Understanding Martin Amis

the long version

Understanding Martin Amis is a comprehensive reader's guide to the novels, short stories, and nonfiction written by one of Britain's most controversial and highly acclaimed authors. Drawing on uncollected interviews, reviews, and criticism, James Diedrick maps the distinctive features of Amis's fictional landscape, from the sociosexual satire of The Rachel Papers and Money to the bold experimentation of London's Fields, Time's Arrow, and The Information. Diedrick argues that Amis's reputation as the "bad boy" of English letters is inseparable from his uncompromising social and artistic vision and that his work directly challenges the "genteel tradition" that still dominates British fiction.