Perspectives

In this part of the study guide, we will add some points that will help you put the text “Bujak and the Strong Force” by Martin Amis in perspective. These points and ideas are connected with the literary period and similar works.

Literary period

Published in 1987, “Bujak and the Strong Force” is a postmodernist text. Postmodernism in literature developed after World War II as a reaction to Modernism. We consider a literary text to be postmodernist if it deals with issues of post-industrial, post-WWII society, and if it uses some typical language and narrative techniques.

“Bujak and the Strong Force” is postmodernist in its theme and social setting as it depicts a Cold War society affected by fears and anxieties about the nuclear arms race, violence, and the loss of morality and positive values. The author uses several techniques associated with Postmodernism: fragmentation, paranoia, and maximalism.

The novella is fragmented or nonlinear as the narrator makes jumps from the time of the narration (1985) to the time of the narrated events (1980).  The first-person narrator exhibits paranoid traits as he is constantly afraid of the imminence of a nuclear war and of human violence: “I have enough of the standard-issue paranoia, or I did then. Now I’ve grown up a little and realise that I have absolutely nothing to fear, except the end of the world.” (p. 2, ll. 30-32). Finally, the novella gives excessive and repetitive details about Bujak’s character, a trait that is called maximalism and is typical of postmodernist texts.

Works with the same themes

For the theme of nuclear war and nuclear anxiety, we recommend the short story “There Will Come Soft Rains” by Ray Bradbury, which presents an automated house in 2026, following a nuclear war. The house owners are no longer present, yet the house continues to perform the same operations as if the owners were still present.

Another interesting reading is the poem “Eve of Destruction” by P. F. Sloan (Readings, p. 45) which also explores the anxiety caused by the prospect of the mutually assured destruction of a nuclear war.

For the theme of violence, you might find it useful to connect Amis’ story with texts like “The Baddest Dog in Harlem” by Walter Dean Myers, “The Good Samaritan” by Charles Ardai, or “Mr Kleinman’s Cat” by Sylvia Haymon.

Dean Myers’s story focuses on violence and discrimination in 1970s America. The story presents a police raid in Harlem which ends up with panicked street shootings and the death of a child and a dog.

“The Good Samaritan” (Crime in Fiction, p. 85) explores individual violence as an investigator takes it upon himself to kill a serial killer as a punishment for his crimes.

“Mr Kleinman’s Cat” (The Lift, p. 186) follows a WWII survivor who lost his family in a concentration camp. Living in the UK, the man’s only companion is a cat who is taken away from him by some violent boys who demand a ransom.