The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Cancer claims life of an English literary giant
Martin Amis, whose novels Money and London Fields made him one of the most renowned literary figures of his generation, has died aged 73.
He published 14 novels, a memoir, two collections of stories and eight collections of non-fiction works over his lifetime.
Publisher Vintage Books said: “We are devastated at the death of our author and friend, Martin Amis: novelist, essayist, memoirist, critic, stylist supreme.
“It has been a profound privilege and pleasure to be his publisher; first as Jonathan Cape in 1973, with his explosive debut, The Rachel Papers; then as part of Penguin Random House and Vintage, up to and including his most recent book, 2020’s Inside Story.”
He died from cancer of the oesophagus at his home in Florida.
Born in Oxford in 1949, he was the son of the late Booker Prize-winning writer, Sir Kingsley Amis, who also died age 73, in 1995, and Hilary Ann Bardwell.
In 1973, he published his first novel aged 24, The Rachel Papers, while working as an editorial assistant at the Times Literary Supplement.
He joined the New
Statesman as their literary editor at 27 and was appointed as a professor of creative writing at the University of Manchester in 2007 before stepping down in 2011.
In his work he explored current events and the contemporary world as well as key periods in history, notably the Holocaust, which he wrote about in novels such as Time’s Arrow and The Zone Of Interest.
Time’s Arrow was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, while his 2003 novel Yellow Dog was also longlisted.
The official Twitter account of the Booker Prize described him as “one of the most acclaimed and discussed novelists of the past 50 years”.
Amis’ UK editor, Michal Shavit, said: “He will be remembered as one of the greatest writers of his time and his books will stand the test of time alongside some of his favourite writers: Saul Bellow, John Updike, and Vladimir Nabokov.”
Crime writer Ian Rankin revealed that his favourite book by the late author was Money.
Amis is survived by his wife, writer Isabel Fonseca, and his children Louis, Jacob, Fernanda, Clio and Delilah.