The Fiction of Martin Amis

His vibrant verbal energy and his readiness to tackle fundamental themes have made him impossible to ignore, but the responses of readers and critics to his work remain sharply divided, ranging from admiration to revulsion. Critical evaluation is complicated by Amis s involvement with the dynamics of literary fame, as the son of a famous novelist who has himself become a wealthy and well-known author. But there can be no doubt that he has now produced a substantial body of fiction,...
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His vibrant verbal energy and his readiness to tackle fundamental themes have made him impossible to ignore, but the responses of readers and critics to his work remain sharply divided, ranging from admiration to revulsion. Critical evaluation is complicated by Amis s involvement with the dynamics of literary fame, as the son of a famous novelist who has himself become a wealthy and well-known author. But there can be no doubt that he has now produced a substantial body of fiction, which includes much-discussed novels such as London Fields (1989) and Time s Arrow (1991), and which is attracting a growing volume of critical analysis. In this Icon Readers Guide, Nicolas Tredell explores the critical judgements and interpretations generated by Amis s novels and short stories over the past quarter of a century. Drawing on reviews, essays, interviews and books, it brings together material on Amis which has never previously been collected and provides the most wide-ranging examination of his fiction so far, considering key issues such as his use of language, his concern with time, apocalypse and corruption, his relation to modernity and postmodernity, his representation of women and sexuality, and his treatment of the Holocaust.