DOCSLIB.ORG

The End of History in English Historiographic Metafiction

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The End of History in English Historiographic Metafiction Dottorato di ricerca in Filologia Moderna XXIII ciclo Scuola di dottorato in Lingue, Culture e Società A.A. 2007/2008 ÷ A.A. 2009/2010 The End of History in English Historiographic Metafiction Settore scientifico-disciplinare di afferenza: L-LIN/10 LETTERATURA INGLESE Tesi di dottorato di ALICE MANDRICARDO n. matricola 955487 Direttore della Scuola di Dottorato: Tutore della dottoranda: ma ssa mo Ch. Prof. ROSELLA MAMOLI ZORZI Ch. Prof. FLAVIO GREGORI “True, novelists don't normally write about what's going on; they write about what's not going on. Yet the worlds so created aspire to pattern and shape and moral point. A novel is a rational undertaking; it is reason at play, perhaps, but it is still reason.” (Martin Amis, The Second Plane , September 11: 2001-2007 , p. 13.) The End of History in English Historiographic Metafiction TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER ONE The Philosophical Debate on the End of History 1.1 On History and its Meaning(s) 10 1.2 Kojève’s Dialectics and End of History 24 1.3 Fukuyama’s Welcome to the End of History 42 CHAPTER TWO The Postmodern Answer to the End of History 2.1 The End of the Enlightenment Trust 62 2.2 Goodbye Metanarratives 79 2.3 How to Make Sense of the Past (?) 89 2.4 Post-history without Meaning: the System of Production and Consumption and the End of Experience 100 2.5 Historiographic Metafiction: Framing History in Fiction 108 CHAPTER THREE Literary Interpretations of History and of its End 3.1 Dredging up the Past: Graham Swift’s Shuttlecock - Waterland - Last Orders 115 3.2 Making History more Accessible: Julian Barnes’s Flaubert’s Parrot - A History of the World in 10 ½ Chapters - England, England 140 3.3 Is This the End? An Analysis of Doris Lessing’s The Memoirs of a Survivor , Anthony Burgess’s The End of the World News , and Martin Amis’s Time’s Arrow, or the Nature of the Offence 172 I CHAPTER FOUR A Question of Roots and a Way to Multiculturalism 4.1 National History and Individual Fate in Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children 197 4.2 Englishness, Tradition and Hybrid Identities in Zadie Smith’s White Teeth and Andrea Levy’s Small Island 223 CONCLUSION 270 BIBLIOGRAPHY Primary Sources 280 Secondary Sources 285 Journals Consulted 298 II Introduction Introduction Introduction A sense of an ending, a symptom of something completed and over, is widespread in the postmodern era, in the life, thought and culture of the late twentieth century. A sense of impoverishment and historical failure, distress and disillusion, characterises the spirit of the whole post-war period. It seems that all solid foundations, all coherent means of comprehending the self, society and the world have dissolved or appear to be inconsistent. Postmodernism is the direct result of a great disillusion with science, progress, universal truth and teleological history. The prognosis of the various ‘ends’, such as the end of ideology, the end of metanarratives, the end of all those convictions once considered surely enduring, defines postmodern relativism and scepticism towards epistemological claims. Undoubtedly, endist thinking is one of the distinctive qualities of postmodern culture. In my thesis the end of history is taken into account both as an important feature of postmodern culture and as a suitable topic through which contemporary fiction can be read and interpreted. The end of history in postmodernism is the end of the belief in history’s direction and purpose, in history as progress. The American critic Fredric Jameson argues that postmodernity is characterised by a crisis in historicity; the postmodern age has forgotten how to think historically and this exasperating condition “determines a series of spasmodic and intermittent, but desperate, attempts at recuperation”. 1 Despite the prognostication of the end of history and the demise of historical telos , postmodernism entails a return to history, which is not a positive and simple return, but a critical one. Postmodernists claim new and diverse approaches to history, refusing to impose positive meaning and intention upon history and offering an alternative historical understanding. This study aims to define the relationship between the philosophical concept of “the end of history” and postmodernist models and critiques of history in contemporary English literature; in particular, my interest focuses on the genre of the novel and on “historiographic metafiction”. My understanding of historiographic metafiction is informed 1 Fredric Jameson, Postmodernism, or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism , Durham: Duke University Press, 1991, Introduction, p. XI. 1 Introduction by the Canadian academic Linda Hutcheon, who has coined the expression and has provided 2 both a definition and commentary on it. Hutcheon considers historical consciousness and reflection upon history to be fundamental in the postmodern literary experience; according to her, historiographic metafiction perfectly represents the poetics of postmodernism. In its contradictory nature, historiographic metafiction refers both to the world of history and that of fiction, namely it is the meeting point of history and fiction, allowing us to approach the subject of history and historical study from the related area of literature. I will explore twelve representative texts within English historiographic metafiction that bring into focus the importance of history and its literary interpretation. These novels cover a period of thirty years, from 1974, which is the date of publication of Doris Lessing’s Memoirs of a Survivor , to 2004, the date of publication of Andrea Levy’s Small Island , yet most of them were written in the 1980s. They all deal with twentieth-century history, focusing in particular on the Second World War and its consequences. The novelists I will dwell particularly on are Graham Swift, Julian Barnes, Doris Lessing, Anthony Burgess, Martin Amis, Salman Rushdie, Zadie Smith, and Andrea Levy. These novelists produce critical histories through postmodernist modes of representation. Since they repudiate some of the fundamental assumptions behind received accounts of history, they rewrite history by showing the limits and biases of conventional models of history. I will approach their position through the philosophical debate on the end of history and the end of a certain concept of history. Their novels (analysed in chapter three and chapter four) are among the most significant for, and representative of, the theme of the end of history in contemporary English fiction. However, it is beyond the scope of this study to examine the complete oeuvre of each of these writers and my choice of their novels according to the theme outlined above does not mean to be exhaustive. 3 The starting point for my research is an analysis of the meaning(s) of history and its end. The first chapter deals with those philosophers who meditated upon the end of history and their influence on postmodern understanding of the end of history. I particularly focus on the Russian-French philosopher Alexandre Kojève, who offers an end of history doctrine 2 Linda Hutcheon, A Poetics of Postmodernism , London: Routledge, 1988. 3 Undoubtedly, there are other texts which address similar questions to those discussed in my thesis: for instance, the topic of the end of history could be analysed in dystopian novels, or in the work of American novelists such as Kurt Vonnegut, Dave Eggers, and David Foster Wallace. It could also be interesting to apply the same method of research not only to literary works written in the English language, but also to contemporary novels in comparative literature. 2 Introduction based on his personal and original interpretation of Hegelian dialectics. 4 Kojève argues that the principle of history is grounded on human satisfaction and desire for recognition: human beings create themselves and the world around them, continuously fulfilling their desires; they transform nature in order to satisfy their aspirations and strive for mutual and equal recognition. They finally lead history to its end, its climax and exhaustion with the creation of “a universal and homogeneous State”, which is a realm of freedom where people’s needs are recognised, legitimised and defended. Kojève maintains that the end of historical evolution has already occurred; he shares the Hegelian belief in a historical completion in 1806, with the battle of Jena, and believes that what happened after 1806 served to fulfil the quantitative task of extending the end of history to the rest of the world. However, Kojève suggests that the moment of triumph is also a moment of terminus and impasse: the future ceases to be dominated by negativity and change, by man’s intention and resolve to transform the world and alter the status quo . Post-history has no meaning; there is no vision of the future except centuries of boredom. At the end of history, man looks and behaves like an animal: he cares only for his survival and comfort. My aim is to shed light on those aspects of Kojève’s philosophy – such as the disenchantment with modernity, the rejection of homogenising and totalising principles, or the perspective of history as a source of consumption and pleasure – which can be considered the seed of postmodern thought and are echoed in English historiographic metafiction. I also pay attention to Francis Fukuyama’s approach to the end of history and to the differences between his position and postmodern attitudes. His famous book, The End of History and the Last Man (1992), has had the merit of reopening the debate on the post- historical world; yet, its thesis is almost impossible to agree with and has been sharply criticised as universalistic and totalising. Fukuyama argues that the progression of human history as a struggle between ideologies has come to an end and thus he optimistically welcomes the end of history. He suggests that the system broadly known as liberal democracy is the last stop, where sooner or later the socio-political development of every nation on earth will come to rest, and predicts the eventual global triumph of political and economic liberalism.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Exhaustion and Regeneration in 9/11 Speculative Fiction: Kris Saknussemm‘S ―Beyond the Flags‖ (2015)1
    Revista de Estudios Norteamericanos, 22 (2018) Seville, Spain, ISSN 1133-309-X, 13-35 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.12795/REN.2018.i22.01 EXHAUSTION AND REGENERATION IN 9/11 SPECULATIVE FICTION: KRIS SAKNUSSEMM‘S ―BEYOND THE FLAGS‖ (2015)1 SONIA BAELO-ALLUÉ Universidad de Zaragoza [email protected] Received 14 July 2018 Accepted 17 December 2018 KEYWORDS: 9/11 fiction; speculative fiction; blank fiction; trauma fiction; Kris Saknussemm; ―Beyond the Flags;‖ Douglas Lain; In the Shadow of the Towers PALABRAS CLAVE: Ficción del 11 de septiembre; ficción especulativa; blank fiction; ficción de trauma; Kris Saknussemm; ―Beyond the Flags;‖ Douglas Lain; In the Shadow of the Towers ABSTRACT Early 9/11 fiction has often been criticised for focusing too much on the victims and on the local aspects of the tragedy ignoring the global and political consequences of the attacks. 9/11 speculative fiction writers have taken longer to engage directly with the tragedy and when doing so they have also often adopted trauma-oriented approaches that could appease but not challenge. In 2015 Douglas Lain edited In the Shadow of the Towers: Speculative Fiction in a Post- 9/11 World, a collection that shows how the idiom of the fantastic can be serious and meaningful and also a means to explore cultural anxieties in the United States. Within Lain‘s collection, this paper pays special attention to Kris Saknussemm‘s ―Beyond the Flags,‖ a story that combines cultural anxieties of our time and helps readers confront their own contradictions by questioning accepted assumptions like the sacred nature of the victims or the expected 1 The research carried out for the writing of this article is part of a project financed by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) (code FFI2015-63506).
    [Show full text]
  • Don Delillo and 9/11: a Question of Response
    University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research: Department of English English, Department of 5-2010 Don DeLillo and 9/11: A Question of Response Michael Jamieson University of Nebraska at Lincoln Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/englishdiss Part of the English Language and Literature Commons Jamieson, Michael, "Don DeLillo and 9/11: A Question of Response" (2010). Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research: Department of English. 28. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/englishdiss/28 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the English, Department of at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research: Department of English by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. DON DELILLO AND 9/11: A QUESTION OF RESPONSE by Michael A. Jamieson A THESIS Presented to the Faculty of The Graduate College at the University of Nebraska In Partial Fulfillment of Requirements For the Degree of Master of Arts Major: English Under the Supervision of Professor Marco Abel Lincoln, Nebraska May, 2010 DON DELILLO AND 9/11: A QUESTION OF RESPONSE Michael Jamieson, M.A. University of Nebraska, 2010 Advisor: Marco Abel In the wake of the attacks of September 11th, many artists struggled with how to respond to the horror. In literature, Don DeLillo was one of the first authors to pose a significant, fictionalized investigation of the day. In this thesis, Michael Jamieson argues that DeLillo’s post-9/11 work constitutes a new form of response to the tragedy.
    [Show full text]
  • 9/11 Report”), July 2, 2004, Pp
    Final FM.1pp 7/17/04 5:25 PM Page i THE 9/11 COMMISSION REPORT Final FM.1pp 7/17/04 5:25 PM Page v CONTENTS List of Illustrations and Tables ix Member List xi Staff List xiii–xiv Preface xv 1. “WE HAVE SOME PLANES” 1 1.1 Inside the Four Flights 1 1.2 Improvising a Homeland Defense 14 1.3 National Crisis Management 35 2. THE FOUNDATION OF THE NEW TERRORISM 47 2.1 A Declaration of War 47 2.2 Bin Ladin’s Appeal in the Islamic World 48 2.3 The Rise of Bin Ladin and al Qaeda (1988–1992) 55 2.4 Building an Organization, Declaring War on the United States (1992–1996) 59 2.5 Al Qaeda’s Renewal in Afghanistan (1996–1998) 63 3. COUNTERTERRORISM EVOLVES 71 3.1 From the Old Terrorism to the New: The First World Trade Center Bombing 71 3.2 Adaptation—and Nonadaptation— ...in the Law Enforcement Community 73 3.3 . and in the Federal Aviation Administration 82 3.4 . and in the Intelligence Community 86 v Final FM.1pp 7/17/04 5:25 PM Page vi 3.5 . and in the State Department and the Defense Department 93 3.6 . and in the White House 98 3.7 . and in the Congress 102 4. RESPONSES TO AL QAEDA’S INITIAL ASSAULTS 108 4.1 Before the Bombings in Kenya and Tanzania 108 4.2 Crisis:August 1998 115 4.3 Diplomacy 121 4.4 Covert Action 126 4.5 Searching for Fresh Options 134 5.
    [Show full text]
  • Francis Fukuyama the National Interest Summer 1989
    The End of History? Francis Fukuyama The National Interest Summer 1989 IN WATCHING the flow of events the intellectual climate of the world's over the past decade or so, it is hard to two largest communist countries, and avoid the feeling that something very the beginnings of significant reform fundamental has happened in world movements in both. But this history. The past year has seen a flood phenomenon extends beyond high of articles commemorating the end of politics and it can be seen also in the the Cold War, and the fact that "peace" ineluctable spread of consumerist seems to be breaking out in many Western culture in such diverse regions of the world. Most of these contexts as the peasants' markets and analyses lack any larger conceptual color television sets now omnipresent framework for distinguishing between throughout China, the cooperative what is essential and what is restaurants and clothing stores opened contingent or accidental in world in the past year in Moscow, the history, and are predictably Beethoven piped into Japanese superficial. If Mr. Gorbachev were department stores, and the rock music ousted from the Kremlin or a new enjoyed alike in Prague, Rangoon, and Ayatollah proclaimed the millennium Tehran. from a desolate Middle Eastern What we may be witnessing is not capital, these same commentators just the end of the Cold War, or the would scramble to announce the passing of a particular period of rebirth of a new era of conflict. postwar history, but the end of history And yet, all of these people sense as such: that is, the end point of dimly that there is some larger process mankind's ideological evolution and at work, a process that gives coherence the universalization of Western liberal and order to the daily headlines.
    [Show full text]
  • Critical Theory, Historical Materialism, and the Ostensible End of Marxism: the Poverty of Theory Revisited
    Critical Theory, Historical Materialism, and the Ostensible End of Marxism: The Poverty of Theory Revisited BRYAN D. PALMER Summary: This essay notes the extent to which poststructuralism/postmodernism have generally espoused hostility to historical materialism, surveys some representative examples of historical writing that have gravitated toward the new critical theory in opposition to Marxism, and closes with a discussion of the ironic evolution of a poststructurally inclined, anti-Marxist historiography. Counter to the prevailing ideological consensus that Marxism has been brought to its interpretive knees by a series of analytic challenges and the political collapse of the world's ostensibly "socialist" states, this essay argues that historical materialism has lost neither its power to interpret the past nor its relevance to the contemporary intellectual terrain. It is now a decade-and-one-half since Edward Thompson penned The Poverty of Theory: or an Orrery of Errors, and ten times as many years have passed since the publication of Marx's The Poverty of Philosophy.1 Whatever one may think about the advances in knowledge associated with historical materialism and Marxism, particularly in terms of the practice of historical writing, there is no denying that this sesquicentennial has been a problematic period in the making of communist society; the last fifteen years, moreover, are associated with the bleak end of socialism and the passing of Marxism as an intellectual force. Indeed, it is a curious conjuncture of our times that the
    [Show full text]
  • Literature and Democratic Criticism: the Post-9/11 Novel and the Public Sphere
    Literature and Democratic Criticism: The Post-9/11 Novel and the Public Sphere Inauguraldissertation zur Erlangung der Doktorwürde der Neuphilologischen Fakultät der Universität Heidelberg vorgelegt von Maria Diaconu April 2016 Erstgutachter: Prof. Dr. Dietmar Schloss Zweitgutachter: Prof. Dr. Günter Leypoldt Contents Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 1 9/11 in Intellectual Debates ................................................................................................... 2 Liberal Humanism(s) .............................................................................................................. 6 The Post-9/11 Novel ............................................................................................................. 12 Chapter 1: Irony Is Dead, Long Live Irony: Satire after 9/11 ............................................................. 21 The Unbearable Triviality of Being: David Foster Wallace’s The Suffering Channel and Claire Messud’s The Emperor’s Children as September 10 Satires .................................... 34 A 9/12 Satire: Jess Walter’s The Zero .................................................................................. 48 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 57 Chapter 2: Playing the Victim: The Politics of Memorialization and Grief ........................................ 59 Sentimental
    [Show full text]
  • The End of History and the Last Man (The Free Press; 1992)
    Francis Fukuvama THE END OF HISTORY AND THE LAST MAN As the tumultuous twentieth century shudders toward its close — with the collapse of commu­ nism leading to a transformation of world politics — Francis Fukuyama asks us to return with him to a question that has been asked by the great philosophers of centuries past: is there a direction to the history of mankind? And if it is directional, to what end is it moving? And where are we now in relation to that "end of history"? In this exciting and profound inquiry, which goes far beyond the issues raised in his world- famous essay "The End of History?" in the summer 1989 National Interest, Fukuyama presents evidence to suggest that there are two powerful forces at work in human history. He calls one "the logic of modern science" and the other "the struggle for recognition'.' The first drives men to fulfill an ever-expanding horizon of desires through a rational economic process; the second, "the struggle for recognition',' is, in Fukuyama's (and Hegel's) view, nothing less than the very "motor of history'.' It is Fukuyama's brilliantly argued theme that, over time, the economic logic of modern science together with the "struggle for recogni­ tion" lead to the eventual collapse of tyrannies, as we have witnessed on both the left and right. These forces drive even culturally disparate societies toward establishing capitalist liberal democracies as the end state of the historical process. The great question then becomes: can liberty and equality, both political and eco­ nomic — the state of
    [Show full text]
  • Optimal Developmental Outcomes
    Optimal Developmental Outcomes The Social, Moral, Cognitive, and Emotional Dimensions of a Montessori Education by Annette Haines Kay Baker David Kahn The human personality is essentially one during the successive stages of its development. Yet, whatever human being we consider, and at whatever age, whether children in the primary school, adolescents, youths or adults, all start by being children, all then grow from childhood to manhood or womanhood without changing the unity of their persons. If the human personality is one at all stages of its development we must conceive of a principle of education which has regard to all stages. Maria Montessori, The Formation of Man Contents Introduction ....................................................................................................1 by Annette M. Haines The First Plane of Development ....................................................................3 by Annette M. Haines The Second Plane of Development.............................................................18 by Kay Baker The Third Plane of Development.................................................................28 by David Kahn Introduction by Annette M. Haines Mario Montessori used to say that one of the differences between animals and humans is that the animal is a body with just enough psyche to serve it, whereas humans have “a puny body—but a great spirit”: And that spirit had a life and needs of its own. For it was not only feelings of physical hunger or cold that drove Man on. The animals are at rest once their needs have been appeased. In Man hunger and cold were sources of activity for the mind as well as for the body. Once these had been appeased the body was satisfied, not so the mind. To the mind they gave suggestions, inspiration, problems.
    [Show full text]
  • Martin Amis: the Return of the Master
    Email ●●●● gfedcSave Login Remind Subscribe SUBSCRIPTIONS EVENTS SHOP ADVERTISING CLASSIFIEDS ABOUT US CONTACT US Email Home Current Issue Pdf First Drafts ­ Martin Amis: the return of the master Dr Pangloss Prospect's Blog TOM CHATFIELD Print Learning to play the Currently Browsing game 158 / May 200 May 2009 | 158 » Web exclusive » Martin Amis: the return of the master Buy Issue Jun 2009 Contents page Will the next ten months see Britain's most controversial novelist finally return to his best? Letter from Riga Opinions Tom Chatfield TOM CHATFIELD Prospect columns Latvian healthcare Apr 2009 Arts & books Discuss this article—and view Toby Muse's exclusive video interviews with Martin Features Amis for Prospect —on our blog. When we dead Science and awaken technology TOM CHATFIELD These days, Martin Amis is bigger news than his own novels. Martin Amis the political Web exclusive Roberto Bolaño's last commentator, that is, whose off­the­cuff remarks in a 2006 interview ("There’s a novel is something Poll definite urge—don’t you have it?—to say, 'The Muslim community will have to suffer quite unexpected—a Fiction critically garlanded until it gets its house in order.' ") have been tinnily echoing around the fourth estate Columns epic that's... ever since. Then again, these days Martin Amis the political commentator looms a Feb 2009 Cover story rather larger figure than Amis the novelist. The last twelve years have seen just one Crossword (PDF) novel ( Yellow Dog, in 2003), one novella ( House of Meetings, 2006) and a handful of Tom's words TOM CHATFIELD The List short stories—compared to four books of non fiction ( Experience, 2000; The War Feb 2009 Publication Against Cliché, 2001; Koba the Dread, 2002; The Second Plane, 2008) plus various Dates uncollected prose pieces.
    [Show full text]
  • The Lost Story of Iqbal
    The Lost Story of Iqbal SHIRIN SINNAR* The Supreme Court’s 2009 decision in Ashcroft v. Iqbal, which trans- formed pleading standards across civil litigation, is recognized as one of the most important cases of contemporary civil procedure. Despite the abundant attention the case has received on procedural grounds, the Court’s representations of Javaid Iqbal, the plaintiff in the case, and the post-9/11 detentions out of which his claims arose have received far less critique than they deserve. The decision presented a particular narrative of the detentions that may affect readers’ perceptions of the propriety of law enforcement practices, the scope of the harm they impose on minority communities, and their ultimate legality. This Article contests that narrative by recovering the lost story of Iqbal. It first retells the story of Iqbal himself—the Pakistani immigrant and cable repair technician whom the opinion presented only categorically as a foreigner, a terrorist suspect, and, at best, a victim of abuse. Drawing on the author’s interview of Iqbal in Lahore, Pakistan, in 2016 and other available evidence, the Article reconstructs the facts of Iqbal’s immigrant life, his arrest and detention in the wake of the September 11 attacks, and the enduring consequences of being labeled a suspected terrorist. Sec- ond, the Article recounts the role of race and religion in the post-9/11 immigrant detentions, challenging the Court’s account of the detentions as supported by an “obvious” legitimate explanation. Juxtaposing the lost story of Iqbal and the detentions against the Court’s decision ulti- mately sheds light on the ability of procedural decisions to propagate particular normative visions and understandings of substantive law with- out the full recognition of legal audiences.
    [Show full text]
  • SVWC 2019 Reading List for Website
    2019 Reading List Martin Amis The Rub of Time: Bellow, Nabokov, Hitchens, Travolta, Trump: Essays and Reportage, 1994-2017 (2018) The Zone of Interest (Vintage International) (2015)reprint Experience:A Memoir (2014) Kobe the Dread (2014) Lionel Asbo: State of England (2012) The Pregnant Widow (2011) Heavy Water and Other Stories (2011) Other People (2010) The Second Plane (2009) House of Meeting (2007) Vintage Amis (2007) Yellow Dog (2005) The War Against Cliche (2002) Experience (2000) Night Train (1999) The Information (1996) Visiting Mrs. Nabokov (1995) Times Arrow (1992) Dead Babies (1991) Success (1991) The Moronic Inferno (1991) Einstein’s Monsters (1990) London Fields (1989) Money:A Suicide Note (1984) Invasion of the Space Invaders (1992) The Rachel Papers (1973) Kwame Anthony Appiah The Lies That Bind: Rethinking Identity (2018) As If: Idealization and Ideals (2017) Lines of Descent (2014) The Honor Code: How Moral Revolutions Happen (2011) Cosmopolitanism:Ethics in a World of Strangers (2010) Encyclopedia of Africa (2010) Experiments in Ethics (2008) The Ethics of Identity (2005) Thinking It Through (2003) Color Conscious (1998) Nobody Likes Letina (1994) In My Father’s House (1993) Avenging Angel (1991) Necessary Questions(1989) Rick Atkinson The British Are Coming:The War for America, Lexington to Princeton (2019) The Guns at Last Night:The War in Western Europe 1944-1945 (2014) D-Day:The Invasion of Normandy 1944 (2014) The Long Gray Line:The American Journey of West Point’s Class of 1966 (2009) In the Company of Soldiers:A
    [Show full text]
  • Personally Speaking: Martin Amis, the SECOND PLANE
    Times Literary Supplement, 14 Feb. 2008, 3-5. Personally Speaking Martin Amis THE SECOND PLANE: September 11: 2001-2007 214pp. London: Jonathan Cape. £12.99. ISBN 9780224076104 Marjorie Perloff In the foreword to The War Against Cliché, his 2001 collection of reviews and essays, Martin Amis recalls his early writing days with some nostalgia: My private life was middle-bohemian-hippyish and hedonistic, if not candidly debauched; but I was very moral when it came to literary criticism. I read it all the time, in the tub, on the tube; I always had about me my Edmund Wilson-or my William Empson . It might have been in such a locale that my friend and colleague Clive James first formulated his view that, while literary criticism is not essential to literature, both are essential to civilization. Taking his cue from Henry James (T. S. Eliot and F. R. Leavis are also invoked) Amis characterizes his own literary criticism as "a campaign against cliché. Not just clichés of the pen but clichés of the mind and clichés of the heart". And the opposite of cliché? "Freshness, energy, and reverberation of voice." The Amis of the 1970s and 80s had plenty of the latter. The War Against Cliché is studded with brilliant aperçus about this or that writer, including a 1996 review of Hillary Clinton's It Takes a Village that is unusually prescient in its account of the then First Lady's machinations, from "Cookiegate, Cattlegate, Travelgate, Fostergate, Whitewatergate to Thankyougate" -the last having to do with the fact that Hillary neglected to acknowledge her chief ghost-writer, the head of a team that helped her to produce words of wisdom for mothers and caregivers such the following: "In addition to being read to, children love to be told stories".
    [Show full text]