Martin Amis

Martin Amis (born August 25, 1949) is a British novelist. He is the author of some of Britain's best-known modern literature, particularly Money (1986) and London Fields (1989), and the creator of several of fiction's most memorable characters since Charles Dickens.

Early life

Amis's paternal grandfather was a mustard clerk from Clapham, and his maternal grandfather a shoe millionaire. http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/02/01/home/amis-stout.html Both of his parents were twice divorced, divorcing each other when he was 12, and for a time, his father lived as a lodger with Amis's mother, Hilly, and her third husband. "Something out of early Updike, 'Couples' flirtations and a fair amount of drinking," he told the New York Times. "They were all 'at it'. " http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/02/01/home/amis-stout.html

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Born in Cardiff, South Wales, he was the middle of three children, with an older brother, Philip, and a younger sister, Sally. He attended around 14 different schools during the 1950s and 60's, because of his father's success with his novel Lucky Jim, which involved overseas travel, including a year spent at Princeton, New Jersey, which was Amis's introduction to the United States.

Related Topics:
Princeton, New Jersey - United States

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He read comic books until his stepmother, the novelist Elizabeth Jane Howard, introduced him to Jane Austen, a writer he often names as his earliest influence. Despite teenage years spent in flowerly shirts and movement between several schools including Westminster School, he managed to graduate from Exeter College, Oxford with a first-class honours degree.

Related Topics:
Jane Austen - Westminster School - Exeter College, Oxford

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After Oxford, he found an entry-level job at The Times Literary Supplement, became literary editor of The New Statesman at the age of 27, and then a feature writer for The Observer.

Related Topics:
The New Statesman - The Observer

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