Experience
 

 

Beginning 9 May 2000, Books Unlimited, Guardian and Observer web site, published three excerpts from Amis's memoir Experience. This page contains descriptions of those excerpts (the links were removed on 22 May), links to audio excerpts from Alan Rusbridger's interview with Amis, and links to articles about Experience

The brief descriptions are those of the Books Unlimited editors.

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"I've been name dropping, in a way, ever since I first said: 'Dad.'" In our first extract from his remarkable new autobiography, Martin Amis reveals the truth about his tender, turbulent relationship with his father- - and describes his notorious falling-out with Julian Barnes.

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"Mum, do you think I'm her father?--'Definitely.'" In 1974, Martin Amis had a brief but passionate affair with a married woman. Later he learned she had had a child and subsequently committed suicide. In the second exclusive extract from his memoir Experience, he describes how two decades on he met that child--his daughter--for the first time.

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"When Darkness Met Light." Lucy Partington was 21 when she disappeared. For two decades, her family desperately hoped she was living elsewhere, under a new name. Then the world learned that she had been murdered by Frederick West. In the final exclusive extract from his memoir Experience, Martin Amis remembers his gentle, artistic cousin; and describes the agony of failed marriages--his father's and his own.

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Hear Martin Amis talking to Alan Rusbridger (to hear these exerpts, you'll need RealPlayer; if you don't yet have it you can download the RealPlayer now):

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About how he knew he'd write about his father

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On how he didn't enjoy settling scores

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Questioning his own memory

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<>On reactions to his autobiography

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About divorce

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On when not to write

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On why his writing is disliked

Articles about Experience, the Experience reading tour, and Marian Partington's reactions to Experience:

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"Middle age is drawing the poison from his pen." An anonymous profile of Amis apropos Experience from The Times (London), 14 May 2000.  

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"Martin Amis: The Man Who Fell to Earth."

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"Amis Accused of exploiting Fred West Link." Richard Brooks, arts editor of the Times (London), interviews Marian Partington, who is upset about what she calls Martin Amis's "exploitation" of her sister in Experience (11 June 2000). [NOTE: to read Marian Partington's account of her sister's death, go the the New Ch'an Forum and scroll down to "A Shining Silence"]. 

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"Working Class Monster." Graham Joyce writes about the Partington family's unhappiness over Amis's representation of Lucy Partington in Experience (6 29 2000).

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"A Martin Amis reading? Seven vodkas should do it." Kenneth Bonnert of the National Post (Ontario) attends a June 7 reading (7 August 2000), and doesn't like what he hears.

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Experience nominated for Samuel Johnson Prize (The Independent, 1 May 2001).

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Paperback edition of Experience on London bestseller lists (The Daily Telegraph, 28 April 2001).

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Amis interviewed about Experience by Jon Cook for Pretext 2 (an international literary magazine sponsored by Pen&Ink, a project which began in the School of English and American Studies at the University of East Anglia).

 


 

 



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