My Martin Amis

Dec 01 2024 14 ep. 41 mins 17

My Martin Amis Podcast artwork

Personal stories from writers, critics and publicists about the life and legacy of late English novelist Martin Amis (1949-2023).

Host and producer: Jack Aldane

Music: 'June' by Nigel Martin

Twitter: @mymartinamis

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"He opened the door, holding three darts. Amis was quite mischievous." Anthony Quinn

Dec 01 2024 52 mins

English novelist Anthony Quinn has met and interviewed Martin Amis on several occasions. Their first encounter followed the publication of London Fields in 1989, the second during the publicity storm that came with Amis's 1995 novel The Information.In this episode, he and Jack discuss Amis's last novel, Inside Story, published in 2020. Although Anthony struggled with it in his firs

"Martin Amis makes you alive to the possibilities of prose." David Patrikarakos

Sep 12 2024 43 mins

British author, journalist and war correspondent David Patrikarakos was due to leave the UK for Athens in the summer of 2024. Before he left, he discovered My Martin Amis, and quickly got in touch to ask to tell his story about how he became, as he put it, "mildly obsessed" with the late novelist.On this episode, David and Jack sit down together early one morning to revisit The Rac

"Amis's prose is sparkling, relatable, aspirational, and authentic." Simon Parkin

Aug 19 2024 44 mins

On this episode, British journalist, author and video game critic for The Observer Simon Parkin reaches into the more obscure corners of Amis's bibliography to dissect a dazzling collection of arcade game reviews published circa 1982. Entitled Invasion of the Space Invaders, this glossy publication starts with Amis's recollection of the moment these machines stole his heart, after

"Amis is one of the best writers of dialogue." John Niven

Jun 29 2024 44 mins

John Niven is a Scottish author and screenwriter whose books include Kill Your Friends, The Amateurs, The Second Coming. The F*ck-it List, and O Brother.John discusses his favourite of Amis's novel, The Information, published in 1995. The Information follows two star-crossed writers, Gwyn Barry and Richard Tull. The pair have been friends since university, but now as

"When he died, I was distraught. Only Amis could have that effect on me." Will Lloyd

May 20 2024 49 mins

Reporter for The Sunday Times Will Lloyd sits down with Jack Aldane on this ninth episode to discuss The Second Plane, a collection of twelve pieces of nonfiction and two short stories by Amis published in 2008, covering 9/11, the age of terrorism, Islamism and the follies of the Blair-Bush coalition.Will says Amis should be remembered as one of the greatest comic novelis

"Reading Money was like hearing The Clash for the first time." Graham Caveney

Mar 24 2024 44 mins

Journalist and memoirist Graham Caveney speaks to Jack Aldane on this eighth episode of the series about Martin Amis's iconoclastic fifth novel Money: A Suicide Note.He and the host discuss the novel's true subject, which runs counter to popular interpretation. Though Money is often celebrated as the quintessential novel of the 80s, Caveney argues it is as much if not predominantly

"Amis is at his best when he leans into his fears." Leo Robson

Feb 25 2024 34 mins

Leo Robson is a freelance writer whose work has featured in The New Yorker, Harpers and New Statesman, among others.In this episode, he and the series' host and producer Jack Aldane sit down to discuss Martin Amis's fourth novel Other People, a Mystery Story, published in 1981.Robson explains that Amis had many literary debts his fans can take pleasure in exploring, and that the no

"Reading Martin Amis makes you feel funnier, cleverer, more insightful." Alys Denby

Jan 07 2024 33 mins

Editor of Cap X Alys Denby discovered Martin Amis through a boy at university would she would later go on to marry. The first book of Amis's he leant her was Success, published in 1978.Success juxtaposes two lives set in the same era of social and economic transformation in Britain: that of well-bred Gregory Riding and his lowly foster brother Terence Service. The story is told thr

"Nobody has influenced my writing more than Martin Amis." James Marriott

Nov 23 2023 40 mins

Columnist, podcast and book reviewer for The London Times James Marriott joins Jack Aldane on Episode 5 to discuss The War Against Cliché , an anthology of Martin Amis's reviews and essays from 1971 to 2000. It was the book that changed James's approach to life, and especially writing.James tells Jack why, despite his never having been a devotee to Amis the novelist, Amis's j

"Not everyone even remotely has Amis's descriptive ability." Zoe Strimpel

Oct 20 2023 45 mins

Gender scholar, author and columnist Zoe Strimpel tells Jack Aldane about the "sexual sentimental education" she gleaned from Martin Amis’s novels as a young woman battling teenage angst.In particular, they discuss Amis's first novel, The Rachel Papers, which introduced Zoe to the dark corners of male heterosexuality through Amis's burgeoning comic prose style, and how the book's