JOHANNA THOMAS-CORR
The five books you should read by the peerless Martin Amis
Martin Amis inspired vitriolic takedowns and snarky reviews almost as much as he inspired admiration and imitation
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How do you measure a writer’s influence? It is impossible to be objective about these things but surely the key measure is how many other writers they inspire. By this metric, Martin Amis was peerless among the literary males of his generation.
It is true that he inspired vitriolic takedowns and snarky reviews almost as much as he inspired admiration and imitation. But these are merely two sides of the same coin.
• Will Self: My friend Amis wrote sentences lesser scribes would die for
Amis was the pace-setter. He was the literary novelist who sold the most books, scored the largest advance and gave British literature in the late 20th century a swagger that had previously been reserved for the Americans. All British writers
