Monday 15 October 2007

Amis and Son

Kingsley Amis was “a racist, antisemitic boor, a drink-sodden, self-hating reviler of women, gays and liberals”. [1] It is true he was so much more interesting than his son.
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[1] Terry Eagleton, quoted in “The ageing punk of lit crit still knows how to spit”, The Sunday Times, 7th October 2007.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I understand that K. amis had all of those beliefs and opinions. But, was he right?

Deogolwulf said...

He was quite an unpleasant man, from what I hear.

Anonymous said...

But dear God he could make me laugh.

Anonymous said...

Was he a racist because he didn't like Asians or Africans or Caucasians? Was his boorish anti-Semitism worse than polite and mannerly anti-Semitism? Was he an alcoholic? Did he really hate himself? Did he abuse all women at all times? Did he think that homosexuality is abnormal, criminal, unnatural, or juvenile? Did he believe that liberals are a danger to society?

Deogolwulf said...

Dearieme, indeed, he was funny - and his own man, and not the bore that his son is. Still, I wouldn't have liked to be at the business end of one of his moods.

Mr Mortimer, ah, well, who knows what these epithets mean? But if he annoyed Terry Eagleton, he must have been doing something right.