Martin Amis 1949-2023. On David Bowie in 1973
Martin Amis who has died at 73 was the author several novels which spoke to our times, or at least the times they were written it.
Someone tweeted me that he was right-wing. That could be debated but he was certainly not as right-wing as his father Kingsley. That said his well-documented Islamophobic outburst, ably deconstructed by Terry Eagleton, remains inexcusable. His book on Stalin (Koba 2002) caused a temporary rift with his long-time friend Christopher Hitchens.
Even so in the 1970s he was literary Editor at the New Statesman, when Hitchens was also associated with the magazine and during a period when it was more clearly identified with the left than it is now.
In the issue of 6th July 1973 Amis reviewed a concert by David Bowie at the Hammersmith Odeon.
He concluded:
Bowie does appear to be a focus for the vague, predatory, escapist reveries of the alienated young. Although Bowie himself is unlikely to last long as a cult, it is hard to believe that the feelings he has aroused or aggravated will vanish along with the fashion built around him.
Amis was definitely better off when sticking to fiction. His attempts at grappling with the actual from Bowie to Stalin were not so happy
Leave a Reply