A titan of modern literature and one of his generation’s most experimental and influential writers, Martin Amis was an award-winning British novelist, memoirist and essayist, described by Adam Mars Jones as possessing a style so distinctive it became ‘the voice in a generation’s ear, charming without charm, insistently dazzling, milking the paradoxes until their teats are sore and they have no more nourishment to give.’
Born in Oxford, Amis moved in literary circles from a young age thanks to his father, the writer Kingsley Amis. Martin Amis wrote his first novel, The Rachel Papers in 1973 whilst working as an assistant with the Times Literary Supplement, and the novel went on to win the Somerset Maugham Award. Amis followed this with Dead Babies (1975) and Success (1978) before publishing his masterpiece satirical take-down of Thatcherite Britain, Money (1984).
After publishing two novels loosely termed a trilogy with Money – London Fields (1989) and The Information (1995)– Amis’ work took a stylistically innovative turn with Time's Arrow (1991), a novel written in reverse chronology. The work was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and has since been canonized as a modern classic. His later work has continued to be experimental in form and subject matter, ranging from the pastiche of American Noir Night Train (1997) to 2012’s acerbic take on Blairite Britain, Lionel Asbo, and from the award-winning Yellow Dog (2003) to The Zone of Interest (2014) which was adapted for the screen in 2023 by Jonathan Glazer.
Amis’ works of non-fiction include his highly acclaimed volume of biography Experience (2000) which detailed his relationship with his father, the break-up of his first marriage and his discovery of his illegitimate child, and The Second Plane (2008) which reflects the 9/11 attacks. Amis deployed his own life story in the service of his most audacious work of fiction yet in Inside Story, published in 2020.
Amis passed away in May 2023 at the age of 73, after suffering from oesophageal cancer.
We mark the sad passing of one of fiction's most singular voices with a look back at his life and career.
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