Martin Amis Talks to Charlie Rose

Author Martin Amis explains how writers need to make a work their won by avoiding cliches.

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[liv04r]

almost finished London Fields and I can't believe how simply wonderfully Amis writes. A marvelous book.

[gilbertgodlyddd]

I'll never forgive you for thinknig he cares.

[Smoochy44]

As I write this, there have been 17,894 views of this clip... I think about 8,000 of those are mine.

[robgee9]

Indeed art is a war against cliches -- Amis has got right to the core of what makes literature separate from popular fiction or any art; the way an artist makes his art is what Makes His Art. Cliches induce you to accept, not to think or feel about something in any new way; it's cookie cutter creation; what he's getting at is to take a reader on an unfamiliar path -- maybe tougher to walk at first, but when you've done it, the reward and satisfaction is more: he's made you see in a new way.

[Smoochy44]

@liv04r Amen.

[redfiredragonslayer]

@mbostrom Bohemian upper middle-class of Britain. It's a very atypical British accent

[Boudosaved]

@Smoochy44 I enjoyed "The Road" very much. It is one of the few books I had to read all in one day. It introduced me to the author and led me to read his "Blood Meridian" which might be his masterpiece.

[mbostrom]

Please, you native speakers of the Anglosaxon tongue, explain to a curious swede where and how this mans enfuriating but charming dialect was formed? Is he a form of brit with a curious dental affliction or an upperclass american?

[Smoochy44]

@spd13062 I'm curious, what was it about "The Road" that you found made it one of the worst novels you've ever read?

[Smoochy44]

@oooISPYooo At no point does Amis ever say "This is all there is to writing." He does indeed say that weight of voice is something that is essential to good literature (he's insinuating this, anyway), and he couldn't be more right. To declare he's summed up all writing into a narrow definition by stating that avoiding cliches is a necessity is a sign that your powers of observation (a cliche right there) need some tweaking

[towneslives]

"rumble and wow and fuzzbox" mmm

[artistsandbox]

literature is a war against cliches--great! Love it lol