Style over substance

Novelists like Martin Amis should be wary of using a verbose and unclear literary style when writing explicitly political material.

September 18, 2007 9:00 AM

 

Kingsley Amis used to have no qualms about attacking the "terrible compulsive vividness" of his son's writing. He even went as far as to say he could never finish reading his novels. "It goes back to one of Martin's heroes - Nabokov. I lay it all at his door - that constant demonstrating of his command of Englishness." These accusations of unnecessary verboseness have haunted Amis' illuminated career.

 

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