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The Letters of Kingsley Amis
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The Letters of Kingsley Amis
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by Zachary Leader
Sales Rank : 1121107
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Hardcover: 1212 pages
Publisher: Miramax Books November 21, 2001
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0786867574
ISBN-13: 978-0786867578
Product Dimensions:
9.7 x 6.4 x 2.8 inches
Shipping Weight: 4.3 pounds
Product Review
"Beautifully organized and annotatedSome of the best of Amis, it turns out, is in his letters." -- The New York Times Book Review
Product Description
In 1954, 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.
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