"Martin Amis Writes Postmodern Man"

Elie A. Edmondson does an excellent job identifying and explaining the very postmodernist aspects in Martin Amis' novels. Specifically in Money, Edmondson breaks down the narrative revealing the techniques that Amis employs in order to manipulate the reader and obtain a certain reaction. What I thought was interesting in context of this weekends reading was the idea that Martin Amis (author) is using Martin Amis (character) to reveal the pattern and end of John Self's life as both character and person. During their conversation about the script that Martin Amis (character) is re-writing he reveals the author, Martin Amis', trajectory for John Self as a character. Martin Amis says, "The further down the scale he is, the more liberties you can take with him. You can do what the hell you like to him. This creates an appetite for punishment. The author is not free of sadistic impulses" (229) John Self replies to this by demanding Martin give him a deadline for the script. In that moment Martin Amis exposed John Self's fate and John Self demanded it happen soon. This is an exceptionally metatextual moment in this novel. Elie A. Edmondson uses this moment to show one side of the novel's postmodern aspects. She explains how John Self is so immersed in his own ego and capitalist nature that he views the people around him as commodities with monetary value and that "he cannot recognize when he himself is being manipulated" (Edmondson 5).