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raw nerve, especially in view of the healthy wave of
anti-political correctness sweeping over the United
States at the moment.
JGB: Well, that’s a good thing, isn’t it? The great talent
of the United States is to take things too far, so that
you have these huge pendulum swings of sorts. Always
correct and then reverse. And then correct and reverse
again. Here in England, I would say the extremist fringe
of the feminist movement is largely positive. I’ve got
two daughters as well as a son, and they’ve benefited
enormously from the feminist movement of the past
20 years. England is a very class-bound society, and
women, until recently, were practically an inferior
class. Most professions were closed to women 30 years
ago, except teaching and publishing. Nowadays they’re
all mostly open. So we do have a few extremists, but
nothing compared to the US, where you really do have
some very strange people.
Sex, Violence, Censorship, Reality
MM: You said in a recent interview that “Everything
should be done to encourage more sex and violence
on television”.
JGB: Yes, I did say that. And I think it’s true. I mean, I
live in the most censored nation in the Western world.
There’s no question about that. Many people have said
so. Film, TV, videos, and art are more heavily censored
here than anywhere in Western Europe or the US.
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Censorship in England has a clear political role. It
represents the fear of the established order that given
any sort of imaginative freedom, or too much of it, the
power structure will collapse. If people see sex and
violence treated frankly, they may turn the same frank
eye upon their own political situation. And start climbing
up the base of the pyramid towards the apex. The
people in real control sanitise the view of the world for
us. Absolutely.
Best Work
MM: In his book, The 99 Best Novels Since 1939,
Anthony Burgess considers your novel The Unlimited
Dream Company to be your most important work to
date. Which do you consider your best?
JGB: My most original and probably best novel is
Crash. This is probably where I pushed my imagination
as far as it has gone. I’ve also got a soft spot for other
books of mine, most notably The Atrocity Exhibition.
The Atrocity Exhibition is practically incomprehensible
to most readers, whereas Crash is directly intelligible.
There’s no doubt at all about what the author’s getting
on about.
The Unavoidable Question
MM: Can we talk about Empire of the Sun? That is, if it
isn’t already an exhausted topic. What is your opinion
of Steven Spielberg’s film version of your novel?
037
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