William Boyd on his friend Martin Amis: ‘He was ferociously intelligent – and very funny’

He saw the world’s cruel absurdities through a comic lens, writes Boyd, who recalls his very first meeting with Amis – and explains why his unmistakable voice will never be forgotten• John Self on Amis: ‘He stamped his style over a generation’• Geoff Dyer on Amis: ‘Mick Jagger in literary form’The awful news of Martin Amis’s death prompts a rush of memories. I first met him in 1969, in Paris, when we both found ourselves staying in the same apartment on the Île Saint-Louis for a few days. I was 17, Martin was 20. I only realised who this Martin guy was four years later when his first novel, The Rachel Papers, appeared. In a strange but real sense, he was the first writer I had ever met. And thus began an acquaintance as an avid reader and later as a friend.The remarkable thing about that first novel was the utter confidence and distinctiveness of the narrative voice. Martin found his style at the very beginning of his career as a writer and it never changed. That voice he had defined and charged everything else he wrote – fiction, essays, journalism, memoirs. Very few writers can be instantly identified by a sentence or two of their prose – Laurence Sterne, Charles Dickens, James Joyce, DH Lawrence, Vladimir Nabokov – and Martin precociously joined that elite group and stayed there. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2023-05-22 07:00:49 UTC ]
News tagged with: #avid reader #charles dickens #james joyce #vladimir nabokov #elite group #first novel

Other Publishing stories related to: 'William Boyd on his friend Martin Amis: ‘He was ferociously intelligent – and very funny’'

William Boyd on his friend Martin Amis: ‘He was ferociously intelligent – and very funny’

[ The Guardian | 2023-05-22 07:00:49 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #avid reader #charles dickens #james joyce #vladimir nabokov #elite group #first novel

‘I didn’t think it was possible to be a novelist’: Julian Barnes on literature, loss – and his late friend Martin Amis

The Booker winning author talks about how his most recent work was inspired by Hilary Mantel, and the way the books world has changed since his debut was published more than 40 years agoToo many people have been dying lately,” Julian Barnes reflects over the phone from his home in north London.... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2023-09-16 08:00:25 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #julian barnes #martin amis #recent work #hilary mantel #books world #north london #key part

Why do so many people still love Friends? | Zoe Williams

The 90s were a decade of carefree optimism and comically low stakes. Matthew Perry’s death brings us crashing back into the now In 2004, the author Damian Barr published Get It Together: Surviving Your Quartlerlife Crisis. Barr would go on to write poignant and beautiful books (including the... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2023-10-30 18:37:24 UTC ]
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‘Damn, that fool can write’: how Martin Amis made everyone up their game

He exploded into the tweedy world of literature, a young, pouting and outrageously brash crusader for prose. Our writer remembers her encounters with the novelist, whose smarts and chutzpah confounded his peers‘You’ll be reading me every now and then at least until about 2080, weather... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2023-05-22 05:00:48 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #major event #inside story #short-story collections #saturday night #memoir

Martin Amis, acclaimed British novelist and London scenester of '80s and '90s, dies at 73

Martin Amis, best known for a scathing, dazzling trilogy of novels on money-saturated '80s London and the memoir "Experience," died Friday at 73. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2023-05-20 20:05:38 UTC ]
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Martin Amis, era-defining British novelist, dies aged 73

The celebrated author of Money and London Fields, whose works defined the 80s and 90s literary scene, died of oesophageal cancer on Friday at his home in FloridaMartin Amis, the influential author of era-defining novels including Money and London Fields, and the memoir Experience, has died at... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2023-05-20 18:53:35 UTC ]
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Writing an Old Friend: Spotlight on J. William Lewis

The teenage protagonist in J. William Lewis’s debut novel, The Essence of Nathan Biddle, seeks to answer life’s biggest questions. (Sponsored) Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-05-24 04:00:00 UTC ]
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William Boyd’s ‘Trio’ is a rollicking escape from today’s soul-crushing social and political turmoil

Set in Brighton Beach in 1968, the novel follows three characters involved in a wacky film production. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2021-01-26 13:00:00 UTC ]
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Orion to publish 'painfully funny' debut from Amy Lavelle

Orion Fiction has acquired two books by journalist Amy Lavelle including her debut, Definitely Fine. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-23 21:40:22 UTC ]
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Cape to publish Martin Amis autobiographical novel

Jonathan Cape will publish an autobiographical novel by Martin Amis later this year, with the book described as his "most intimate and epic work to date". Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-02-14 00:11:42 UTC ]
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Martin Amis to pen novel about Larkin, Bellow and Hitchens

Martin Amis is writing an autobiographical novel about three fellow writers - poet and writer Philip Larkin, Nobel Prize winning novelist Saul Bellow and essayist and literary critic Christopher Hitchens - all of whom have died since he started writing the book. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2016-12-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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William Boyd: Interview

April Fool’s Day 1998, novelist William Boyd published a hoax biography of a 20th-century American artist, Nat Tate, which was sufficiently convincing to take in a number of prominent art critics. One of the elements that made the hoax so persuasive was Boyd’s use of anonymous photographs, drawn... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-08-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Martin Amis’s Holocaust novel The Zone of Interest finds German publisher

Having been turned down by his long-standing publisher Hanser Verlag, dark comedy finds home with Kein and AberMartin Amis’s latest novel, The Zone of Interest, has finally found a German-language home six months after it was turned down by his long-standing German publishing house, thought by... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-03-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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William Boyd's next novel 'most daring yet'

Bloomsbury has signed a global deal for the next novel by William Boyd, titled Sweet Caress. Editor in chief Alexandra Pringle signed world English rights, excluding Canada, on behalf of Bloomsbury UK and US in a deal with Jonny Geller at Curtis Brown and Amanda Urban at ICM. The book will be... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2014-12-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #bloomsbury uk #global deal #william boyd #jonny geller #curtis brown #amanda urban #absolutely thrilled

Bloomsbury Announces New William Boyd Novel

William Boyd has moved to Bloomsbury for his next novel. The British author, who was at HarperCollins, will release 'Sweet Caress' with his new publisher in September 2015. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-12-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Land Rover commissions novelist William Boyd’s latest

In a rare move for the publishing world, Land Rover has sponsored "An Ice Cream War" novelist William Boyd's new short fiction and turned it in into a gorgeous interactive campaign. The post Land Rover commissions novelist William Boyd’s latest appeared first on Digiday. Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2014-11-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Martin Amis's novel 'A Zone of Interest' gets rave reviews, but is dropped by French and German publishers

Amis's French and German publishers passed on his novel about the Holocaust, but another French company will be releasing the book and Amis's agent said there will most likely be a new German publisher that is willing to publish it. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2014-09-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Martin Amis's holocaust 'comedy' fails to find German publisher

The Zone of Interest, set in Auschwitz, is declined by the author's publishers in Germany and France, although alternative French house picks up novel The Zone of Interest reviewedIn the UK, some critics have hailed it as the "best book in 25 years" by one of Britain's greatest living writers.... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2014-08-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Review: William Boyd's Bond novel 'Solo' puzzles over its mission

The intriguing 007 story isn't beholden to the Bond mystique, both its main strength and biggest weakness.There is no big set piece to open "Solo," the new James Bond novel by British author William Boyd. The secret agent best known as 007 doesn't launch the story with an extravagant car chase,... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2013-10-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #james bond #william boyd #secret agent