----- Original Message -----
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 -----
Sent: Sunday, March 14, 2004 10:25
PM
Subject: Fw: Fw: Fw:
Martin Amis on Bellow , VN, et al
----- Original Message -----
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.