Although best known for his comic novels, Kingsley Amis wrote poetry throughout his career. Collected Poems spans subjects from nature and cricket to love, ageing and literature, brimming with his characteristic wit and irreverence, yet full of compassion. 'The Last War' brings home the futility of battle by portraying countries as flawed characters destined for misfortune, while 'Their Oxford' reflects on the passing of time, and in contrast the playful 'Sight Unseen' laments the difficulty of attracting women. By turns provocative and poignant, this collection provides an illuminating glimpse into the heart and mind of Amis.
In this hilarious, inspiring and provocative series of essays, Kingsley Amis introduces every reader to the wonders and value of science fiction writing. From the extraordinary ideas but sexless science of Jules Verne to the power of H. G. Wells's terrifying storytelling; from the brilliance of bad science fiction writing to the potency of their important ideas; from a portrait of the average SF reader to Amis's sad prediction that this genre will never make it in film or television, New Maps of Hell is a warm and witty exploration of a world many readers may be yet to discover.
A gift for anyone who loves good liquor and high-proof prose: a collection of hilarious and deeply informed writings about drink from one of the all-time authorities. With an Introduction by Christopher Hitchens.
«Ein Standardwerk.» Süddeutsche Zeitung Kingsley Amis war nicht nur ein großer englischer Literat, sondern auch ein Meister in der Kunst des Trinkens. Er schöpfte aus langjähriger Erfahrung, als er das Handbuch ANSTÄNDIG TRINKEN verfasste und damit eine witzige und höchst informative Anleitung für Profis und Laien schuf, die bei allem Vergnügen die praktischen und ökonomischen Aspekte des Trinkens nicht vernachlässigt. Denn: Zünftige Drinks zu servieren ist ein Handwerk besonderer Art. Amis erläutert so wichtige Themen wie wertvolle Trinker-lektüre und das wohlsortierte Schnapsregal, die Diät für den Trinker und die Frage, wie man beim Trinken möglichst lange nüchtern bleibt. Sein geistreiches Brevier enthält zudem eine Typologie des Katers und eine Auswahl der besten und explosivsten Rezepte, die er in jahrelanger Feldforschung zusammengetragen hat. «Smart, überhaupt nicht unsinnig und vor allem charmant.» New York Times
V sedmi povídkách sleduje klasik anglického humoru s vlídnou ironií malicherné a všelijak nedokonalé lidičky, jejich předstírané i špatně tajené city. Tři ze sedmi povídek této sbírky se odehrávají ve vojenském prostředí, jedna je jakousi symbolickou sci-fi. Vždy se však jedná o peripetie předstírání, utajovaných a nečekaně projevovaných náklonností i nepřátelství. Na to vše autor pohlíží s vlídným sarkasmem a inteligentní skepsí, s jemnou dávkou situační i slovní komiky. Svým datem vzniku patří povídky do Amisova mladšího období a skutečně v nich převažuje spíše optimismus Šťastného Jima než hořkost autorových pozdějších děl....
Příběh o radostech i strastech londýnského novináře, který, ač nerad, jede i s rodinou na „pracovní“ dovolenou do Portugalska.
Ústřední postavou u nás poprvé vycházejícího románu světoznámého anglického humoristy je Garnet Bowen, který je žurnalistou a lektorem v jednom londýnském nakladatelství. Je ženatý, má tři děti, miluje britské pivo a zrovna neoplývá sympatiemi k neanglicky mluvícím zemím. Naopak jeho hezká žena Barbara je velkou vyznavačkou exotiky. A protože je léto, tedy čas dovolených, Garnet ví, že tento problém bude muset nějak vyřešit. Rozhodování mu usnadní zaměstnavatel, který ho pošle do Portugalska. Zde má Garnet napsat několik neotřelých cestopisných článečků a navíc má na zakázku svého nakladatele sepsat divadelní hru. Portugalsko se tak stane kompromisem i pro to, aby mohl vyhovět manželčině touze po zvláštních turistických zážitcích. Během této ne zcela běžné dovolené Garnet zažije řadu veselých, místy až groteskních situací i pohrom, v nichž se může turista ocitnout díky lákadlům exotické ciziny. Přestože Amis tento román napsal už v r. 1958, najdeme v něm nejen jeho typický, svěží humor, ale též osvědčená témata – cestování, dovolená či kontrast mužského a ženského pohledu na svět. K pohodě při jeho četbě velkou měrou přispívá výborný překlad Ivo Šmoldase.
A successor to Dictionary of modern English usage (popularly known as Modern English usage) H.W. Fowler which was preceded by King's English / H.W. Fowler and F.G. Fowler.
Příběh literáta, který píše monografii o aristokratickém spisovateli a na vlastní kůži tak poznává anglické společenské bariéry a tradice. Knihou, která postrádá výraznější děj, se promenují zlomyslně popsané a vesměs nesnesitelné postavy, které autor čtenářům nabízí asi jako odstrašující exempláře snobů a příslušníků středních vrstev, kteří nejsou vůči konvenci dostatečně imunní....
Teenager Clive Rayner becomes involved in a raid on a warehouse in which the night watchman is accidentally injured. In the aftermath, Clive is reassured by his mother, the vicar and the social worker that it wasn't really his fault, when in fact his need is for confirmation of his guilt.
Kinglsey Amis was knighted in 1990, but in one respect he's also the king -- of the art of good storytelling. It's an art that has become rare in contemporary writing.In this volume of short stories, Amis also uses variety to entertain us. We discover why Mr. Barrett worries about his daughter's association with the poet Browning, and we share a bizarre incident with a timid literary agent who becomes a hostage. In another, more eerie story, a parson meets an identical twin he didn't know he had, with unnerving results."The triumphant work of a writer at the top of his form." (B-O-T Editorial Review Board)
Stories included: Man Overboard (Sir Winston Churchill) Timber (John Galsworthy) The Angry Street (G. K. Chesterton) The Call of Wings (Agatha Christie) The Cherries (Lawrence Durrell) A Man From Glasgow (Somerset Maugham) Earth to Earth (Robert Graves) The Grey Ones (J. B. Priestley) The Man Who Didn't Ask Why (C. S. Forester) All But Empty (Graham Greene) Animals or Human Beings (Angus Wilson) Something Strange (Kingsley Amis) The Post-Mortem Murder (Sinclair Lewis) The Dance (F. Scott Fitzgerald) A Rose for Emily (William Faulkner) The Bronze Door (Raymond Chandler) A Man Who Had No Eyes (MacKinlay Kantor) The Affair at 7 Rue de M-- (John Steinback) The Snail Watcher (Patricia Highsmith) Inferiority Complex (Evan Hunter) The Terrible Answer (Paul Gallico) Miriam (Truman Capote) Exterminator (William Burroughs) During the Jurassic (John Updike)
Award-winning writer Kingsley Amis's newest novel is a dazzling romp through a territory he has made triumphantly his own--the battle of the sexes and the conflicting claims of love and integrity. Art, literature, political correctness, and the gender war all come under Amis's seasoned scalpel in this corrosively funny academic satire.
This autobiography of Kingsley Amis covers his upbringing in lower middle-class South London, Oxford, during and just after the war, his friendship with Philip Larkin and his marriage to Elizabeth Jane Howard.
This collection is vintage Amis from a succcession of good years. A selection of his non-fiction pieces in the form of reviews, articles, broadcasts and letters are gathered together in this book. Topics such as writers and writing, "abroad", eating and drinking, music, language, educational and social questions are examined. Such Amis hobby-horses as arts subsidies, literary prizes and jazz are also featured as well as writers such as Evelyn Waugh, Anthony Powell, Anthony Burgess and Ian Fleming. Among poets, the great Victorians are celebrated, and serious consideration is given to Philip Larkin.
Set in North London, a retired librarian is surrounded by his widowed sister, a hopeless son, a failed poet brother and a lesbian niece. From the author of "Lucky Jim" and "I Like it Here". The author won the Booker Prize in 1986 for "The Old Devils".
Published in hardcover. Covered in Mylar by the previous owner. There are minor markings on the jacket. The boards are in excellent condition. There is a small amount of scuffing on the spine head. The pages in the main body remain clean and in excellent condition. GE
Bridget Ainsworth is found murdered in Barn Elms Park. The next day, the body of another woman is discovered, followed by a third... All of London is captivated by the events. Chief Inspector Bill Barry is puzzled: the victims seem to have nothing in common. However, detective novelist Christopher Dane believes he has found a clue, and soon he and Barry are on the trail of the murderer, aided by a motley crew that includes a doctor, a psychologist, a lawyer, a politician, and a former rock star. The real Crime of the Century is yet to unfold...
An omnibus containing three Kingsley Amis novels - "Jake's Thing", "Stanley and the Women" and "The Old Devils", which won the 1986 Booker Prize for Fiction.
Kipling's life and work reflect an age now gone--the age of British Empire and Victorian manners. This biography explores his lengthy travels around the world, especially to the India of the Raj, & his isolated, active old age in Sussex. B&W photos & illus.
Winner of the 1986 Booker Prize. Malcolm, Peter and Charlie and their Soave-sodden wives have one main ambition left in life: to drink Wales dry. But their routine is both shaken and stirred when they are joined by professional Welshman Alun Weaver (CBE) and his wife, Rhiannon.
In this vintage Amis novel, a chic socialite cruises like a predator on the prowl. She marks an easy target...John Aneuris Lewis, an assistant librarian, who seems an uncomplicated conquest. But Lewis is both more and less than he appears. Beneath this family-man facade lurks a poet, wit and visionary...also a budding lecher, for we soon find Lewis peering down the front of the socialite's dress. No wonder he has that uncertain feeling...he's looking into a bottomless pit! "The most truthful book about modern marriage to appear in many a year." --Phillip Oakes
Contents:My enemy's enemy --Court of inquiry --I spy strangers --Moral fibre --All the blood within me --Dear illusion --Something strange --The 2003 claret --The friends of Plonk --Too much trouble --Investing in futures --Hemingway in space --Who or what was it? --The Darkwater Hall mystery --The house on the headland --To see the sun --Affairs of death --Mason's life.
This collection features a range of influential science fiction works, showcasing the genre's evolution and creativity. It begins with essays by Kingsley Amis, setting the stage for the Golden Age of Science Fiction. The anthology includes notable stories such as Anthony Boucher's "The Quest for Saint Aquin," R. S. Richardson's "The Xi Effect," and Frederik Pohl's "The Tunnel Under the World." Additionally, readers will find Brian W. Aldiss's "Old Hundredth," James Blish's "A Work of Art," and Kurt Vonnegut Jr.'s iconic "Harrison Bergeron." J. G. Ballard's "The Voices of Time" and Robert Sheckley's "Specialist" further explore imaginative themes. The collection also features H. Beam Piper's "He Walked Around the Horses," Cordwainer Smith's "The Game of Rat and Dragon," and Arthur C. Clarke's thought-provoking "The Nine Billion Names of God." Other highlights include Harry Harrison's "The Streets of Askelon," Damon Knight's "The Country of the Kind," and Isaac Asimov's "The Machine That Won the War." The anthology concludes with F. L. Wallace's "Student Body" and Jerome Bixby's "It's a Good Life," along with Poul Anderson's novella "Sister Planet," offering a rich tapestry of speculative fiction.
1972. First Edition Thus. 237 pages. Paperback book with pictorial cover. Pages and binding are presentable with no major defects. Minor issues present such as mild cracking, inscriptions, inserts, light foxing, tanning and thumb marking. Overall a good condition item. Paper cover has mild edge-wear with light rubbing and creasing. Some light marking and tanning.
"Reciter" is a nineteenth-century term used here for a collection of characteristically nineteenth-century poems that sound well and go well when spoken in a declamatory style. If recitation has died out in the family circle, reading aloud has not, and it is as material for this that the editor's anthology is ideally intended. He is not afraid to include many examples of "good bad verse" because he recognises that they echo something in all men's hearts. But he does not neglect better Kipling is here, of course, with Tennyson and Byron and Macaulay – ringing voices that may no longer be recited, as in earlier times, but can and should be read aloud with profit and pleasure.
A classic armchair mystery, THE RIVERSIDE VILLAS MURDER has for its hero a 14-year-old boy, Peter Furneaux.Like all 14 year olds he is hovering hopefully on the brink between sexual inexperience and initiation, and in this book, under our very eyes, Peter suddenly becomes an adult!A crime, truly murderous, is committed by an unknown and almost unidentifiable assailant. Only Peter begins to guess at the truth--a dangerous truth--which leads him to the river bank by moonlight. A delightful book, and as with all works by Kingsley Amis, guaranteed to please.
A lecherous Oxford don, rapidly approaching sixty and horrified at the dwindling resources of his normally hyperactive libido, seeks professional advice and tours the modern inferno of self-awareness and sexuality
The novel follows the story of Ronnie Appleard, who becomes entangled in a snobbish society due to his love for Simona Quick, a girl struggling with sexual issues. Although their relationship initially hinges on physical attraction and Ronnie's interest in Simona's wealth, they eventually fall in love. However, a significant obstacle arises—Simona's parents vehemently disapprove of their relationship. As Ronnie navigates the complexities of love, societal expectations, and familial disapproval, he is forced to confront his own desires and the nature of his feelings for Simona. The narrative explores themes of love, class, and the challenges of intimacy in a judgmental world, ultimately questioning the boundaries of affection and societal norms.
In Kingsley Amis’s virtuoso foray into virtual history it is 1976 but the modern world is a medieval relic, frozen in intellectual and spiritual time ever since Martin Luther was promoted to pope back in the sixteenth century. Stephen the Third, the king of England, has just died, and Mass (Mozart’s second requiem) is about to be sung to lay him to rest. In the choir is our hero, Hubert Anvil, an extremely ordinary ten-year-old boy with a faultless voice. In the audience is a select group of experts whose job is to determine whether that faultless voice should be preserved by performing a certain operation. Art, after all, is worth any sacrifice. How Hubert realizes what lies in store for him and how he deals with the whirlpool of piety, menace, terror, and passion that he soon finds himself in are the subject of a classic piece of counterfactual fiction equal to Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle. The Alteration won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for best science-fiction novel in 1976.
Beset by boredom and the decay of old age, the septuagenarian inhabitants of Tuppenny-hapenny Cottage find that malice is the best recipe for keeping their spirits alive. And when the grandchildren arrive to do their duty on Christmas Day, the festivities degenerate into an unforeseen riot.
The third entry in the series of Sci Fi anthologies edited by the British novelist and poet, both of whom are self-proclaimed addicts of fantastic fiction, originally published in the U.K. in 1963. The content of this one has been culled from the Sci Fi Pulps of the late 1940s and 1950s and includes works by Theodore Sturgeon ("Killdozer!," Astounding Science Fiction 1945), J.G. Ballard ("The Voices of Time," New Worlds Science Fiction 1960), Poul Anderson ("Call Me Joe," Astounding Science Fiction 1957), Murray Leinster ("Exploration Team," Astounding Science Fiction 1956), Alfred Bester ("Fondly Fahrenheit," The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction 1954) and Arthur C. Clarke ("The Sentinel," Avon Science Fiction and Fantasy Reader 1951), among others.
A superlative collection of the finest SF short stories from recent years. Ten astounding writers explore one whole hemisphere of the imagination, providing an outlet, both refreshing and necessary, for modern man's sense of wonder. ------------------------------------------------- Introduction (Spectrum) • essay by Kingsley Amis and Robert Conquest The Midas Plague • (1954) • novella by Frederik Pohl Limiting Factor • (1949) • shortstory by Clifford D. Simak The Executioner • (1956) • novelette by Algis Budrys Null-P • (1951) • shortstory by William Tenn The Homing Instinct of Joe Vargo • (1959) • novelette by Stephen Barr Special Flight • (1939) • novelette by John Berryman Inanimate Objection • (1954) • novelette by H. Chandler Elliott Pilgrimage to Earth • (1956) • shortstory by Robert Sheckley Unhuman Sacrifice • (1958) • novelette by Katherine MacLean By His Bootstraps • (1941) • novella by Robert A. Heinlein
The Egyptologists by Kingsley Amis & Robert Conquest. New York. 1966. Random House... Every Thursday night in certain parts of London, husbands kiss their wives and then hurry off to attend the weekly meeting of a certain exclusive learned society. Jekyll-like, these men shed their air of scholarly absorption as they near headquarters-a building situated at a specially selected hard-to-find address, where a plaque, inscribed in specially designed hard-to-decipher lettering, reads: METROPOLITAN EGYPTOLOGICAL SOCIETY. Should the reader be at first in some doubt as to the real nature of the activities of the Egyptologists, it is only to be expected. The members’ expertise in camouflage and deception has baffled the most perceptive people, and at various times the Society has been suspected of engaging in espionage, in drug-smuggling, in the activity implied by its all-male membership-and even in Egyptology. Why does the Society protect itself so vigilantly against inquiring outsiders? What is the significance of the safeguards listed in Article 22 of its Constitution? And what goes on behind the locked doors of its Isis Room? Hint: if even a fraction of the lecherous males of the world adopted the brilliant masquerade conceived by the authors in this engaging farce, learned societies would proliferate by the thousands. Kingsley Amis, born in London in 1922, was educated at the City of London School and St. John’s College, Oxford. During World II he was a lieutenant in the Royal Corps of Signals. From 1949 to 1961 he was Lecturer in English at various universities in Great Britain, and also fulfilled an appointment as Visiting Lecturer at Princeton in 1958-59. Mr. Amis won immediate attention with his first novel, Lucky Jim, and has since written four others, as well as a collection of short stories, two books of poetry and a critical survey of science fiction. Born in 1917, Robert Conquest was educated at Winchester and Oxford, served in a line regiment in World War II and afterward in the British Diplomatic Service, Since 1956 he has interspersed free-lance writing with academic appointments at the London School of Economics and the Columbia University Russian Institute, among others, He has also been the Literary Editor of the Spectator. Mr. Conquest is the author of two books of poems, a science-fiction novel, five works of Soviet political and literary themes, and, with Kingsley Amis, has edited the science-fiction ‘Spectrum’ anthologies.
Discover Kingsley Amis's classic James Bond tie-in. First published in 1968, four years after Ian Fleming's death, this was the first Bond 'continuation' novel. Catch up on this new take on Bond before the release of No Time to Die 'A man in my line of business shouldn't work to a timetable' Lunch at Scott's, a quiet game of golf, a routine social call on his chief M - James Bond's life has begun to fall into a pattern that threatens complacency...until the sunny afternoon when M is kidnapped and his house staff savagely murdered. The action ricochets across the globe to a volcanic Greek island where, stripped of all professional aids, Bond must avert a world-menacing conspiracy and face unarmed the monstrous devices of the glacial, merciless Colonel Sun. 'Bond is a hero for all time' Jeffrey Deaver
Brian Leonard, a Monty Python of secret agents, meets James Churchill, a young officer at an English army base where preparations are under way for Operation Apollo. To complicate matters, Churchill has gone round-the-bend for a parole from the mental ward. Thrown amongst these loose cannons is a widowed beauty who practices "conspicuous polyandry," an unfocused psychiatrist, an unbelieving chaplain, and a charming alcoholic. "Amis delights in combining espionage, violence, love and religious skepticism. Such disparate elements, like dishpans and fire rings, challenge his juggler's dexterity. Who wins? The reader!" (Publisher's Source)
Marching Morons by C.M. Kornbluth;Gadget vs. Trend by Christopher Anvil;Such Stuff by John Brunner;The Sellers of the Dream by John Jakes;The Large Ant by Howard Fast;Barrier by Anthony Boucher;The Great Nebraska Sea by Allan Danzig;Compassion Circuit by John Wyndham;A Planet Named Shayol by Cordwainer Smith;Into the Shop by Ron Goulart;The Secret Songs by Fritz Leiber;Stranger Station by Damon Knight;Hot Planet by Hal Clement;The Choice by Wayland Young.
"Article 22 of the Constitution laid down a standard procedure for dealing with the present type of emergency..."But alas, it is completely beyond the power of Article 22 or anything else to protect the Metropolitan Egyptological Society from the Lee Eddington Schwartz disturbance which brews suddenly on a cold winter evening, or from the pyramiding alarms and confusions which follow.Should the reader be, at first, in some doubt as to the real nature of the activities of the Egyptologists, he must not be surprised. The members' expertise in camouflage and deception has baffled many perceptive persons. The Society has been suspected at various times of engaging in espionage, in drug-smuggling, in the activity implied by its all-male membership, and even in Egyptology.What is the Metropolitan Egyptological Society? What goes on behind the locked doors of its Isis Room? What is the significance of the safeguards listed in Article 22? Those who pursue these questions in the pages of The Egyptologists will come not only to the centre of the mystery, but also to one of the most outrageously funny spoofs of the season.
In this wry, piercing short story from one of the greatest of all British post-war writers, an ageing poet considers the value of his art - and of the critics who've found genius in it. Then, with his final work, he exercises a unique revenge...
A virgin's progress amid orgy and seduction. When attractive little Jenny Bunn comes south to teach, she falls in with Patrick Standish, a schoolmaster, and all the rakes and rogues of a provincial "Hell Fire Club".
Garnet Bowen is a literary gent from Wales, author of one obscure book, disconsolate husband, father and son-in-law. When he gets an offer that requires travel to Portugal, he figures it can't be worse than London. But it is. "Kingsley Amis strikes again. Not only is he funny--and he is very funny, as anyone who has read LUCKY JIM knows--his very absurdities are profound." (B-O-T Editorial Review Board)
Jim has fallen into a job at one of the new red brick universities. A moderately successful future beckons as long as Jim can survive a madrigal-singing weekend, deliver a lecture on merrie England and resist Christine, the girlfriend of Professor Welch's son, Bertrand.
Douglas Yandell, a youngish music critic, is enlisted by Kitty Vandervane to
keep an eye on her roving husband - the eminent conductor and would-be radical
Sir Roy - as he embarks on yet another affair. Roy, meanwhile, wants Douglas
as an alibi for his growing involvement with Sylvia, an unsuitably young woman
who loves nothing more than to shock.
