Amis on names in literature

[matthew cissell]

Oh the question of what is good. What makes a "good" name? Maybe
Martin Amis is a good name for a character. Certainly better than
Leopold Bloom or Blazes Boylan. Or something rubbish like "K".

The world of publishing probably needs more people like the late
literary agent Pat Kavanaugh, but I don't think any writer, agent or
editor can tell us what makes a good name. Afterall, who did Kavanaugh
have in her stable? The likes of John Irving and Tom Wolfe don't
garner much credit in my account. (I'll grant you that Rebecca West is
to PK's merit.)

But what's in a name? Quite a bit, just ask Amis about the literary
inheritance of capital. Now he needs to make noise to keep himself in
the limelight. A cad riding on coattails and living on laurels with a
fading expiration date.


ciao
mc otis

On Tue, Sep 22, 2015 at 7:54 PM, rich <richard.romeo at gmail.com> wrote:
> agreed but wouldn't you all agree that in the earlier books the names were
> portals for discovery--in the later books it's just become shtick
>
>
> On Tue, Sep 22, 2015 at 6:02 AM, Jamie McKittrick <jamiemckit at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>>
>> "and so he throws our author's novels into the corner ..."
>>
>> Much in the manner of his father, I imagine.
>>
>> 2015-09-22 10:16 GMT+01:00 Ian Livingston <igrlivingston at gmail.com>:
>>>
>>> Soon as some whoever says "should" in this sort of context my attention
>>> falters.
>>>
>>> 2015-09-22 0:32 GMT-07:00 Kai Frederik Lorentzen <lorentzen at hotmail.de>:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Martin Amis, whose novels I don't know, says here that he, following the
>>>> literary agent Pat Kavanagh, thinks a good name in literature should combine
>>>> an usual and an unusual element. So neither 'John Smith' nor 'Engelbert
>>>> Humperdinck.' The expressiveness of the name is crucial, but the names
>>>> Pynchon uses are for Amis too extreme and so he throws our author's novels
>>>> into the corner ...
>>>>
>>>> > Die Literaturagentin Pat Kavanagh sagte einmal, ein guter Name bestehe
>>>> > aus einem ungewöhnlichen und einem gewöhnlichen Element. Man wolle nicht
>>>> > John Smith heissen, aber auch nicht Engelbert Humperdinck. Diesen Rat habe
>>>> > ich bei der Namensgebung meiner Figuren stets beherzigt, und das, worum es
>>>> > in Wirklichkeit geht, ist die Ausdrucksstärke eines Namens. Es würde mich zu
>>>> > Tode langweilen, über eine Figur namens Tom Metcalf zu schreiben, aber
>>>> > andererseits werfe ich auch einen Roman in die Ecke, wenn eine Figur wie
>>>> > irgendwo bei Thomas Pynchon nach einem Tampon-Hersteller benannt ist. <
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> http://www.nzz.ch/feuilleton/buecher/ein-blick-in-die-abgruende-der-eigenen-seele-1.18616927
>>>>
>>>> -
>>>> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?listpynchon-l
>>>
>>>
>>
>
-
Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l