Experience - (Vintage International) by Martin Amis (Paperback)

About the Book

The son of the great comic novelist Kingsley Amis, the author explores his relationship with his father and writes about the various crises of Kingsley's life. "Experience" deconstructs the changing literary scene, too, including Amis's portraits of Saul Bellow, Salman Rushdie, Allan Bloom, Philip Larkin, and Robert Graves. of photos.

Book Synopsis

NATIONAL BESTSELLER - One of the most gifted and innovative writers of our time discloses a private life every bit as unique and fascinating as his bestselling novels.

"Superb memoir...a moving account of [Amis's] coming of age as an artist and a man." --San Francisco Chronicle

The son of the great comic novelist Kingsley Amis, Martin Amis explores his relationship with this father and writes about the various crises of Kingsley's life. He also examines the life and legacy of his cousin, Lucy Partington, who was abducted and murdered by one of Britain's most notorious serial killers. Experience also deconstructs the changing literary scene, including Amis' portraits of Saul Bellow, Salman Rushdie, Allan Bloom, Philip Larkin, and Robert Graves, among others.

Not since Nabokov's Speak, Memory has such an implausible life been recorded by such an inimitable talent. Profound, witty, and ruthlessly honest, Experience is a literary event.

Review Quotes

"Fuses humor, intellect and daring with a new gravitas and warmth." --Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

"A splendid writer.... Hums with the same antic prose and looping comic riffs that characterize Amis' fiction." --Time

"Superb memoir...a moving account of [Amis's] coming of age as an artist and a man." --San Francisco Chronicle

About the Author

MARTIN AMIS is the author of 15 novels--among them Zone of Interest, London Fields, Time's Arrow, The Information, and Night Train--along with the memoir Experience, the novelized self-portrait Inside Story, two collections of stories, and seven nonfiction books. He died in 2023.