(1978), Martin Amis’s ingenious, comic and disturbing third novel, traces the role-reversal between Gregory Riding and his foster-brother, Terence (Terry) Service, and explores their relationship with Gregory’s troubled sister Ursula. When the novel starts, Gregory is an apparent success, Terry a seeming failure; but as the tale proceeds Gregory’s façade of superiority crumbles and Terry comes to the fore. The figures of Gregory and Terry exemplify Amis’s recurrent concern with doubles, in this case in the shape of apparent opposites who turn out to resemble each other in key ways and to exchange qualities – like the urbane Quentin and the vicious Johnny in Amis’s second novel,

(1975). In both

and

, this doubling has a psychological and…

3510 words

Citation: Tredell, Nicolas. "Success". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 26 April 2011 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=1855, accessed 27 November 2024.]

• View recommended reading for this article