Kingsley Amis
(1922-1995), NovelistSir Kingsley William Amis
Sitter in 32 portraits
Born in London and educated at Oxford, Amis combined writing with lecturing English at Swansea (1949-61), Cambridge (1961-3) and later in the USA. His first novel Lucky Jim (1954), a satire on academic, middle-class life, was an immediate success and linked him to other so-called Angry Young Men. Later novels include Take a Girl Like You (1960), Jake's Thing (1978) and the Booker prize-winning The Old Devils (1986). Despite the contemporary nature of his work, Amis took an increasingly conservative and acerbic view of life. At Cambridge he began a relationship with the writer Elizabeth Jane Howard, which caused a split from his family, though his son Martin Amis later credited her with encouraging his writing.
Related People
- Martin Louis Amis (son)
- Philip Amis (son)
- Sally Myfanwy Amis (daughter)
- Elizabeth Jane Howard (wife)
- Hilary ('Hilly') Ann Bardwell (née Sidney), Lady Kilmarnock (wife)
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