Nights and Money

I have a different edition of Nights at the Circus, so forgive the fact that our page numbers won't align.

In Nights at the Circus, I quite enjoy the scenes where Fevvers behaves like a slob although she constantly describes herself as being some angelic winged goddess. When Walser is interviewing Fevvers in her dressing room and they take a sandwich break, Fevvers' eating habit is described as being messy and somewhat savage-like. She "tucked in" the sandwich "with relish, a vigorous mastication of large teeth, a smacking of plump lips smeared with grease"(59). Fevvers had just narrated her time as the only virgin in a brothel, where she was an innocent figure in the foyer; she illustrates herself as such a dainty woman, but she belches and wipes her greasy mouth on her satin sleeve. This contrast of civility with unsophisticated behavior is similar to the antics of John Self. He can carry himself in a business lunch or at a meeting with one of his actors, yet his true self is incredibly obscene and inappropriate. He's sloppy and unclean, yet this true nature is more or less hidden when he is conducting business.

An instance where there is a combination of femininity and reality vs. artifice can be found in the passage where Fevvers is at the Royal College of Surgeons. Walser recalls how she spent three hours "entertaining" the surgeons, "without so much as unbuttoning her bodice". Fevvers is speaking about her own reality, yet there is no way of knowing whether her reality is true because she never provides indisputable evidence. When she shows Walser the scar at the bottom of her foot, there is no way of knowing where that scar actually came from. She speaks with such confidence that no one questions her actual knowledge of the subject. Carter writes that the professors did not want to be "rude" in "questioning the extent of her personal knowledge". The fact that Carter used the word "rude", to me, shows the professors' sense of manners when it comes to dealing with women (67). If the person who claimed to be a bird was part man, it is likely that these professors would grill him for actual evidence of his claims. Since Fevvers is an attractive, and relatively large, woman, no one wants to upset a lady by refuting her arguments. She also posses the charm and eloquence of a master of persuasion. She has a way of speaking matter-of-factly and with such enthusiasm, which makes it difficult for someone to put a word in edgewise. 

bbc

Just discovered that the BBC made a movie adaptation of Money. I can't find the full film (it's split into two episodes) but I've found some snippets. It's super 80's and super corny. Also the guys from Mad Men and Shaun of the Dead are in it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZ890GSNB5Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaKLMS20YTk&feature=relmfu

Acting in Money

One of Shakespeare's more famous quotes was, "All the world's a stage, And the men and women merely players". Shakespeare's plays often included characters disguising themselves as other people, similar to the characters in Money. John Self was manipulated by those around him, believing them to be friends when they were actually enemies. Fielding, Selina, and Barry all acted and pretended to be something they were not in order to get what they wanted from Self. Othello's titular character was tricked by his right-hand man into believed that Desdemona was cheating, and he believed it by giving in to his insecurities. Self is incredibly self-loathing, so he accepts whatever people tell him. Self even lied to himself and tried to believe that money was really the most important thing in the world. By "acting", Amis referring to the practice of pretending to be something different than one's true persona. At the end of the novel, Self is content with his life and it leads the reader to believe that money was not the only thing Self needed to be happy, no matter what he kept telling himself and whoever would listen. Selina did not really pretend to love Self, but she put up with him just because she was greedy for materials; when they reunited later, she pretended to want to sleep with him only so she could have Martina walk in and catch them in the act. Barry Self pretended to be Self's father for years, and Fat Vince had to play the role of a man watching his son grow up from afar. Lorne, Butch, Spunk, and Caduta were all literally actors, yet they insisted on making insane demands in an effort to hide their self-esteem issues. Lorne was ashamed of his age and his vanishing fame, yet he assumed the role of a pompous and highly regarded actor that expected no less than center stage. Butch wanted to be seen as intelligent and Spunk as pure. Fielding, perhaps the strongest example of a fake persona, lied to Self so often and hid his true nature so well that Self actually believed him to be three separate people. Fielding convinced Self that he was paying for all of the expenses and that they even had a company, Fielding & Self, together. Fielding also had an alter-persona as Frank and Phone and a ginger women that followed Self around all the time. The purpose of including all of these "actors" in Self's life was to show the false realities that can accumulate when you are obsessed with just one thing. Self was unobservant of his surroundings and allowed himself to be fooled as long as he thought it would inflate his bank account. Money is associated with superficiality and the characters in Money bought in to this lifestyle. People did anything just to make a quick dollar.

Edmondson and Miracky on Money

           I was only supposed to write about one article, but there are points I'd like to address from both Edmondson's Martin Amis Writes Postmodern Man and Miracky's Hope Lost or Hyped Lust? In Edmondson's essay, he analyzes Amis' own obsession with writing about the topic of obsession. It's interesting to note that although Amis writes about his characters' obsessions in a pretty negative light, he himself appears to obsess over the idea of obsessions. In Money, Self's only concern is acquiring and spending money. He believes that all of his self-esteem and social issues can resolved once he reaches the pinnacle of wealth and has his entire body "refit" (207). Fielding, to Self, is the embodiment of money, so Self strives to be just like him. It's a shame to have read this article before having finished the book, but fter learning how the story ends, it is ironic that Fielding, whom Self aspired to be like, is the reason why Self destroys himself. In Self's process to obtain as much money as possible, he has been running his fortune into the ground in order to produce this movie that is supposed to be his big money break. 

           When Miracky mentions Money's plot, he describes it as being "convoluted and gap-filled". I think that the gaps in Money's plot is intentional because we are experiencing everything through the point of view of a self-indulgent alcoholic. Self blacks out most nights and does not remember events that occur, so his missing information is our missing information. The points where Self leaves details out when recounting a story is extremely important in his narration style because it gives him his own personality, as opposed to the reader associating it with Amis' own thoughts. Martin Amis is a character in the book because he is a sort of a weight holding Self to the ground. The same goes for Martina, whose name is conveniently similar to Martin. Most of Money is told in medias res, where the reader is plopped into the middle of a story line and is forced to catch up with only what Self has to say about the situation. Characters appear so natural, as if they have lives outside of Money.