Advantage Amis
VOGUE India|March 2017

Outspoken British author MARTIN AMIS opens up to SIDDHARTH DHANVANT SHANGHVI about his rivalry with Julian Barnes, his perceived misogyny and the “taint of heredity”.

Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi
Advantage Amis

Even as I’m racing from Juhu to Colaba to meet Martin Amis, his memorable character John Self—from his classic 1984 novel Money— is whispering dark, flawless nothings in my ear. Funnily enough, Self sounds almost desi—a Rakhi Sawant handler out of Lokhandwala— rather than the gin-soaked New York film producer who is more an authorial spectra of postmodernism. The transcendent aspect of Money is that, although set in New York, its themes of greed, deceit and sexual excess are familiar to Mumbai, Rio or Naples; the disagreeable narrator, Self, is a personal anti-hero.

When I meet Amis I mute reserves of admiration, and exercise caution—after all, he’s the original bad boy of British fiction, noted for an acidic turn of phrase—but as it turns out, at breakfast, he’s studiously polite, civil to a fault, and engaging in his considered baritone and promiscuous scholarship. We speak of his books, from The Rachel Papers, a triumphant bellow of arrival (energetic enough to make his father, novelist Kingsley Amis, skittish around his son’s galloping prodigy), 1989’s London Fields— which didn’t make the Booker shortlist because the judges found its authorial tone misogynist—to The Information, which cost Amis a friendship with Julian Barnes, his then agent Pat Kavanagh’s husband. Amis traded Kavanagh for Andrew Wylie, who secured him a larger advance; this ought to have been written off as a business move but one that British literary society derided as a decision of avarice and betrayal.

This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

MORE STORIES FROM VOGUE INDIAView all
Breathe In, Breathe Out
VOGUE India

Breathe In, Breathe Out

A powerful tool to help you master your nervous system or another biohacking buzzword? SIMONE DHONDY explores the inhalations and exhalations of breathwork

time-read
4 mins  |
November - December 2024
Red Pill, Blue Pill
VOGUE India

Red Pill, Blue Pill

India's nutraceutical industry is booming thanks to advanced technology, distrust of the medical system and rising vanity. With multivitamins becoming purer and more effective, NIDHI GUPTA finds out if supplements have become the new serum

time-read
4 mins  |
November - December 2024
Sign of the times
VOGUE India

Sign of the times

No longer do you need to have an answer to, \"What is the significance of this?\" when people point to your new tattoo. ARMAN KHAN discovers that everything is on the table when you get inked temporarily

time-read
3 mins  |
November - December 2024
Return to form
VOGUE India

Return to form

Watching the world's most elite athletes deliver the best performances of their careers rekindled SONAKSHI SHARMA's own love for sports

time-read
3 mins  |
November - December 2024
Dimple, All Day
VOGUE India

Dimple, All Day

YOU MAY HAVE WATCHED HER ON THE BIG SCREEN FOR OVER FIVE DECADES, BUT DON'T MAKE THE MISTAKE OF ASSUMING THAT YOU KNOW DIMPLE KAPADIA.

time-read
9 mins  |
November - December 2024
MUSIC, TAKE CONTROL
VOGUE India

MUSIC, TAKE CONTROL

As someone who had always sought safety in numbers, ALIZA FATMA often wondered what her own company would feel like. The answer arrived unexpectedly when she attended her first-ever music festival, one of the largest in the world, all alone

time-read
3 mins  |
November - December 2024
Let it grow
VOGUE India

Let it grow

When we think of hardworking farmers toiling in India's scorching heat, we often think of men, the sweat on their brow, the sinews in their arms. JYOTI KUMARI speaks to four women who are championing the invisible female labour that keeps these fields running

time-read
5 mins  |
November - December 2024
YOU'LL NEVER WALK ALONE
VOGUE India

YOU'LL NEVER WALK ALONE

When armless archer Sheetal Devi set her sights on the Paralympic Games this year, she knew she had a tough journey ahead of her. Luckily, her mother was with her every step of the way.

time-read
5 mins  |
November - December 2024
Beauty and the feast
VOGUE India

Beauty and the feast

The appeal of Indian weddings has always been in a sprawling spread. For additional bragging rights, Aditi Dugar recommends going beyond designer tablecloths and monogrammed napkins.

time-read
1 min  |
November - December 2024
Sweet serendipity
VOGUE India

Sweet serendipity

From a scavenger hunt-inspired proposal to a Moroccan-themed baraat, Malvika Raj and Armaan Rai's love story prioritised playfulness throughout their blended celebrations.

time-read
4 mins  |
November - December 2024