Amis & Son: Two Literary Generations - Softcover

Powell, Neil

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0330440721 ISBN 13: 9780330440721

Publisher: Pan, 2009

Synopsis

Two of the most successful British novelists of the last fifty years, Kingsley and Martin Amis are both known for their savage wit and their indifference to causing controversy.

In his critical biography, Neil Powell looks at the careers of these two very divisive, and hugely talented writers: how they were formed by their upbringings, developed as writers and in turn how they affected literature, and each other. He examines how success (which is the title of one of Martin Amis's novels) affected their relationship, and themselves as writers (Kingsley: "Martin's spending a year abroad for tax purposes. 29, he is. Little shit."). Through this we see what it has meant to be a man, and a writer, (and, most importantly, a comic writer) in Britain over the last sixty years, following Kinglsey from jazz-loving iconoclast to Thatcher-loving Tory and Martin from wild young man of letters to God knows what.

About this title

About the Author

Neil Powell is a poet and biographer and was formerly an independent bookseller and teacher. Along with five volumes of poetry (the most recent being Halfway House, published by Carcanet in 1994). He is the author of critically acclaimed biographies of Roy Fuller and George Crabbe and of The Language of Jazz, jazz being a musical passion he shared with Kingsley Amis.

Edition details

• Publisher: Pan
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0330440721
• ISBN 13: 9780330440721
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 429