British writer Martin Amis had a reputation as an angry young man. Yes, he was a bad boy, but Wichita State English professor Fran Connor says he also had big things to say about capitalism and culture… on today’s Why Should I Read This?
Martin Amis's 1984 novel Money could be a jet-setting 80s comedy, but it also raises concerns about art in the age of modern finance. An ambitious small-time commercial director named John Self roams between New York and London, trying to make a movie. He deals with an increasingly frustrating array of self-involved actors, scriptwriters, lovers, and colleagues; among them is a disdainful novelist named 'Martin Amis'. Self is driven by grotesque passions, wallowing in gluttony, lust, and violence; he obsesses over money but spends it recklessly, and he prefers to watch trashy films. How did this talentless ogre get the opportunity to make a movie? The novel’s unpredictable ending explains that, as we discover Self's true self. Money offers a glimpse of – or, perhaps, a warning about – a community getting a bit too comfortable putting the pursuit of money above everything else, diminishing art and culture in favor of cheap thrills.
