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The Letters of Kingsley Amis
In 1854, Kingsley Amis grabbed the attention of the literary world as one of the Angry Young Men with his first novel Lucky Jim. He maintained a public image of blistering intelligence, savage wit, and belligerent fierceness of opinion until his death in 1995. In his letters, he confirms the legendary aspects of his reputation, and much more. This collection contains more than eight hundred letters that divulge the secrets of the artist and the man, with an honesty and immediacy rare in any biography or memoir.
Amis, so assured in his pronouncements on fellow writers, grapples privately with fears, self-doubts, ambitions, and personal disasters. He is wildly funny, indulging in mordant gossip and astonishing frankness with his intimate friends and lovers. Some letters are dashed off with signature frustration; others are written with painstaking and painful circumspection. They make vivid the triumphs and tumult of his life and his times, from post-war Britain through the Thatcher era, as well as his attractions to women, jazz, drink, and the comic possibilities of the English language.
As an intellectual pugilist who took no prisoners, Kingsley Amis had few peers. These letters, at times scandalous, at times tragic, reinforce his historical relevance and literary stature.
KINGSLEY AMIS was born in London in 1922. From his fictional debut with Lucky Jim to his death in 1995, he published twenty-five novels and numerous works of non-fiction, verse, volumes of short stories, and anthologies of poetry and prose. He was also a prolific critic and polemicist in newspapers and magazines. He was knighted in 1990.
ZACHARY LEADER is professor of English literature at the University of Surrey Roehampton. Among his books are Reading Blake's Songs, Writer's Block, and Revision and Romantic Authorship. He lives in London, and is a regular contributor to The London Review of Books and The Times Literary Supplement.
1212 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2000
12 people are currently reading
198 people want to read
About the author
Kingsley Amis
217 books562 followersBest known novels of British writer Sir Kingsley William Amis include
Lucky Jim
(1954) and
The Old Devils
(1986).
This English poet, critic, and teacher composed more than twenty-three collections, short stories, radio and television scripts, and books of social and literary criticism. He fathered Martin Amis.
William Robert Amis, a clerk of a mustard manufacturer, fathered him. He began his education at the city of London school, and went up to college of Saint John, Oxford, in April 1941 to read English; he met Philip Larkin and formed the most important friendship of his life. After only a year, the Army called him for service in July 1942. After serving as a lieutenant in the royal corps of signals in the Second World War, Amis returned to Oxford in October 1945 to complete his degree. He worked hard and got a first in English in 1947, and then decided to devote much of his time.
Pen names: [authorRobert Markham|553548] and William Bill Tanner
This English poet, critic, and teacher composed more than twenty-three collections, short stories, radio and television scripts, and books of social and literary criticism. He fathered Martin Amis.
William Robert Amis, a clerk of a mustard manufacturer, fathered him. He began his education at the city of London school, and went up to college of Saint John, Oxford, in April 1941 to read English; he met Philip Larkin and formed the most important friendship of his life. After only a year, the Army called him for service in July 1942. After serving as a lieutenant in the royal corps of signals in the Second World War, Amis returned to Oxford in October 1945 to complete his degree. He worked hard and got a first in English in 1947, and then decided to devote much of his time.
Pen names: [authorRobert Markham|553548] and William Bill Tanner
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
April 7, 2026
The Letters of Kingsley Amis edited by Zachary Leader this has only 83 (now 84) ratings and 9 (10 including this one) reviews on Goodreads – if I misbehave and write about the calamity of this world, Orange Woland, it may get back to the incredible, minuscule number of notes – but if we consider that this is 1212 pages long and it contains more than 800 letters, then we can see a reason for this obscurity, however, Kingsley Amis is a Magister Ludi, as is evident on my blog https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20...
10 out of 10
Kingsley Amis is my absolute favorite author https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... there is Marcel Proust, only the latter is less accessible, and then I have not read his letters, just A La Recherche, admittedly this is about as long as the…Letters, at more than one thousand pages
The Letters seem to compliment The Memoirs, indeed, there are aspects that I remember and cannot place them, did I read this in the Letters or The Memoirs, albeit they surely support the same points of view, for most of the time – we find exhilarating pages on various writers, from Nabokov to Elizabeth Taylor
Elizabeth Taylor was a magnificent novelist https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... and Kingsley Amis wrote about it ‘Angel by Elizabeth Taylor is a powerful story, triumphant narrative skill, a wonderful eye and unfailing humor, though not of the 'robust' nor of the 'savage' variety, often delightfully catty. But importance is not important. Good writing is…’
Some writers that I like are not favorites of the Magister Ludi, on the contrary – if Somerset Maugham was in my top five, and Evelyn Waugh in the Best 10, well, they do not come out resplendent from The Letters, although the latter has his reputation affected more on a personal level, seeing as he behaved badly, as an utter snob
Whenever we hear about ‘the great, luminaries’, a splendid work comes to mind, Intellectuals by Paul Johnson https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... from which we find how horrible Leo Tolstoy, Ernest Hemingway, Henrik Ibsen, Jean Jacques Rousseau and others could be…
There is a third category of writers that appear in The Letters, those that I have not liked, and considering that Magister Ludi Kingsley Amis severely criticizes, or even destroys their alleged magnum opera, I feel not just relieved, but near liberation, I mean I could approach Virginia Wolf without fear, and put away Henry James
‘First you want to get hold of something to say, then you fudge up a plot of a story of some kind, and then you put in bits of things you have seen and heard round the place, and then you try and make it all sound sort of interesting or witty or funny or unusual or striking in some way. If you find some bit that isn't that, you work at it until it is, or at least as near it as you can get…’ this is what The Master of The Game had to say
In contrast ‘All the thought- stream business strikes me as a sodding bore; once in 1000 times something stands🧍♀️out as a good touch, but hardly more often’ I could not agree more, summarizing, I love everything that Sir Kingsley Amis has written, with a few exceptions, from the acclaimed Lucky Jim to A Fat Englishman
https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... this glorious book and The Memoirs will have an impact, the downside is that there are novelists I used to like – even more than that – such as Vladimir Nabokov, even EM Foster - about him there is this quote ‘isn't the old bastard tedious and diffuse? Could you ever read 'A India'? Because I never could.’ And it will be in my mind…along with other amusing, memorable takes on Anthony Burgess, William Boyd, Ian McEwan, Kafka: ‘now there's another man who can't tell a story, who's incapable of illustrating the slightest thing, or the most important thing, by action. I don't think I've ever seen so many abstract nouns in a supposedly narrative writer before…’
Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – I am on Goodreads as Realini Ionescu, at least for the moment, if I keep on expressing my views on Orange Woland aka TACO, it may be a short-lived presence
Also, maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the benefits from it, other than the exercise per se
There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know
As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...
Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works
‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’
10 out of 10
Kingsley Amis is my absolute favorite author https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... there is Marcel Proust, only the latter is less accessible, and then I have not read his letters, just A La Recherche, admittedly this is about as long as the…Letters, at more than one thousand pages
The Letters seem to compliment The Memoirs, indeed, there are aspects that I remember and cannot place them, did I read this in the Letters or The Memoirs, albeit they surely support the same points of view, for most of the time – we find exhilarating pages on various writers, from Nabokov to Elizabeth Taylor
Elizabeth Taylor was a magnificent novelist https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... and Kingsley Amis wrote about it ‘Angel by Elizabeth Taylor is a powerful story, triumphant narrative skill, a wonderful eye and unfailing humor, though not of the 'robust' nor of the 'savage' variety, often delightfully catty. But importance is not important. Good writing is…’
Some writers that I like are not favorites of the Magister Ludi, on the contrary – if Somerset Maugham was in my top five, and Evelyn Waugh in the Best 10, well, they do not come out resplendent from The Letters, although the latter has his reputation affected more on a personal level, seeing as he behaved badly, as an utter snob
Whenever we hear about ‘the great, luminaries’, a splendid work comes to mind, Intellectuals by Paul Johnson https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... from which we find how horrible Leo Tolstoy, Ernest Hemingway, Henrik Ibsen, Jean Jacques Rousseau and others could be…
There is a third category of writers that appear in The Letters, those that I have not liked, and considering that Magister Ludi Kingsley Amis severely criticizes, or even destroys their alleged magnum opera, I feel not just relieved, but near liberation, I mean I could approach Virginia Wolf without fear, and put away Henry James
‘First you want to get hold of something to say, then you fudge up a plot of a story of some kind, and then you put in bits of things you have seen and heard round the place, and then you try and make it all sound sort of interesting or witty or funny or unusual or striking in some way. If you find some bit that isn't that, you work at it until it is, or at least as near it as you can get…’ this is what The Master of The Game had to say
In contrast ‘All the thought- stream business strikes me as a sodding bore; once in 1000 times something stands🧍♀️out as a good touch, but hardly more often’ I could not agree more, summarizing, I love everything that Sir Kingsley Amis has written, with a few exceptions, from the acclaimed Lucky Jim to A Fat Englishman
https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... this glorious book and The Memoirs will have an impact, the downside is that there are novelists I used to like – even more than that – such as Vladimir Nabokov, even EM Foster - about him there is this quote ‘isn't the old bastard tedious and diffuse? Could you ever read 'A India'? Because I never could.’ And it will be in my mind…along with other amusing, memorable takes on Anthony Burgess, William Boyd, Ian McEwan, Kafka: ‘now there's another man who can't tell a story, who's incapable of illustrating the slightest thing, or the most important thing, by action. I don't think I've ever seen so many abstract nouns in a supposedly narrative writer before…’
Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – I am on Goodreads as Realini Ionescu, at least for the moment, if I keep on expressing my views on Orange Woland aka TACO, it may be a short-lived presence
Also, maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the benefits from it, other than the exercise per se
There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know
As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...
Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works
‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’
October 25, 2024
An absolute feast of literary insight, gossip, malice, jokes, prejudice, life events, political hot takes and everything in between. I’m not really a Kingsley Amis fan, but this book is just so much fun.
June 13, 2024
A delight from beginning to end.
July 13, 2009
Even if this is not the longest book I’ve ever read (and it may well be), it is certainly the single book that has taken me the most time in going from cover to cover. I bought my copy not long after my wedding in 2006 and have been dipping in and out for nigh on three years, with a couple of periods of fairly committed reading, as well as a couple more of total neglect. It’s that kind of book—wonderful and satisfying, but far too immense to inspire (at least from me) unswerving devotion. Had I faithfully read from day one to the finish, I believe it still would have taken up a good six months’ time. As it stands, Amis’ letters have exerted incalculable influence upon the first three years of married life.
It’s been a great three years. (Marriage has also been good.) Having safely prefaced the present review with an account of the book’s length and staying power, I believe I can now get away with the Goodreads equivalent of murder by declaring this to be the single funniest book I’ve ever read. I suppose the only thing worse than according such an honor in the present slipshod forum would be to back up the same claim with nothing but a long excerpt. I find this to be a popular form of handicapped reviewing, wherein the reviewer states (but does not show) that the book in question is breathtaking, life-changing, etc, bothering to do nothing more in the way of furnishing proof than to quote an allegedly supportive squib or joke. By this curious refusal to say anything about how or why he admires the book under review, he shows (but does not state) that he has understood the book very little, if at all, and displays a skill for typing but not for reflecting.
I love Amis’ novels. Though this is the only book of letters I’ve ever read, I now see that I’ll be reading more in the future, though not a volume from just anyone. The myth seems to be that letters, which are of course addressed to someone other than the prospective reader, are too mundane or perhaps too dated, to justify publication; but let’s consider that. Are the letters you receive in the mail generally boring? They are only as boring as their authors. If their authors are lively, then the contents are only enhanced by that quality. By the same resistless logic, if a writer is any good at all, then whatever he puts his hand to is likely to shine. Just so with Amis. I already admire his novels, and I had read all of the glowing blurbs from his colleagues about what a scream they’d gotten from the letters. I’m happy to concur with all of them. Amis on the vicissitudes of the Thatcher government is as funny as he is on the insufferable self-satisfaction of academics and communists. Indeed, the two topics are inseparable when considering the shape and drift of Amis’ body of work. If you have ever enjoyed the unmistakable style and intelligence of Amis’ novels or essays, you cannot miss his letters.
It’s been a great three years. (Marriage has also been good.) Having safely prefaced the present review with an account of the book’s length and staying power, I believe I can now get away with the Goodreads equivalent of murder by declaring this to be the single funniest book I’ve ever read. I suppose the only thing worse than according such an honor in the present slipshod forum would be to back up the same claim with nothing but a long excerpt. I find this to be a popular form of handicapped reviewing, wherein the reviewer states (but does not show) that the book in question is breathtaking, life-changing, etc, bothering to do nothing more in the way of furnishing proof than to quote an allegedly supportive squib or joke. By this curious refusal to say anything about how or why he admires the book under review, he shows (but does not state) that he has understood the book very little, if at all, and displays a skill for typing but not for reflecting.
I love Amis’ novels. Though this is the only book of letters I’ve ever read, I now see that I’ll be reading more in the future, though not a volume from just anyone. The myth seems to be that letters, which are of course addressed to someone other than the prospective reader, are too mundane or perhaps too dated, to justify publication; but let’s consider that. Are the letters you receive in the mail generally boring? They are only as boring as their authors. If their authors are lively, then the contents are only enhanced by that quality. By the same resistless logic, if a writer is any good at all, then whatever he puts his hand to is likely to shine. Just so with Amis. I already admire his novels, and I had read all of the glowing blurbs from his colleagues about what a scream they’d gotten from the letters. I’m happy to concur with all of them. Amis on the vicissitudes of the Thatcher government is as funny as he is on the insufferable self-satisfaction of academics and communists. Indeed, the two topics are inseparable when considering the shape and drift of Amis’ body of work. If you have ever enjoyed the unmistakable style and intelligence of Amis’ novels or essays, you cannot miss his letters.
November 27, 2010
Amis is one of my favorite 20th-century novelists and an exhaustive correspondent -- maybe even a little too exhaustive. There are great letters here, among them the long correspondence between Amis and his lifelong friend, the port Philip Larkin. The book follows these two complex, fiercely intelligent, not-very-tolerant men from just-post university to middle age and, ultimately, Larkin's death. A wonderful Aladdin's cave of feelings, opinions, creative insights, and love between two prickly individuals. Most of the rest of the correspondence isn't that fascinating, and it's reassuring to see that Amis's love letters are as boring as everybody else's. One infuriating aspect of the book is the editor's annotation style: someone you don't recognized is mentioned, and there's an asterisk, and it tells you to go back and read Amis's letter of 4 July 1965 or something. And when you do that, you get a two-word identifier.
On the other hand, Zachary Leader has done a phenomenal job of tracking down practically everyone who's mentioned in everyone's letters, to this is really just carping.
On the other hand, Zachary Leader has done a phenomenal job of tracking down practically everyone who's mentioned in everyone's letters, to this is really just carping.
December 28, 2020
Well, I actually finished this more than 1,000 page miscellany - something of an achievement in 2020, methinks!
Disclaimers aside - long disquisitions with Philip Larkin about obscure Dixieland musicians, jejune limericks, decidedly un P.C. political opinions (including a number of jabs at my own people), and the bemoanings and bragging about his antediluvian thoughts on, and behavior to, women - it was, at the end of the day (to use a cliche Amis would surely have deplored) entertaining. He was as funny almost as often as he was rude. And although he was routinely disrespectful to his literary betters - everyone from Keats to Dylan Thomas, whom he seems to have had a love-hate relationship with, somehow becoming an executor of his estate - he is in the game, pounding out novels of varying qualities, science fiction (?), and a thoroughly British (perhaps imitation British) literary career. He doesn't fail to apologize for tardiness in answering letters, and is surprisingly thoughtful in unexpected ways, even while he is offensive in ways that are expected.
And after all, he wrote "Lucky Jim.''
God help me, I liked it.
Disclaimers aside - long disquisitions with Philip Larkin about obscure Dixieland musicians, jejune limericks, decidedly un P.C. political opinions (including a number of jabs at my own people), and the bemoanings and bragging about his antediluvian thoughts on, and behavior to, women - it was, at the end of the day (to use a cliche Amis would surely have deplored) entertaining. He was as funny almost as often as he was rude. And although he was routinely disrespectful to his literary betters - everyone from Keats to Dylan Thomas, whom he seems to have had a love-hate relationship with, somehow becoming an executor of his estate - he is in the game, pounding out novels of varying qualities, science fiction (?), and a thoroughly British (perhaps imitation British) literary career. He doesn't fail to apologize for tardiness in answering letters, and is surprisingly thoughtful in unexpected ways, even while he is offensive in ways that are expected.
And after all, he wrote "Lucky Jim.''
God help me, I liked it.
March 14, 2008
An amazing collection. An unholy amassment of lovely vitrol and the occasional sweetmeat. I enjoyed reading these letters too much, I think. They took over my life for a little while. So happy am I to've not been his son. Or his contemporary. Can't imagine what he'd've thought of Goodreads. On second thought, I can imagine what he'd say. What a jolly bitter bastard!
Currently Reading
February 17, 2009The proper category for this is 'always reading'. A wonderful bedside companion. Kingsley Amis put the best of his writing into his letters, and no book has made me laugh more. Scurrilous, gossipy, occasionally wise, the letters are beautifully modulated, filled with wonderful catty vignettes and without a touch of nasty, brutish 'fine' writing.
December 19, 2007
As hysterical as Kingsley Amis is in his books and when quoted by Martin Amis, I would think this book would be really funny. Sadly, it is not.
July 24, 2016
Loved the poem in Appendix C. Very funny.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews