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Fw: Fw: Fw: Fw: Martin Amis on Bellow , VN, et al
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----- Original Message -----
From: Andrew Brown
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum
Sent: Sunday, March 14, 2004 9:20 PM
Subject: Re: Fw: Fw: Fw: Martin Amis on Bellow , VN, et al
It's an awfully far flung and tenuously constructed cult, if it is one.
I've never met any of those here who have challenged Mr. Amis's claims for Mr. Bellow. And I have corresponded with, I think, one of them, on the basis of, say, once every four or five months.
I take it you are the one who is embarrassed. Why? Unanimity of responses? Count them. How many? Four? Can't that just be plain disagreement?
I've immensely enjoyed Henderson, and Humbolt (probably read Humboldt four or five times, with wonder and pleasure), and .... well, the list thins.
Here's Amis on Bellow: "The American novel, having become dominant, was in turn dominated by the Jewish-American novel, and everybody knows who dominated that: Saul Bellow. His was and is a pre-eminence that rests not on sales figures and honorary degrees, not on rosettes and sashes, but on incontestable legitimacy. To hold otherwise is to waste your breath."
Waste your breath? No disagreement allowed, whatsoever? Does that not strike you as kind of a large statement? I refer you to The Guardian, 3/6,04 for more, such as "Bellow sees more than we see..." and so on. A very Argus.
As for Bellow's "seamless mix of the erudite and the street." I can't speak for the erudite, but Bellow's grasp of "the street" can be had in the reading of a half dozen Sunday magazines.
I like the "defensiveness" touch. When faced with disagreement, always categorize your equal as defensive. It's an immediate presumption of superiority. One that, in fact, is taught in courses for those on the Human Resources track who need tactics for handling recalcitrant inferiors.
----- Original Message -----
From: D. Barton Johnson
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Sent: Sunday, March 14, 2004 10:25 PM
Subject: Fw: Fw: Fw: Martin Amis on Bellow , VN, et al
----- Original Message -----
From: MalignD@aol.com
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Sent: Sunday, March 14, 2004 2:20 PM
Subject: Re: Fw: Fw: Martin Amis on Bellow , VN, et al
There's a very embarrassing level of defensiveness going on on this board re Bellow.
Bellow's greatness--and Bellow is quite as great as Amis claims--makes no dent in VN's claim to same.
With no intent to compare him to or rate him against VN--Bellow is a marvel. His style is one of the wonders of 20th century fiction, a seamless mix of the erudite and the street and the gradations in between. Herzog, Mr. Sammler's Planet, Humboldt's Gift, More Die of Heartbreak--these are wonderful, great novels.
There's something very cultish in the unanimity of the responses here ... Embarrassing, as I said.