Hello,
I was going to post about the Booker Prize. But I’ve decided against it. It is, after all, my blog.
Recently I finished Lucky Jim, which was recommended to me seven or eight times by a friend, whose opinion on books has never let me down. I know it’s a classic that I should have read already, but I hadn’t. So there.
I digress. Lucky Jim got me to thinking about those characters in literature who you warm to, despite their obvious failings, fecklessness, rudeness, stupidity and general ineptitude. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the Antihero. Here are my faves:
Adrian Mole.
Regular readers of this blog will know that I am something of a Mole fan. I have overheard others describe Mole as a guilty pleasure. For me it is no such thing. Rather I love Adrian Mole and will sing Sue Townsend’s praises from the rooftops.
In my intro blurb I mentioned the word ineptitude. And this I think the word sums Adrian Mole up pretty well. Almost everything he does is tinged with a bit of it, from fatherhood to marriage, work to family. He just can’t get it right, no matter how well-intentioned he may be. Ineptitude forms the cornerstone of Adrian’s status as an antihero. He is not nasty, malicious and only occasionally devious. Consequently it makes him a rather loveable character rather than one you know you shouldn’t love but do anyway.
Oliver Tate from Submarine by Joe Dunthorne
A bit weird, rude at times and often does stupid things to impress girls. There are many things I recognise in Joe Dunthorne’s protagonist from my own teenage behaviour. A fantastically well-imagined and interesting central character who is the centrepiece of a great and funny novel. Oliver Tate is a true oddball and though at his best in Dunthorne’s writing, pretty well re-imagined in Richard Ayoade’s 2011 film adaptation of the novel.
Sean Bateman from Rules of Attraction by Bret Easton Ellis
Yes I know, he’s a bastard and you’re not supposed to like him. And his older brother is even worse.
But there is something about Sean Bateman that made me, well, not hate him I suppose. Certainly there is nothing to recommend him as a person but he is one of those characters in literature you can’t help but like, regardless of his various failings. ‘Rock and roll.’
Jim Dixon from Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis
Obvious really because the blog post was inspired by him. Funny, mischievous and occasionally reckless. Also suffers the best hangover in literature.
Rob Gordon from High Fidelity by Nick Hornby
If you’ve ever worked in a music store you probably recognise something of yourself in Rob Gordon. Through his most famous character Hornby says what we all know to be true: that the enjoyment of music is often as competitive as sport.
Though it’s not just the fanboy side of Rob Gordon that I like. His indecisiveness and desire to relate most things back to lines in songs also resonate with me as well (he’s a Springsteen fan too).
This post has been a long time coming. I’ve been distracted. Anyway, hope you enjoyed it. Another soon.
The anti hero is a truer reflection of our fumbling sense of self than the clean-lined hero. Perfection is tedious, particularly in fiction. I wonder if there are any anti heroines that spring to mind? Perhaps as you are male your inner rebel associates with male characters. Says something about the tender, private part of the psyche that admires the anti hero. I just wrote a novel in three parts with two female and one male protagonist. An ensemble cast. My male would be inept like Mole. My females more on a par with the rock n role model – a proactive kinda drop-out! I didn’t set out to write these anti heros for intellectial reasons, rather that these were Cats I wanted to hang out with; a bit woo a bit wah. It’s not entirely vicarious, I am no violet in miniature, but it does make sense of turning away a buzz of parties or whatever and sittin in writing. Alone! And techically, it is easier to move dialogue especoially with an antagonist in play, or to create lots of words if a character bumbles and falls.