So, a justification for Amis’s novels can be to detach them from the ideology of their author and to read them against the grain – in much the same way as the novels of (say) Evelyn Waugh can serve as critical commentary on what they describe, despite their author’s intentions. And his prize-winning The Old Devils (1986) showed his cantankerously mortal sensibility, still sustaining what was now the long dark comedy of life into later years, in which the once angry young man had turned into a yet more angry and mortal old one. In later works, like Jake’s Thing (1978) and Stanley and the Women (1984), he examined the growing gender conflicts between men and women and their impact on the family and on male psychology. Shouldn’t we instead put aside what we know about Amis’s personal opinions and value the novels for holding up a mirror to the unpleasant realities of our society? This is the view of the liberal minded literary critic Malcolm Bradbury:

What, it might be said, is the point of reading these novels when a visit to the local pub and an interview with the bar bore would yield the same reactionary rant? Perhaps, though, this is too simplistic a dismissal, one which stems from confusing creator and character. The heroes of his novels appeared more and more to be the mouthpiece for Amis’s pet hates, uttering a never ending stream of extremely unfunny and narrow- (rather than quick-) minded attacks on gays, nuclear disarmers, women’s libbers, and so on. Far from being a vigorous persecutor he seemed to have joined the ranks of bores, pseuds and wankers. He was rewarded with a CBE in 1981 and knighted in 1990. After all Amis became notoriously hostile to progressive causes and a political supporter of Margaret Thatcher. Yet many have wondered just how funny and critical Amis, particularly the Amis of the later novels, really was. As a contributor to The Spectator put it, ‘He was above all quick-minded, verbally agile, terribly funny, a vigorous persecutor of bores, pseuds and wankers and a most tremendous mimic.’

Such was the continued acclaim for his work that in 1986 he won the Booker prize for The Old Devils. After making his mark with Lucky Jim (1954) he never looked back, as one comic novel after the other flowed from his pen.

When Kingsley Amis died last year at the age of 73, the general verdict was that he had been the greatest comic novelist of his generation. Marked up by Einde O’ Callaghan for the Encyclopaedia of Trotskyism On-Line (ETOL). Gareth Jenkins Why Lucky Jim Turned Right An Obituary of Kingsley Amis (March 1996)įrom International Socialism 2 : 70, March 1996.Ĭopied with thanks from the International Socialism Archive. Gareth Jenkins: Why Lucky Jim Turned Right - An Obituary of Kingsley Amis (March 1996)

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