The Sir Kingsley Amis Discussion Thread (Non-Bond Works Only)

Silhouette Man

I see that as yet we (regrettably) have no discussion thread for Sir Kingsley Amis and his non-Bond works so I thought it was high time that I created one as I am a big fan of Amis and I am currently working through his fiction and non-fiction, his letters and Memoirs to write several articles on him and his works for my blog.

This is the space for Amis fans of all hues to post reviews, recommendations or articles of interest on the legendary post-war British author Sir Kingsley Amis (1922-1995).

I'll start the ball rolling with this very interesting B/W archive interview from 1958 of Amis by Simon Raven (who also has several Bond connections too, mind):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pzX6CgB7XM

If we are to reference Bond, perhaps it could be how works like The Anti-Death League and The Egyptologists have links to his Bond novel Colonel Sun? Or did Maps of Hell have links to The James Bond Dossier for instance? I think that that would serve to make this thread uniquely interesting. I'm open to all areas of debate, though. -{

Hardyboy

Well, it has zero Bond connections, but my favorite Amis novel is his first--Lucky Jim. It's one of the first comic novels about my own profession--academia--and it still hits its marks; and it's also a prime example of the "Angry Young Man" movement that protested the condition of England in the 1950s. Had Amis written nothing else, this book would still have sealed his fame.

Silhouette Man

Anyone else want to add their thoughts on Kingsley Amis' non-Bond novels in this thread?

I'm currently reading through Amis' Memoirs (1991) for an upcoming blog article.

Silhouette Man

I really need to get back to this subject as I've bought a ton of Amis books in the years since I created this sadly rather neglected thread.

I also have a few articles to get completed on Amis and Bond for my blog as 28 March 2018 marks the 50th Anniversary of the publication of Amis' Colonel Sun in 1968. That was the start of the official James Bond continuation project that has run intermittently ever since and to my mind it is an anniversary well worth celebrating with a special series of articles!

Silhouette Man

The Riverside Villas Murder by Kingsley Amis | Radio Drama (1973) | Fiction, Mystery:

A mummy is stolen from a small town museum along with some Roman coins and a soaking wet man collapses in fourteen year old Peter Furneaux's living room bleeding from the head. What was a suspected student prank is followed by murder...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4P22yqww2qM

Silhouette Man

20 Top Kingsley Amis Quotes To Keep You From Going Astray:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=epwuVCPkyt4

Sorry about the robotic voice! 🤖

Hardyboy

Interesting that this thread should come up again, because right now I'm reading Amis's THE ALTERATION (1976), set in an alternate 1976 where the Protestant Reformation had never happened--in fact, Martin Luther had become a pope, followed by Sir Thomas More--as a result, the western world is still Catholic and involved in a cold war with the Islamic world, there never was a USA, and steam power is still high technology. That said, the novel is focused on a boy chorister with such a beautiful voice that everyone wants to have him. . .er. . .altered in order to keep that voice intact. It's absolutely brilliant stuff--imaginative, amusing (but never laugh-out-loud funny), and thoroughly unique.