Book Read Free

Martin Amis

Page 44

by Richard Bradford


  21. House of Meetings, p. 194.

  22. Terry Eagleton, Ideology: An Introduction (London: Verso, 2007).

  23. Terry Eagleton, ‘Rebuking Obnoxious Views Is Not Just a Personality Kink’, Guardian, 10 October 2007.

  24. Times, 8 July 2005.

  25. TSP, p. 51.

  26. Ibid., p. 74.

  27. The Pregnant Widow, p. 404.

  28. Leader, Letters, 3 August 1982, p. 947.

  29. Mail on Sunday, 20 June 2010.

  Chapter 13: Significance: Is He a Great Writer?

  1. London Fields, p. 72.

  Bibliography

  The Rachel Papers (London: Jonathan Cape, 1973).

  Dead Babies (London: Jonathan Cape, 1975. Republished as Dark Secrets (St Albans: Triad/Panther, 1977).

  Success (London: Jonathan Cape, 1978).

  Other People: A Mystery Story (London: Jonathan Cape, 1981).

  Invasion of the Space Invaders: An Addict’s Guide (London: Hutchinson, September 1982).

  Money: A Suicide Note (London: Jonathan Cape, 1984).

  The Moronic Inferno and Other Visits to America (London: Jonathan Cape, 1986).

  Einstein’s Monsters (London: Jonathan Cape, 1987).

  London Fields (London: Jonathan Cape, 1989).

  Time’s Arrow, or, The Nature of the Offence (London: Jonathan Cape, 1991).

  Visiting Mrs. Nabokov and Other Excursions (London: Jonathan Cape, 1993).

  Two Stories (London: Moorhouse and Sørensen, 1994). Contains ‘Denton’s Death’ and ‘Let Me Count the Times’. Small press limited edition, total run of 326 copies.

  God’s Dice (London: Penguin, 1995). Contains ‘God’s Dice’ (alternate title of ‘Bujak and the Strong Force’) and ‘The Little Puppy That Could’ (both from Einstein’s Monsters).

  The Information (London: HarperCollins, 1995).

  Night Train (London: Jonathan Cape, 1997).

  Heavy Water and Other Stories (London: Jonathan Cape, 1998).

  The Coincidence of the Arts (Paris: Coromandel Express, 1999. Short story from Heavy Water, individual pages housed in a metal container, is illustrated by seven original prints by Peruvian photographer Mario Testino. Limited to fifty-five copies, each signed by M.A. and Testino.

  Experience: A Memoir (London: Jonathan Cape, 2000).

  The War Against Cliché: Essays and Reviews, 1971–2000 (London: Jonathan Cape, 2001).

  Koba the Dread: Laughter and the Twenty Million (London: Jonathan Cape, 2002).

  Yellow Dog (London: Jonathan Cape, 2003).

  House of Meetings (London: Jonathan Cape, 2006).

  The Second Plane. September 11: 2001–2007 (London: Jonathan Cape, 2008).

  The Pregnant Widow (London: Jonathan Cape, 2010).

  Uncollected Works

  Fiction

  ‘Debitocracy’, Penthouse, November 1974, pp. 50–8, 62. Dystopian short story about a future world where sexual passion has been vanquished.

  Poetry and Drama

  It’s Disgusting at Your Age, in New Review, September 1976, pp. 19–24; rpt in The New Review Anthology (ed. Ian Hamilton), 216–30 (London: Heinemann, 1985). One-act play that anticipates Success.

  ‘An American Airman Looks Ahead’, Observer, 5 June 1977, p. 28. Poem reflecting Amis’s association with ‘the Martian School’.

  ‘Point of View’, New Statesman, 14 December 1979, p. 954. Another ‘Martian School’ poem which reappears in Other People: A Mystery.

  Produced Screenplay

  Saturn 3, dir. Stanley Donen, ITC Films, 1980.

  Index

  Ableman, Paul 167

  Abse, Dannie 191–2

  Accidental, The (Ali Smith) 386, 391

  Ackroyd, Peter 97–8, 127, 167

  Adorno, Theodor 265

  Adventures of Augie March (Saul Bellow) 205–6, 207

  After Julius (Jane Howard) 50

  alcoholism, sister’s 20, 90, 140

  Amis, Clio 311, 316, 329–30, 334–5, 348, 349, 357, 358

  Amis, Fernanda 309, 317, 329–30, 348, 357, 358

  Amis, Hilary ‘Hilly’ 190, 270–1, 300, 304, 305, 306–7, 316, 381

  and D. R. Shackleton Bailey 54, 86–7, 90

  in London after break-up with Kingsley 41–5, 46, 47, 48–9, 53–4

  and Lord Kilmarnock 87, 110–11, 117, 190, 327, 329–30

  marriage to Kingsley 1–5, 7, 8, 9–12, 13–14, 16–21, 23, 24, 25, 30, 34–9, 137–8

  Amis, Jacob 227, 276, 297, 299, 300, 302–3, 372–3

  Amis, Kingsley 2, 3, 47, 49–53, 54–6, 64, 65, 67, 77–8, 82, 87, 91–2, 98–9, 107, 112, 122, 125, 133, 136, 138–9, 140, 145–6, 147, 148, 158, 159, 164, 178, 183–6, 190, 191–2, 217–18, 229–30, 233, 234–5, 241–2, 270–1, 304, 312, 316, 340, 355, 365, 378, 384

  adultery 3–4, 17–20, 25, 29, 34–5, 63, 136, 138

  break-up with Hilly 34–9, 42–45, 47, 49–50

  break-up with Jane 187–9

  marriage to Hilly 1, 2–12, 14, 17–25, 28, 29, 30, 31, 137–8

  Martin’s care of 187–92

  parallels and contrasts with Martin 58–63, 70, 90, 92–3, 94, 183–5, 268, 270–1, 298, 339, 398

  publication of biography and letters 305–9, 325–7

  Works:

  Girl, 20 88–90, 92

  Colonel Sun 50

  I Like It Here 110

  Lucky Jim 6–7, 8, 9, 57–8, 92–3, 94, 104, 307

  Lucky Jim’s Politics 98

  On Drink 91–2

  Riverside Villas Murder, The 312

  Stanley and the Women 191

  That Uncertain Feeling 9

  Amis, Louis 220, 276, 297, 299–300, 302–3, 323–5, 372–3

  Amis, Martin 1, 4, 108–10, 197–9, 201–2 1970s social life 126–35, 144–58

  ageing 378–80

  and Antonia Phillips 208, 209, 210–12, 213–15, 217–22, 247–9, 309–11

  break-up with Antonia 269–73, 276, 296–7, 299, 309–11

  in Brighton 56–60, 64

  changes agent 283–6

  childhood in Cambridge 28–34, 37–8, 82

  childhood in Princeton 23–6

  childhood in Swansea 8, 9–15, 16–17, 19–23, 24, 25–6, 27

  complex love-life in 1970s 115–25, 145, 148–50

  contribution to fiction writing 382–98

  education 14, 25–7, 30–1, 40, 41, 46–8, 55–60 see also Oxford

  European trip with Rob Henderson 68–71

  father’s biography and letters 305–9, 325–6

  father’s death 316

  flat in Hogarth Road, Earl’s Court 99–100

  flat in Kensington Garden Square 157

  flat in Pont Street, Belgravia 95–6, 97

  as freelance interviewer/essayist 179–84, 192–4, 199–200, 280–1

  High Wind in Jamaica (film) 45–6, 76

  and Isabel Fonseca 268–9, 273, 275, 276, 299, 302, 309–11, 316, 323–4, 325, 328–30, 332, 348, 358

  in Israel 231

  letter writing style 61–4

  in London with Hilly 41–5, 46–7, 49

  in London with Jane and Kingsley 44–5, 49–52, 54–6, 76–7, 84, 87–8, 90–2, 95, 116

  looking after Kingsley 187–92

  in Majorca 39–41, 68–70

  Manchester University professorship 364–5, 371–4, 379

  at The Old Forge, Shilton 81–2, 115

  at Oxford 32, 57, 64, 65–7, 72–9, 81–5

  parallels and contrasts with Kingsley 58–63, 70, 90, 92–3, 94, 183–5, 268, 270–1, 298, 339, 398 parenthood 17, 220, 225, 227, 230, 234, 246–7, 249, 256–7, 273, 296–7, 302, 311

  parents’ break-up 37–9, 41

  in Paris 164, 165–6, 177–8, 207

  pre-Oxford social life 52–3, 55, 101–3

  reviews 97–8, 104, 167, 172–3, 264–5, 317, 350–2, 361–2

  Saturn 3 (film) 163–4, 215–17

  Stalinism 331–40

  at the TLS 95, 103–4

>   in Tuscany 79–80, 270, 375

  in Uruguay 328–9, 356–8, 359, 364, 373

  working in the US 180–3, 192–4, 199–200

  Works:

  ‘Action at Sea’ 318–19

  ‘Bujack and the Strong Force or God’s Dice’ 227–9

  ‘Coming in Handy’ 114

  Dead Babies 32–4, 37, 81–2, 100–3, 108–9, 111, 112, 131, 134, 167

  ‘Denton’s Death’ 317–18

  Einstein’s Monsters 225–31, 234, 236, 273, 317, 330

  Experience 13, 21–2, 31, 37–9, 44, 49–50, 56, 61, 71, 81, 89, 97, 101, 116, 174, 176, 223, 255–6, 258–9, 288, 296, 299, 301–2, 304–5, 309, 312, 314–16, 325–7, 344, 376

  Heavy Water 317–25 ‘Heavy Water’ (short story) 318–19

  House of Meetings 357–9, 360–4

  The Information 276–83, 286–98, 391–2

  Koba the Dread 329, 330, 332, 333, 335–41

  London Fields 122, 152, 154–5, 156, 222, 223, 237–46, 249, 252, 279, 391–2, 396–7

  Money 109, 201–6, 209–10, 211–16, 217, 279, 282, 341, 390–1

  My Oxford 74, 77, 80, 93

  Night Train 311–13, 315, 316

  Other People: A Mystery Story 169–73, 174–8, 281–2

  ‘Point of View’ 161

  The Pregnant Widow 80, 125, 235–6, 327, 375–8

  The Rachel Papers 47–8, 63, 66–7, 74–5, 90, 91–4, 95, 97–8, 104, 125

  ‘The Second Plane’ 341

  The Second Plane 343, 349, 355, 369

  State of England’ 319–23

  Success 134–42, 143–4, 167

  ‘Terror and Boredom: The Dependent Mind’ 349, 369

  ‘Thinkability’ 226–7, 230–1, 236

  Time’s Arrow 257, 259–67, 355

  Visiting Mrs Nabokov and Other Excursions 195–6

  ‘Voice of the Lonely Crowd’ 341–2

  The War Against Cliché 103, 395

  ‘What Happened to Me on My Holiday’ 323–5, 374–5

  Yellow Dog 350–6, 357

  see also Islam; Judaism; New Statesman (work and social life); nuclear disarmament; World Trade Centre attacks

  Amis, Philip 1, 5, 9, 10, 11, 12–13, 16–17, 19, 21–2, 24–5, 26, 28–9, 30, 31, 32, 39–41, 44–5, 47, 48–50, 51–2, 54, 76, 89, 98, 136–7, 185, 186, 187, 190, 300, 327, 363, 375

  Amis, Rose 20

  Amis, Sally 9, 11–12, 17, 20–1, 23, 30, 39, 41, 42, 43, 54, 86, 87, 89–90, 98, 99, 140, 186, 327, 363, 375

  Amis, William 20, 21–2, 77

  Applebaum, Anne 357, 362

  Ardagh, Mr (at Sussex Tutors) 56–7, 62, 64

  Arendt, Hannah 266–7

  atheism 15–16

  Atlantic Monthly 205

  Ayer, A. J. ‘Freddie’ 77, 78, 82

  Bardwell, Hilary see Amis, Hilary

  Bardwell, Leonard and Margery 304, 307

  Barker, Elspeth 317

  Barnes, Julian 97, 119, 126, 127, 129, 131, 137, 161–2, 188–9, 218, 283, 284–5, 312, 393, 394

  Barrowclough, Anne 271 Barry, John 163, 215–17

  Bateson, F. W. 67

  Battersea Grammar School 41, 46

  Baxter, Beverly 45

  Behindlings (Nicola Barker) 384

  Bellow, Saul 199–202, 205–7, 231, 233–4, 258–9, 316, 344–8, 362–3

  Bennett, Ronan 366, 367

  Bergonzi, Bernard 168

  Betjeman, John 6

  Beyond Black (Hilary Mantel) 386

  Blackmur, R. P. 23

  Blair, Tony 319

  Blond, Anthony 219

  Bloom, Allan 231, 232–3

  Bly, Robert 115, 289

  book launches 97–9, 190

  Booker Prize 240, 264–6, 286–7, 356

  Bookseller 168

  Boxer, Mark 153

  Boycott, Rosie 164, 186, 217–18

  Boyd, Alastair see Kilmarnock, Lord Boyd, Jaime 111, 190

  Boyd, William 288–9

  Braine, John 319, 330

  Brazzaville Beach (William Boyd) 288–9

  break-up, parents’ 34–7

  Brighton, studies in 56–60, 64

  Brilliant Creatures (Clive James) 158

  Brooklyn 365 Brown, George Hambley 105

  Brown, Tina 100, 105–8, 116–17, 119, 145, 151–2, 179–80, 372, 375

  Brown, Yasmin Alibhai 366

  Buchan, James 265 Buford, Bill 168

  Bursa (kebab house) 129, 130–1

  Bury Me Standing (Isabel Fonseca) 275–6

  Butterfield, Herbert 28

  Butyrki death camp 334–5

  Cambridge, Amis home in 27–34, 36–8, 82, 137–8

  Cambridgeshire High School for Boys 30–1

  Cape publishers 53, 56, 95, 99, 281–2, 283, 286

  Capote, Truman 180, 199

  Carey, John 65–7, 356

  Cartwright, Justin 252

  Caute, David 161, 162

  Cecil, Lord David 67

  Cherry (Matt Thorne) 384–5, 391

  Chesterton Road (home with Antonia and boys) 218, 220–1, 247–8, 254, 276, 310, 372

  Churchill, Winston 121

  Cleary, Esmond 10

  Cock and Bull (Will Self) 387

  Cohen, Milton 86

  Comp. Complex 131–2, 162

  Conquest, Robert 4, 19, 61, 77, 89, 98, 119, 132, 133, 148, 159, 178, 187, 229–30, 234, 309, 331, 332

  Conrad, Joseph 358

  Conservative Conference, Blackpool (1977) 153

  Crichton, Michael 395

  Crook, Arthur 103

  Daft, Rohan 271

  Daily Express 36, 162, 190, 272, 303

  Daily Mail 151, 271, 309, 332, 366

  Daily Telegraph 95, 366

  Davies, Laing and Dick 47–8, 52

  Davies, Russell 128

  Dawson, Sam 14

  Day-Lewis, C. 116

  Day-Lewis, Tamasin 115–16

  Debt to Pleasure, The (John Lanchester) 384

  Deller, Keith and Kim 239

  Donen, Stanley 216

  Donne, John 59, 60

  Dostoevsky, Fyodor 358

  Douglas, Kirk 216, 217

  drugs 49–50

  Eagleton, Terry 365–8, 371, 374

  East Hampton, Isabel’s family in 274, 323, 328, 359

  education 14, 25–6, 30–1, 40, 41, 46, 47–8, 52, 55–7

  Eichmann, Adolf 259–61, 266–7

  Empson, William 103

  Encounter 317

  Evans, Gareth 208–9, 212

  Evans, Harold 119, 179

  Evening Standard 151, 190, 271, 283, 309

  Exeter College, Oxford 65, 67, 72–9, 83

  expulsion from school 46

  Eyre, Richard 31–2, 154

  Fairlie, Henry 17–18, 19–20, 41

  Fawcett, Edmund 323

  Fawcett, Elias 323–5

  Fawcett, Farah 216

  Feinstein, Elaine 33

  Fenton, James 78, 97, 113, 119, 126, 128–9, 133, 142–3, 149, 151, 153, 160–1, 162, 178, 188, 253–4, 338–9, 340

  Fiction and the Fiction Industry (John Sutherland) 168

  Flack, Karen 45

  Fonseca, Isabel 121, 268–9, 273–6, 299, 302, 309–11, 316, 323–4, 325, 328–30, 332, 348, 356–7, 358, 359, 364

  Foster, Steve 223

  Frye, Northrop 83

  Fulham Road, Chelsea (Amis home) 41, 43–4, 45, 48–9

  Fuller, Graham 144

  Fuller, John and Roy 78

  Furness, Mary 121–3, 147–50, 154–6, 210, 243–4, 245

  Gale, George 19, 27–8, 30, 36, 43, 44, 49, 54

  Gale, Pat 19, 30

  Garcia, Eva and Joe 9, 10–12, 37

  Gardnor House, Flask Walk (Amis home) 158, 164, 185–6, 187, 188–9, 190, 300, 327, 354

  Ghost Story (Toby Litt) 385–6

  Gilbert, Martin 259, 331

  Gorgas, Angela 79, 151, 156–8, 164–6, 169–70, 177–8, 179, 185–6, 189–90, 207–8, 220, 232, 313

&
nbsp; Grade, Lew 163, 215

  Granta 168

  Graves, Robert 35, 69–70

  Great Terror (Robert Conquest) 331

  Greene, Graham 233–4

  Gross, John 95, 113

  Guardian 341–2, 362, 365, 366–7, 374

  Guinness, Sabrina 153

  Gulag: A History (Anne Applebaum) 357,

  Hamilton, Ian 98, 128, 129, 130, 147, 149–50, 154, 168, 375

  Hammond, Suzy 282–3

  HarperCollins 286–7

  Healey, Denis and Tim 76

  Heathcoat-Amory, Bridget 152

  Heller, Joseph 199–200

  Henderson, Michael 366

  Henderson, Rob 48, 52–3, 55, 56, 68–71, 81, 84, 87, 95–7, 98, 102–3, 363–4, 375

  Hensher, Philip 366 Hewer, Rosalind 76–7, 78

  High Wind in Jamaica (film) 45–6, 76

  Hislop, Andy 223, 224, 255, 270, 295–6, 309–10, 379

  Hitchens, Christopher 16, 78, 96–7, 98, 99, 100, 109, 113, 117, 118–19, 120, 121, 122, 123–4, 126, 127–8, 129–30, 132–3, 137, 142–4, 146–7, 148–54, 155–6, 158, 159, 162, 164, 165–6, 178, 189, 191, 207, 210–11, 212–13, 218–19, 221, 223, 232, 241, 243–4, 248–9, 254, 256, 269, 270, 284–5, 302, 316–17, 325, 327, 332–3, 336–9, 340, 344–8, 367, 375

  Hitchens, Peter 332

  Hogarth Road, Earl’s Court (Amis home) 99–100

  Holbrook, Bruno (pseudonym) 106, 114, 132

  Holbrook, David 114

  Holden, Anthony 117, 119 Hopkins, Gerard Manley 59, 60

  Howard, Anthony 107, 113–14, 117, 118, 119, 135, 142–3, 144–5, 150, 158–9, 160, 162, 189, 313

  Howard, Colin 42, 43–5, 46–7, 51, 55–6, 68, 70–1, 77, 87, 93–4, 95, 96, 101–2, 104, 107, 116, 135, 137, 138, 187, 188, 222, 340, 366

  Howard, Elizabeth Jane 34–7, 42–5, 47, 49–50, 51, 53, 54–7, 58, 63, 64, 65, 77, 79, 87, 89, 91, 115–16, 138, 146, 164, 187, 188, 268, 366

  Iffley Road, Oxford (Amis home) 82–3, 84

  Imlah, Mick 274

  Independent 274, 317, 356, 366

  Islam 342–3, 348–9, 365–71

  Israel 231–3, 259, 343–4, 346

  ITC Entertainment 163

  Jacobs, Eric 305–7

  Jamaica 45–6

  James, Clive 97, 98–9, 119, 123, 126–8, 129–30, 142–3, 148, 149, 150, 158, 222, 245, 348–9, 379

  Jenkins, Alan 148, 211, 275–6

  Jimenez, Natalia 323

  John Harrison, M. 362

  Jones, Monica 6

  Jones, Penny 49

 

‹ Prev