Subject
VN & Martin Amis on Titles
Date
Body
VN's 1972 TRANSPARENT THINGS (Chptr 18). Baron R. speaking:
"The question of the title--_Tralatitions_--was another kettle of
fish. Readers did not realize that two types of title existed. One type
was the title found by the dumb author or clever publisher after the book
had been written. _That_ was simply a label stuck on and tapped with the
side of the fist. Most of our worst best-sellers had that kind of title.
But there was the other kind: the title that shone through the book like a
watermark, the title that was born with the book, the title to which the
author had grown so accustomed during the years of accumulating the
written pages that it had become part of each and of all. No, Mr. R.
could not give up the title _Tralatitions_ (70).
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Martin Amis's prefatory "Note" to his _LONDON
FIELDS_ wherein he discusses his choice of title. After considering
several possibilites, he concludes:
"But as you see I kept ironic faith with my narrator, who would have been
pleased, no doubt, to remind me that there are two kinds of title--two
grades, two orders. The first kind of title decides on a name for
something that is already there. The second kind of title is present all
along: it lives and breathes, or it tries, on every page. My suggestions
(and they cost me sleep) are all the first kind of title. LONDON FIELDS
is the second kind of title. So let's call it LONDON FIELDS."
--------------------------
--------------------------
D. Barton Johnson
Department of Germanic, Slavic and Semitic Studies
Phelps Hall
University of California at Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA 93106
Phone and Fax: (805) 687-1825
Home Phone: (805) 682-4618
"The question of the title--_Tralatitions_--was another kettle of
fish. Readers did not realize that two types of title existed. One type
was the title found by the dumb author or clever publisher after the book
had been written. _That_ was simply a label stuck on and tapped with the
side of the fist. Most of our worst best-sellers had that kind of title.
But there was the other kind: the title that shone through the book like a
watermark, the title that was born with the book, the title to which the
author had grown so accustomed during the years of accumulating the
written pages that it had become part of each and of all. No, Mr. R.
could not give up the title _Tralatitions_ (70).
--------------------------
Martin Amis's prefatory "Note" to his _LONDON
FIELDS_ wherein he discusses his choice of title. After considering
several possibilites, he concludes:
"But as you see I kept ironic faith with my narrator, who would have been
pleased, no doubt, to remind me that there are two kinds of title--two
grades, two orders. The first kind of title decides on a name for
something that is already there. The second kind of title is present all
along: it lives and breathes, or it tries, on every page. My suggestions
(and they cost me sleep) are all the first kind of title. LONDON FIELDS
is the second kind of title. So let's call it LONDON FIELDS."
--------------------------
--------------------------
D. Barton Johnson
Department of Germanic, Slavic and Semitic Studies
Phelps Hall
University of California at Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA 93106
Phone and Fax: (805) 687-1825
Home Phone: (805) 682-4618