On this day in 1949 Martin Amis was born. In any history of the last half-century of English Literature, a chapter will have to be given to the Amis family. From Kingsley, starting in 1953, and Martin, starting in 1973, there have come over seventy books (and, in Martin's case, still quickly counting). Two chapters might be better: one of Kingsley's many "failures of tolerance," to use the phrase from Martin's recent memoir, Experience, was his contempt for his son's postmodern novels. Having "only read about half," and having struggled at those, father had no intention of following his son's prescription for one of them: "Little sod said on TV you had to read it twice!" ... FULL STORY »
