The Pregnant Widow
Encyclopedia
The Pregnant Widow is a novel by the English writer, Martin Amis
, published by Jonathan Cape
on 4 February 2010. Its theme is the feminist revolution, which Amis sees as incomplete and bewildering for women, echoing the view of the 19th-century Russian writer, Alexander Herzen
, that revolution is a long night of chaos and desolation. The "pregnant widow", a phrase taken from Herzen's From the other shore (1848–1850), is the point at which the old order has given way, the new one not yet born. Amis said in 2007 that "consciousness is not revolutionised by the snap of a finger. And feminism, I reckon, is about halfway through its second trimester."
The story is set in a castle owned by a cheese tycoon in Campania
, Italy, where Keith Nearing, a 20-year-old English literature student; his girlfriend, Lily; and her friend, Scheherazade, are on holiday during the hot summer of 1970, the year that Amis says "something was changing in the world of men and women". The narrator is Keith's superego, or conscience, in 2009. Keith's sister, Violet, is based on Amis's own sister, Sally
, described by Amis as one of the revolution's most spectacular victims. According to Gully Wells, she is represented by Lily, her friend Serena by Scheherazade and Martin Amis himself by Keith.
The novel was a work-in-progress for the best part of seven years, his first since House of Meetings
(2006). Originally set for release in late 2007, its publication was delayed to 2008, when he made what he describes as a "terrible decision" to abandon what he had written to that point, and begin again, building the story up from one section he retained, the part about Italy. The long gestation period resulted in its expansion to some 480 pages, making it his longest novel since The Information
in 1995. It was published to mixed reviews, Eileen Battersby in The Irish Times calling it a "thumping disappointment", while Richard Bradford in The Spectator described it as a "unique, sometimes exquisite experience".
After a considerable amount of speculation and high expectation, the novel was somewhat controversially not included on the longlist for the 2010 Man Booker Prize.
to a hostile critical reception and muted commercial success. In a 2006 interview with The Independent, he revealed that he had abandoned a novella, The Unknown Known, and instead continued to work on a follow-up full novel that he had started in 2003. He said the new novel was "blindingly autobiographical, but with an Islamic theme". In an interview with Mark Lawson in 2006, Amis said there was some distance from the fictionalized versions of himself, his father, Kingsley Amis
and his novelist mentor, Saul Bellow
, in The Pregnant Widow, at this point untitled. He said he was "trying to keep up a little bit of indirection" with the autobiographical aspects, saying that his character in the novel was named "Louis" (Amis' middle name), that Kingsley Amis was "The King" and that Saul Bellow was "Chick" (which itself was a reference to the Saul Bellow proxy character in Bellow's final novel Ravelstein
).
Further details concerning the struggle to get the novel written emerged in an 1 August 2009 during an interview Amis gave the National Post: "I started a novel [but] then I’m going to write a novella before I get on to it. But I was in big trouble a few years ago, with a huge, dead novel. And it took me a long time, and a lot of grief, to realize—I thought I was clutching at straws—it turned out it was actually two novels, and they couldn’t go together. So I wrote The Pregnant Widow, [that’s] one half of it, and the other half I started, and it will be very autobiographical, the next one."
Martin Amis
Martin Louis Amis is a British novelist, the author of many novels including Money and London Fields . He is currently Professor of Creative Writing at the Centre for New Writing at the University of Manchester, but will step down at the end of the 2010/11 academic year...
, published by Jonathan Cape
Jonathan Cape
Jonathan Cape was a London-based publisher founded in 1919 as "Page & Co" by Herbert Jonathan Cape , formerly a manager at Duckworth who had worked his way up from a position of bookshop errand boy. Cape brought with him the rights to cheap editions of the popular author Elinor Glyn and sales of...
on 4 February 2010. Its theme is the feminist revolution, which Amis sees as incomplete and bewildering for women, echoing the view of the 19th-century Russian writer, Alexander Herzen
Alexander Herzen
Aleksandr Ivanovich Herzen was a Russian pro-Western writer and thinker known as the "father of Russian socialism", and one of the main fathers of agrarian populism...
, that revolution is a long night of chaos and desolation. The "pregnant widow", a phrase taken from Herzen's From the other shore (1848–1850), is the point at which the old order has given way, the new one not yet born. Amis said in 2007 that "consciousness is not revolutionised by the snap of a finger. And feminism, I reckon, is about halfway through its second trimester."
The story is set in a castle owned by a cheese tycoon in Campania
Campania
Campania is a region in southern Italy. The region has a population of around 5.8 million people, making it the second-most-populous region of Italy; its total area of 13,590 km² makes it the most densely populated region in the country...
, Italy, where Keith Nearing, a 20-year-old English literature student; his girlfriend, Lily; and her friend, Scheherazade, are on holiday during the hot summer of 1970, the year that Amis says "something was changing in the world of men and women". The narrator is Keith's superego, or conscience, in 2009. Keith's sister, Violet, is based on Amis's own sister, Sally
Sally Amis
Sally Myfanwy Amis was the youngest child of the writer Sir Kingsley Amis, and his wife, Hilary "Hilly" Bardwell, now Lady Kilmarnock...
, described by Amis as one of the revolution's most spectacular victims. According to Gully Wells, she is represented by Lily, her friend Serena by Scheherazade and Martin Amis himself by Keith.
The novel was a work-in-progress for the best part of seven years, his first since House of Meetings
House of Meetings
House of Meetings, by Martin Amis, is a 2006 novel about two brothers who share a common love interest while living in a Soviet gulag during the last decade of Stalin's rule. This novel was written by Amis during a two year long self-imposed exile in Uruguay following the release and tepid...
(2006). Originally set for release in late 2007, its publication was delayed to 2008, when he made what he describes as a "terrible decision" to abandon what he had written to that point, and begin again, building the story up from one section he retained, the part about Italy. The long gestation period resulted in its expansion to some 480 pages, making it his longest novel since The Information
The Information (novel)
The Information is a 1995 novel by British writer Martin Amis. The plot involves two forty-year-old novelists, Gwyn Barry and Richard Tull . Amis has asserted that both characters are based on himself...
in 1995. It was published to mixed reviews, Eileen Battersby in The Irish Times calling it a "thumping disappointment", while Richard Bradford in The Spectator described it as a "unique, sometimes exquisite experience".
After a considerable amount of speculation and high expectation, the novel was somewhat controversially not included on the longlist for the 2010 Man Booker Prize.
Background
Amis started writing the novel after the publication in 2003 of Yellow DogYellow Dog (novel)
Yellow Dog is the title of a 2003 novel by the British writer Martin Amis. Its setting, like many of Amis’s novels, is contemporary London. The novel contains several strands that appear to be linked, although a complete resolution of the plot is not immediately apparent...
to a hostile critical reception and muted commercial success. In a 2006 interview with The Independent, he revealed that he had abandoned a novella, The Unknown Known, and instead continued to work on a follow-up full novel that he had started in 2003. He said the new novel was "blindingly autobiographical, but with an Islamic theme". In an interview with Mark Lawson in 2006, Amis said there was some distance from the fictionalized versions of himself, his father, Kingsley Amis
Kingsley Amis
Sir Kingsley William Amis, CBE was an English novelist, poet, critic, and teacher. He wrote more than 20 novels, six volumes of poetry, a memoir, various short stories, radio and television scripts, along with works of social and literary criticism...
and his novelist mentor, Saul Bellow
Saul Bellow
Saul Bellow was a Canadian-born Jewish American writer. For his literary contributions, Bellow was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the Nobel Prize for Literature, and the National Medal of Arts...
, in The Pregnant Widow, at this point untitled. He said he was "trying to keep up a little bit of indirection" with the autobiographical aspects, saying that his character in the novel was named "Louis" (Amis' middle name), that Kingsley Amis was "The King" and that Saul Bellow was "Chick" (which itself was a reference to the Saul Bellow proxy character in Bellow's final novel Ravelstein
Ravelstein
Ravelstein is Saul Bellow's final novel.Published in 2000, when Bellow was eighty-five years old, it received widespread critical acclaim. It tells the tale of a friendship between two university professors and the complications that animate their erotic and intellectual attachments in the face of...
).
Further details concerning the struggle to get the novel written emerged in an 1 August 2009 during an interview Amis gave the National Post: "I started a novel [but] then I’m going to write a novella before I get on to it. But I was in big trouble a few years ago, with a huge, dead novel. And it took me a long time, and a lot of grief, to realize—I thought I was clutching at straws—it turned out it was actually two novels, and they couldn’t go together. So I wrote The Pregnant Widow, [that’s] one half of it, and the other half I started, and it will be very autobiographical, the next one."
Sally Amis
The character of Violet Nearing, the protagonist's younger sister, is based on Sally Amis (17 January 1954–8 November 2000), Martin's younger sister by five years. She had problems all her life with alcoholism and promiscuity. She gave birth to a daughter, Catherine, when she was 24, who was given up for adoption at three months. Sally suffered a stroke at the age of 40, and died of an infection aged 46, after spending five days in intensive care. "I think what she was doing was seeking protection from men", Amis said, "but it went the other way, she was often beaten up, abused and she simply used herself up." He said it was a miracle she had made it to 46.Further reading
- Andrew, Anthony. Martin Amis: The wunderkind comes of age, The Observer, 10 January 2010.
- Lawson, Mark. Interview with Martin Amis, Front Row, BBC Radio 4, 2 February 2010.