Martin Amis, literary giant, dies aged 73

The trouble with being a self-consciously fin de siècle, apocalyptic writer is what you do after the new century has begun and the world is still there. Martin Amis, whose transition from enfant terrible of the literary world to — depending on one’s point of view — a controversial man of letters or terrible old bore, took more than 30 angst-filled years to complete, never quite came to terms with the ordinary. He may have been rich and famous, with homes in the most favoured districts of London and New York, but his mental address remained Desolation Row.

Amid success and literary achievement, he seemed to invite disquietude. Thus, both the rape and murder of his cousin Lucy Partington by the serial killer Fred West,