The Moronic Inferno: And Other Visits to America (1986) is a collection of non-fiction essays on the subject of America, by the British novelist Martin Amis.
The Moronic Inferno: And Other Visits to America (1986) is a collection of non-fiction essays on the subject of America, by the British novelist Martin Amis.
In the book's introduction, Amis reveals that he had been asked to write a book about America on previous occasions, but that The Moronic Inferno had come together "unpremeditated, accidental, and in installments" while he was "upending [his] desk drawer to prepare a collection of occasional journalism". [1] The 'Moronic Inferno' of the title is a phrase that Amis acknowledges is derived from a line by Saul Bellow, who in turn had borrowed it from the British author Wyndham Lewis. [2] [3] [4]
The twenty-six articles collected, many of which are expanded from their original forms and containing postscripts commenting on subsequent developments after publication, are drawn from Amis' numerous contributions to The Observer , the New Statesman , The Sunday Telegraph Magazine , the London Review of Books , Tatler , and Vanity Fair [5] between 1977–85. The articles consider, among other things, American politics, major literary figures, the evangelical Christianity movement, cinema, sex, and numerous facets of popular culture.
In the New Statesman , Jason Cowley wrote, "In journalistic mode, Amis is without peer: when he writes about writers — indeed, when he writes about anyone, such as Hugh Hefner — the long profile becomes, in his hands, a capacious, infinitely flexible form in which to combine reportage, criticism, humour, exalted phrase-making, and a clear-eyed, penetrating sense of purpose...Not a month passes, but I encounter someone who has read, and been influenced by, The Moronic Inferno and Other Visits to America, a collection of journalism first published in 1986, but one that continues to enjoy a radiant afterlife. The Moronic Inferno includes some of the best profiles of writers ever written. They are as memorable as any postwar literary essay I have read." [6] In his study Understanding Martin Amis, critic James Diedrick called the book, "A superb collection." [7]
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