Martin Amis, one of the most renowned British novelists of his generation, has passed away at the age of 73. The New York Times reported, citing his wife, the writer Isabel Fonseca, that he passed away from oesophageal cancer in his Florida residence.
Amis is best known for his novels Money (1984) and London Fields (1989). He wrote fourteen novels and several nonfiction works, and is widely regarded as one of the most influential authors of his time.
He was born in Oxford in 1949 and was the son of novelist and poet Sir Kingsley Amis.
After graduating from Oxford University with his debut novel The Rachel Papers, the younger Amis followed in his father’s footsteps.
Published in 1973 while he was working at the Times Literary Supplement, it follows the romantic exploits of a teenage lad in London prior to attending university and, like his father’s first novel, won the Somerset Maugham Award for fiction.
Contemporary writers such as James Fenton, Salman Rushdie, and Ian McEwan included Amis. His intimate relationship with journalist Christopher Hitchens, who passed away in 2011 from oesophageal cancer, was well documented.
They belonged to a colorful group credited with revitalizing the British literary scene and inspiring a generation of younger writers.
Rushdie paid tribute to Amis by telling the New Yorker,
“He used to say that he wanted to leave behind a shelf of books so that he could say, ‘from here to here, it’s me.'”
“His voice is now mute. His acquaintances will greatly miss him. However, we have a shelf.”
And another contemporary, Sir Kazuo Ishiguro, told the BBC,
“He was a role model for my generation of novelists and a source of inspiration for me.”
“Despite the sharpness of his satire and the brilliance of his prose, there was always a tenderness just beneath the surface, a desire for love and connection. His work will endure the various swings in fashion and custom.”
Literary superstar
In his prime, he was witty, provocative, and linguistically audacious, and a celebrity. Martin Amis was frequently compared to Mick Jagger in the literary world, and in Sex in the City, Carrie Bradshaw was seen perusing his books.
He was one of the most prominent names on Granta’s epoch-defining first list of the finest British novelists under 40 in 1983, and in every subsequent decade.
Amis had already established himself as the literary rebel of his time.
1973 was the year that his semi-autobiographical debut novel The Rachel Papers propelled him onto the literary landscape. It was verbally inventive and understood the frustrations of a certain type of intelligent (horny) young man.
1975’s Dead Babies, his second novel, chronicled a weekend of depravity and displayed his extraordinary, cutting use of language.
In the 1980s and 1990s, Amis was frequently quoted and frequently photographed. Literary superstar.
Whether it was his satire of the excesses of 1980s Thatcherism in Money and London Fields or his exploration of the Holocaust written backwards in Time’s Arrow about the life of a German doctor in Auschwitz, his novels summed up eras.
Amis’s intonation was instantly recognizable. He was a British author who bridged the distance between the cozy style of the English novel that came before him and the expansive fiction of the United States.
The reaction to his death affirms his status as one of the greatest British novelists of his time. The work of Amis was frequently characterized by its profoundly comic themes and satire.
In 2000, he also published two collections of short stories, six nonfiction books, and a memoir titled Experience. He was recognized as a public intellectual and frequently controversial political commentator.
Money became his most acclaimed work and is frequently cited as the 1980s’ defining novel.
The novel, set in New York and London, follows an ad director as he attempts to create his first feature film. It was inspired by Amis’s own experience as a scriptwriter for Saturn 3, a critically panned science fiction film starring Kirk Douglas.
Throughout his career, he revisited the Holocaust in novels such as Time’s Arrow and The Zone of Interest.
In 2012, Amis relocated from London to the United States, and his most recent novel, Inside Story, was published in 2020.
His literary critic acquaintance Zachary Leader described Amis as “charming and very generous” but “greatly troubled by his success.”
“His existence was a series of invitations, many of which he declined, and not all of which he declined with the same grace he showed his friends. “He wasn’t grumpy with the people he liked; I believe he gave it his all,” he told the BBC.
Michal Shavit, Amis’s UK editor at Vintage Books, stated, “It’s difficult to fathom a world without Martin Amis. He was a stylist extraordinaire, a super-cool dude, a brilliantly witty, erudite, and fearless writer, and a genuinely wonderful man.
He has been so influential and formative for so many readers and authors over the past fifty years.
Penguin Books stated in a statement,
“We are devastated by the passing of our author and friend, Martin Amis. His family and loved ones are in our thoughts, especially his children and wife Isobel.
“He leaves a monumental legacy and an indelible mark on the cultural landscape of Britain, and he will be sorely missed.”
The Booker Prize tweeted:
“We are devastated to learn of the passing of Martin Amis, one of the most acclaimed and discussed novelists of the past 50 years. We are thinking of his family and colleagues.”
His 2003 novel Yellow Dog was on the long list for the Booker Prize, while Time’s Arrow was on the short list.
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