A new book focusing on British author Kingsley Amis will be arriving early next month.

Although he’s known around the world for his many novels, poetry collections and short stories and has been called ‘the finest British comic novelist of the second half of the twentieth century’, James Bond fans best know Amis as the man behind the first 007 continuation novel, 1968’s Colonel Sun.

Conversations with Kinglsley Amis, edited by Thomas DePietro, is set to be published in paperback by the University Press of Mississippi on 1 December 2009 in the US. A release in the UK is scheduled to follow on 1 January 2010.

Kingsley Amis

“If you can’t annoy somebody, there’s little point in writing” – Kingsley Amis

Soon after Kingsley Amis (1922-1995) published his first novel, Lucky Jim, in 1954, he became an object of literary and journalistic scrutiny. This attention would continue until his last days, four decades and forty books later. Conversations with Kingsley Amis includes both the first and last interviews Amis gave. Celebrated by reviewers and critics for his wit and irreverence, Amis rose to the occasion whenever interviewed. His clever and common-sense views covered everything from the state of the novel and current intellectual trends to the circumstances of his domestic life.

Not many writers can hold the interest of inquisitors from both Penthouse and the Economist as Amis does. Not many writers, for that matter, articulate views worth recording on sexual relations, about which Amis is something of a failed expert, and on the modern university, about which he could claim a greater authority. English periodicals of all varieties sought out Amis for his opinions on culture, both high and low. Along the way, Amis also entertained literary interrogators from the Paris Review and other journals, including talks with a number of distinguished men of letters such as Clive James, Michael Barber, and John Mortimer.

Conversations with Kinglsley Amis will retail for $22.00 / £21.00. Order online:

• Order Conversations with Kinglsley Amis from Amazon.co.uk
• Order Conversations with Kinglsley Amis from Amazon.com

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