Martin Amis

Martin Amis is one of the great writers of contemporary fiction. Even if he’d given up putting pen to paper after his third novel, , this would be an irrefutable fact. Period. Sorry. He writes grippingly of ugly characters consuming for the sake of consumption, blind to their own greed. His hideous, and occasionally hilarious, creations have always been both of their own time and chillingly in line with whatever is going on outside your window on any given day.

Amis gives interviews rarely and has a reputation for being spiky and guarded. Having read all of his work and been more than a little bit into it, actually picking up the phone to talk to him had me shaking like a wee little leaf on a tree. Luckily, Amis (“Marty” to his buddies) was kind, willing, and open. He also has the most mesmerizing way of emphasizing words midsentence. Go watch him talk about his book on on YouTube right now and you’ll hear what I mean. Vice: Having grown up with the towering novelist Kingsley Amis for a father, was there a point where you made a conscious decision to be “a writer,” or was it always sort of a given?

Martin Amis: What other novelists were early influences on your writing?
lucid Early on you seemed preoccupied with the present—its excess and its vacuity—both in the rampant consumerism of Money and the Thatcherite capitalism of London Fields.
in this this You’ve also spoken of being “addicted to the 20th century.” Has the 21st proved not quite as compelling so far?
that this London has always had a looming presence in your novels. What was it about the city that fascinated you?
At times you have written in forms outside of fiction to reflect on society in the same way you have within your novels.
Koba the Dread House of Meetings Even when not dealing directly with politics, your novels exist in an atmosphere of political threat. Over time the threat has shifted from Soviet Cold War to the axis of evil, but always with a sense of potential Armageddon.
Einstein’s Monsters Time’s Arrow Are you talking about The Second Plane, your collection of pieces about Islam?
The plot devices that you became infamous for using came to be classified as postmodern. Were they conscious, formal decisions or were they subconsciously demanded by the story?
How do you feel about the current state of fiction?
Are there any young novelists working now who you admire?
In conversation with Self you have said that “the middle classes are underrepresented in my novels.” You also seem to have a recurring preoccupation with the lower classes.
You mentioned a novel that you are working on now. Can you tell us any more about that or will you get in trouble?
The Pregnant Widow Like London, America figures often in your novels. In Money you portray the country as the unbridled consumerist paradigm that London strived to be, but lacking that British inhibition.
Perhaps an era in which we see the baby of the social revolution born?
There was talk at one point of David Cronenberg making a film of London Fields. Was there any truth to that?
The Rachel Papers Dead Babies Northanger Abbey What caused you to move to Uruguay for two years?
Recently you began teaching at Manchester University. Why, of all places, Manchester?
Is it true that you were a mod and then a hippie during the 60s and 70s?
by Martin Amis is published by Vintage and available now.