Laughter and the Twenty Million. This section will present ironic, grotesque, satirical as well as tragic facets of these two totalitarian systems depicted by Martin Amis. The subsequent part will focus on the issues of Islamist fundamentalism, terrorism and the relations between Islamist and Western culture at the turn of the third millennium. Here, the author is going to scrutinize Martin Amis’s novel The Second Plane: September 11: Terror and Boredom as well as she will refer to the writer’s miscellaneous interviews, talks and discussions. Similarly to the previous part devoted to the analysis of Nazism and Communism, this one will draw the attention to Amis’s grotesque, farcical and ironic delineation of Islamic fundamentalism, yet here, a special emphasis will be placed on the writer’s description of a political and social aspect of this matter rather than on his concern for linguistic an stylistic innovation. Finally, by juxtaposing these three totalitarian ideologies in Martin Amis’s selected fiction the author is going to show numerous interpretations and sides of this subject matter, ranging from political and social debate to cultural and literary criticism.

Keywords

EN

Martin Amis; literature; Nazism; Communism; Islamic fundamentalism; grotesque; irony; satire

• Publisher: Institute of English Studies, University of Warsaw
• Journal: Anglica. An International Journal of English Studies
• Year: 2013
• Issue: 22/1
• Pages: 71-81

Contributors

author

Stolarek Joanna

• Siedlce University of Natural Sciences and Humanities

References

• Amis, Martin. 2001. Experience. New York: Vintage International.
• Amis, Martin. 2006. House of Meetings. London: Jonathan Cape.
• Amis, Martin. 2002. Koba the Dread: Laughter and the Twenty Million. New York: Vintage International.
• Amis, Martin. 2008. The Second Plane: September 11: Terror and Boredom. New York: Vintage International.
• Amis, Martin. 1992. Time’s Arrow, or, The Nature of the Offense. London, New York: Penguin Books.
• Amis, Martin. 2004. Yellow Dog. London: Vintage.
• Amis, Martin. 2007. “9/11 and the Cult of Death” http://www.martinamisweb.com/commentary_-files/911_cultofdeath.pdf Access Date: October 15, 2007.
• Diedrick, James. 2004. Understanding Martin Amis. Columbia, South Carolina: University of South Carolina Press.
• Finney, Brian. 2008. Martin Amis. New York: Routledge.
• Keulks, Gavin (ed.). 2003. Father & Son. Kingsley Amis, Martin Amis and the British Novel Since 1950. Wisconsin: The University of Wisconsin Press.
• Lehmann, Chris. 2007. “The Bard of Brash”, Radar, February 16 http://radaronline.com/features/2007/02/martin_amis_1.php Access Date: 16 July 2007.
• Weich, Dave. 2003. “Old Martin Amis Is Your Face Again” http://www.powels.com/authors/amis.html Access Date: 19 February, 2007