Abstract
Martin Amis uses the language of revolution to describe the newly altered social circumstances at the height of the sexual revolution in his semi-autobiographical novel The Pregnant Widow . The concept of a ‘language of revolution’ as well as second- and third-wave feminist scholarship is applied to a textual analysis of the novel. Amis’s brand of satire creates a sense of displacement and challenges existing perceptions about gender, culture and sexuality, exposing them as constructed and changeable norms. Moreover, it becomes clear that the author is skeptical about the benefits of the sexual revolution for either gender, and that he views its liberating aspects as unfulfilled, particularly for women. Given that Amis names one of his characters Scheherazade, evoking the legendary heroine of The Arabian Nights , the importance of storytelling in the novel is also examined and found to be a potentially redeeming force.
Highlights
In his 2010 semi-autobiographical novel The Pregnant Widow, Amis recaptures the sense of newness and the abrupt shift in society that came about as the result of the sexual revolution by using what is, the language of revolution in the political sense
A historical account of the communist revolution in China or the French Revolution would capture this same awareness of a sharp dividing line between past and present, with dangers lurking in the present as new standards must be quickly adapted
Views and interpretations of the sexual revolution, which form the socio-historical backdrop for the novel, will be examined and applied through the use of social criticism from secondand third-wave feminist scholarship
Summary
In his 2010 semi-autobiographical novel The Pregnant Widow, Amis recaptures the sense of newness and the abrupt shift in society that came about as the result of the sexual revolution by using what is, the language of revolution in the political sense. As the author is an exceptionally accomplished humorist and incisive social commentator, it will come as no surprise that this work is no nostalgic ode to the liberation of the self but a complex analysis, its amusing storyline leading us further into a contemplation of sexual politics. What is surprising is the germ of optimism that exists at the heart of this fundamentally desultory account. At some level it seems the author is still waiting for the revolution to fulfill itself. Amis’s primary tool is satire – his own brand, in which he subtly shifts the frame within we view events, rendering them still familiar but indisputably altered
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