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The National Archives' reference KV-2-4399_01.jpg
PF293,244
AMIS, KINGSLEY WILLIAM
SEE ALSO LIST INSIDE COVER
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PF293,244
© Crown Copyright
PF293,244
The National Archives' reference KV-2-4399_02.jpg
I Register No. Minute Sheet No.
+
5.
Observation never opened. 21 Army Group.
N.Q. P.D.G. on present information. \
1
F.2.a./LMG.
1V.T2;44.'“ - . , J -
13.5.45.
Up to date summary of AMIS' case.
5a 1
17.
AMIS' case dropped* Released from the Army.
(see 16a.)
F. 2. a* /UvlG.
3. 11* 45.
1
(3905)
Wt. 60478/4992 300m. 4/44 C.&Co. 745(8) J.7022
[P.T. OVI-R. 1
© Crown Copyright
The National Archives' reference KV-2-4399_03.jpg
MINUTE
SHEET Reference
,.293.244.. |
rievioua serials not minuted
11
1 4 .4.49
From d.J. Hatfield re ALLIS
12
11a
1
From u.O. Oxford re *4JS
13.
12a
1 14.4.515.
14.
13a j
1 21.. 4 .55.
A
«
15.
. ... 4. r.
"14a. , j
|l2.Z,Tf5.
Vetting enquiry from Foreign Office.
15a.
16.
28.4.55
F. 3 summery of information
17.
16a ]
I 4.5.55.
Letter to Foreign Office.
13
*
17 a. 1
15.5.55.
S.Forrn 283 to 30 Oxford.
13a J
•
19
13.5.55.
S.Fcrm 252A to 00 Swansea.
20.
19a 1
M3.5.55.
Letter from Foreign Office.
21.
.
20a. I
21.6.55.
From O.G. Swansea.
22
21a. I
21.7.55
To ]£. I. 6.
22a I
HS831 Wtl0505/4396
THIS IS A COPY
ORIGINAL DOCUMENT RETAINED
IN DEPARTMENT UNDER SECTION
3(4) OE THE PUBLIC RECORDS
ACT 1958 Ozvmoa4-| <&
4/521,000,000 JC&S
Led. Gp736/209
(REGIMINTt
CODE 5-34-0
[OVER ]
© Crown Copyright
The National Archives' reference KV-2-4399_04.jpg
|i 22.
1 7.6.55 From C.C. Swansea,
22a |
1 23.
r: 5.4»56* Ext from Party Piece.
23 z
ft 29.5.5. Fran CC. Suva ns ea.
23 a
. 24
11.2.57* Cutting from Daily’.Yorker.
24a.
1 25 ‘
•
V 12.2.57. Cutting from Daily Worker
25a.
14.2.57. Cutting from the Daily Worker.
25 b.
2 ( 6 .
^ 1
n *
20.2.52. From C.C. Swansea
B
26a 3
W »* • ■
1 27 ‘
* * • H
•
1 20.2.57. Cutting from the Daily Worker.
27 a. ’
1 23.
1
1 15.3.57 From Foreign Office
1
28 a 1
; 29 .
• « • 1
21.9.57. Draft repljr to Foreign Office.
29a 1
I '*V_
© Crown Copyright
The National Archives' reference KV-2-4399_05.jpg
Reference ??3j 244.
pA. ™h( >7 ■
30.
As .AMIS is back in this country, you will want to remove
his name from the contact sheet of S. F. 497/Portugal.
:Jc&r.3.57.
20.11.57.
2 £ August, 1957,
31.
To Foreign Office.
31a
U.S. Employment check
32 a
33.
27. ,.57.
WcTyMM/304
11/54 939.000
To U.S. Embassy.
33a
THIS IS A COPY
ORIGINAL DOCUMENT RETAINED
IN DEPARTMENT UNDER SECTION
3(4) OF THE PUBLIC RECORDS
ACT 1958 2c <L
case.
came to see me today about this
AMIS was the subject of the U.S. employment
vetting enquiry at 32a, in November last year. There is
good evidence that he was a member of the Communist Party'*
when an undergraduate at Oxford in 1942, and C.3 replied
accordingly to the U.S. enquiry as at 33a.
explained that AMIS had sub¬
sequently applied for a long term visitor's visa to the
United States, in order to take up a job as lecturer at
Princeton for a period of about one year. Since the U.S.
Consulate was already in possession of the information at
33a, which had not been regarded as adverse for the purpose
© Crown Copyright
The National Archives' reference KV-2-4399_06.jpg
Minute 34 contd.
of AMIS' employment, no vetting enquiry was made in
connexion with the visa application. The visa was then
granted, despite the report of early membership of the
Communist Party. This, according to was due to ’
mistaken action by an inexperienced Consular official.
The error has now been discovered by the
Consulate, and in the light of 33a, the Consulate is now
bound to make an official representation to the Department
of Justice, in order to obtain official authority for the
visa to remain valid.
considers that the chances of this
representation being successful are rather more than 98$.
Before it is made, however, it
Consulate to reinterview AMIS,
to his signed affidavit to the
been a member of the Communist
on the basis of published press
will be necessary for the
with particular reference
effect that he has never
Party. They will do this
material only - and in
particular AMIS' - denial (in the "Daily Worker" of 14th
February 1957) of Marxist sympathies (25b).
I pointed out to that, should it
be finally decided that AMIS is not after all to be
granted a visa, he is very likely indeed to make a public
protest, especially since he wishes to travel with his
wife and family in about three weeks' time. Although his
protest could logically only be directed against the U.S.
authorities, and could not involve this Service or its
sources directly, I was sure that would agree with
me that neither of us wanted any public protest if it
could be avoided. He agreed.
In conclusion, I said that I could see no
objection to the course of action proposed, provided that
the interview with AMIS is based on nothing but published
newspaper material. Tweedy confirmed that this would be
I thanked him for keeping us informed.
878.58.
-—>
J c luc
J.C. Robertson.
.0. KV; I'h
The Americans have told us that they are acting
on AMIS* statement in 25b that *1 have experienced the
ailment'. We shall have to take shelter behind that
if necessary.
Teyi
D. G.
11 . 8 . 58 .
© Crown Copyright
The National Archives' reference KV-2-4399_07.jpg
Reference.
P.F 293,244
3.9.38.
36,
From the
American Embassy.
You will remember this case,which
discussed with us.
• , «
hs informed me by telephone that
a Consular officer had had 3. s tisfactory interview
with AI T IS and accepted his assurances about his
dissociation from the Party.
AMIS was allowed to travel to the U.S.A.
will confirm this in writing.
C.3.
57 ^. 58 .
t
H. H. Potter
'T?
O
V • 1
/
Flease refer to Minute 34.
>7.1.1961.
REGIMINT
Cod# 18-75
You may now like to note, 'from Minute 36,
that the business of AMIS's U.S. visa has been
satisfactorily settled.
<..) ALJi
J. C. Robertson,
C.
3.9.38. . 38 .
Prom the Commonwealth Relations- Office.
- F.4/l$S 59 ’
- - -i F -
Before replying to the letter from C.fi.O. at 38a, I should
be glad to know whether you have a contact at University College
of Swansea, and if so , whether you would consider approaching
him for his opinion# o*\ AMIS' political outlook.
C.H> Nev
L-
t7in<rton£
C3/-./3
7th February, 1961,
CHN/AR
36 *
38a.
THIS IS A COPY
ORIGINAL DOCUMENT RETAINED
IN DEPARTMENT UNDER SECTION
3(4) OF THE PUBLIC RECORDS
ACT 1958 ' vJ *2 C 1 b ,
© Crown Copyright
The National Archives' reference KV-2-4399_08.jpg
© Crown Copyright
The National Archives' reference KV-2-4399_09.jpg
© Crown Copyright
The National Archives' reference KV-2-4399 10
57
30.6.65* Cutting from '"fhe Sun"
58
11.5*66 From F.O.
59
17.5.66 To F.O.
60
10.10.66. Copy from P.C.D.
© Crown Copyright
The National Archives' reference KV-2-4399_11 .jpg
V
PASSPORT CONTROL DEPARTMENT
5 rc
fn a
To M.f.5
Cl—
P.C.I>. REMARKS
TOR : OBSERVATIONS
COPY TO HOME OFFICE
CAPT. WOODFIELD
FILE NO Sbial 1
DATE: lO - lC >,bfc>
M.I.5 Reply to Home OiTiee (Immigration anti Nationality Department)
(Copy to P.C.D.) \ 7 J
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REFERENCE
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© Crown Copyright
The National Archives' reference KV-2-4399_12.jpg
V-
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,*f \2Jb2*& 4 h
i' VIZ
♦ ",6 TOR 070940Z QRS 71
FROM ROUTINE PRAQUE
PC 4981 OCT b.
A., UNION OF CZECH WRITERS.
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6. .JOSEF SKVORECkY BORN 27/9/1924' NACHOD WRITERAND ALFOMZ
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D. j ARNOLD WESKER p • 2 7 BISHOPS RD LONDON. M 6,\ KI MQSLEY AMIS,
108 HA I DA VALE LONDON WN'DORIS LESSlNoAoO CHARR1 NOTON ST, LONDON
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© Crown Copyright
The National Archives' reference KV-2-4399_13.jpg
© Crown Copyright
The National Archives' reference KV-2-4399_14.jpg
© Crown Copyright
The National Archives' reference KV-2-4399_15.jpg
FROM THE PRESS SECTION.
THE SUN
3 0 JUN1965
Date.
p.F A' 7 *
m
M.
:
Mi
LAUGHTER
LINES AS
WRITERS
WED
By NANCY BANKS-SMITH
l^INGSLEY AMIS married
Elizabeth Jane Howard
yesterday.
I thought he was wearing his
Sex Life in Ancient Rome face.
But “ No,” he said, 44 it’s my
Mindless Ecstasy face, worn
only at weddings/ 1
He is a best-selling novelist.
His dambuster ‘Lucky Jim'
opened the floodgates for a
whole new raspberry-blowing
generation of writers.
She is a best-looking novelist.
Probably the prettiest thing the
Book Society ever chose.
Lucky Jim had a trick of
pulling faces to fit the occasion.
So has 43-year-old Amis. And
Jim. too, got the girl in the
end.
Sharing a joke . . the
newlyweds, Kingsley Amis
and Elizabeth Jane Howard
Late-comer
Their wedding at Marvlebone
Register Office was Amls*s
second iparriage. her third.
Her daughter, Nicola Asquith,
married to the great-grandson
of the Asquith, arrived very late
and very pregnant for the
ceremony.
“ Obviously I'm going to be a
grandmother for the second
time soon," said the 42-vear-old
bride. And smiled and seemed
positively pleased.
She doesn c look anything like
a grandmother. Except in a
hign-cheek-boned Dietrich way.
Once a model and actress . .
still very tall and dramatic . .
with gold near-chandeliers
swinging from her ears . . and
what looked like a little hedge¬
hog twined around her Anger.
It was a very avant-garde wed¬
ding ring.
Honeymoon
They got to know each other
well at — ol all prim-sounding
things—a Cheltenham Festival
of Literature.
She was organising it and.
trying to unprim it. invited him
down to give a talk on sex in
literature. .
-ney are, more as a joke than
a honeymoon. I think, spending
three days at Brighton. The
mere mention of it doubles
Amis up with laughter.
His left eye droops In a
permanent wink, which gives
him an air of always seeing
and sharing a marvellous joke.
Which is exactly what he does.
And why it matters that this
middle-aged man got married in
London yesterday*
A
© Crown Copyright
The National Archives' reference KV-2-4399_16.jpg
Reference.: •. <\V.t.. rl .
Cutting from "New Cambridge 11 , dated Friday, 24th January, 1964
"Stiff and Spiteful','
—Amis hits back at
The University
Cambridge is still, spiteful, compartmentalised, self-
regarding. and. at the undergraduate level, a resort of the
upper classes. That is the verdict delivered this week in
Inc transatlantic monthly ‘Encounter’ by Kingsley Amis.
Amis, novelist and literary critic, came to Peterhouse
from Swansea as a junior Fellow in 1961 . After two years
on the edge of the English School, he left last year because
teaching kept him Irom his writing.
In his five-page article, i _______
Amis highlights under-
graduates' discontent with the
lack of f’on-student contact.
He says that this was uni¬
versally and warmly voiced by
the students he met, and claims
that in Cambridge it needs
urgent attention.
He urges that the tutorial
system is inadequate. His solu¬
tion is to move the dons (with
their families) back into col¬
lege, thus giving the college
community a chance to realise
itself.
Hut he recognises that this
depends on a change of heart
among many senior members
of the university, who find the
company of students distaste¬
ful.
Indeed, he himself was
widely regarded in Cambridge
as a homosexual—apparently
because he was sometimes to
be seen around the pubs drink¬
ing with his pupils. In the
provinces this would hardly he
noticed.
Amis says he came here
expecting intellectual encoun¬
ters. and found instead that his
experience was not academic
but social.
He objects strongly to col¬
lege Feasts: ‘active boredom*. -
‘Cambridge at its most Canta¬
brigian’ — and records his
anwement at the lack of intel¬
lectual engagement within the
English Faculty.
To my dismay, what I got
was talk about intra-Faculty
discord and personal quarrels,
syllabus changes, the propor¬
tion of F irsts to other Classes,
the attendance at old Joe
^Soap's lectures, etc.’
\ ■
© Crown Copyright
The National Archives' reference KV-2-4399_17.jpg
FROM THE PRESS SECTION.
23 JA
Date.
yoricshiss FO :
f-
Port-and-Walnuts Dons
KINGSLEY AMIS. novelist and
don (at least, until he
recently decided that the two
were Incompatible, and gave up
donning) looks back on
Cambridge In the latest Issue of
Encounter. He starts with a
modest attack on the Robbins
Report, and gives a warning that
the country may find itself with
a large and unus able surplus of
mediocre graduates. He classi¬
fies dons Into two categories t—
port-and-walnuts men, and young
dons who know a lot. but
seldom divulge it. He passes
judgment on dinner parties, dis¬
missing them as peculiarly
efficient Instruments of social
torture. Then, via a description
of the unhappy superiority of
public school education, he gets
on to the main theme of his
piece. He claims that the basic
fault at Cambridge, and the
cause of the apathy and lack of
direction of many under¬
graduates. Is the minimal contact
1 between teachers and taught.
I There are a few embarrassed
meetings over sherry, but Mr.
Amis maintains that the two
halves of the University are, to
all intents and purposes,
segregated. It is better, he
suggests, at such modern
establishments as the University
of Wales.
Exceptions there may be, but
Mr. Amis is right. The points of
real contact between dons and
undergraduates at Cambridge
(and at Oxford, too, for that
matter) are pitifully small. This
is partly inevitable. Dons have a
lot of administrative work to do,
a lot of research to do. They are
also, as Mr. Amis points out,
allowed to marry nowadays, and
so have families to think about I
as well. Mr. Amis’s solution Is a
sensible one, already practised in
the United States, and started at
Churchill College, Cambridge. He
suggests that married dons and
their families should live in
college. This would cause some
difficulties, but the rewards
should easily repay the efforts,
and the present segregation is
thoroughly bad for both sides.
Failing this step, perhaps too
radical for a place as traditional
as Cambridge, dons might at
least try to find time to meet
their students informally. Mr
Amis tried, by drinking with his
pupils in pubs (he reports that he
was considered a homosexual for
his pains). But, and this is the
Irony of the whole article, Mr.
Amis himself has now given up
trying. The champion of
increased contact has fled the
battlefield, and lapsed into a
state of wistful angriness from
afar. Nobody can blame him,
since the struggle against the
port - and - walnuts men has
obviously proved unequal. It Is.
however, sad for all future
Cambridge undergraduates that
Mr. Amis has revealed himself as
a mild-and-bltter man.
© Crown Copyright
The National Archives' reference KV-2-4399_18.jpg
THE AMIS VIEW
FOH MOSCOW
-IK ENGLISH
THE Mifel&V- or
Edsca® £0ib-
Hshed an ■
book " showMtf <Bfuar»Jas I
the Britons
It includes work by
Somerset Maugham, Kings¬
ley Amis and John Braine,
and is selling well, says
Moscow Radio.
flF
© Crown Copyright
The National Archives' reference KV-2-4399_19.jpg
FROM THE PRESS SECTION. I
daily herald
Tft
Date.
KINGSLEY AMIS
THE novel-reading public would say that
mgsley Amis’ turning point came that
day m 1954 when his hilarious novel Lucky
Jim hit the bookstalls and rocketed the young
don from the obscur-
ity of a redbrick uni¬
versity into best-sell¬
ing fame.
Amis himself dis¬
misses Lucky Jim as
one of “ several turn-
★ T h e controversial
author of Lucky Ji m
talks in this new
Herald series—about a
“ burning point ” in his
life . . something which
is happening NOW.
by TOM BAISTOW
mg points of a mild
nature.”
The real one, he
insists, is about to take
place. His passport re¬
cords the event in ad¬
vance. in his old one
he described himself as
teacher.” His new one
shows his profession as
writer.”
This summer he gives up
his English Fellowship at
Peterhouse, Cambridge, for
self-chosen exile as a
full - time author in
Majorca.
Relaxed
Amis, In black corduroy
Jacket, lounged in the
living room of his lived-in
Edwardian house and des¬
cribed the burning of his
academic boats with the
relaxed air of a man who
knows he has made the
right decision.
“ It all began when I
went to the United States
in 1958 as a guest lecturer
at Princeton University.
That year changed my
whole view of England —
and changed me, too.
“ Before that I was pre¬
pared to rub along with
lots of things in England
that one tends to take for
granted when living here—
the public schools. Royalty,
the Honours List, the
House of Lords..
Protocol
“ If I'd gone to New Zea¬
land or Australia it might
have been different. It’s a
matter of getting away
from the British kind of
life and seeing how Eng¬
land looks from the out-
side. ^
‘‘ ^covering that
‘hcwhole class set-up isn’t
like the weather—some¬
thing you are stuck with.
It was finding out you
ueed not have a society
id by precedent a
LUCKY
JIM IS
LEAVING
this Cambridge job. We
said we'd try Cambridge.
If it wasn’t any better,
then OUT! Abroad some¬
where.
“ I had starry-eyed ideas
about Cambridge — a hive
of intellectual activity and
all that. But I found that
the blokes who teach Eng¬
lish at the other colleges
were mostly a stuffy lot.
Too much formality and
dressing-up. Too much
back-biting.
‘‘And it was depressing
to find that after the great
post-war social revolution
only about nine per cent,
of the students who get up
to Cambridge are of work¬
ing-class origin.”
Decisive
His nine-year-old
daughter Sally came into
the room and asked if she
could have the telly on.
Not unless you can get
someone to help you drag
u into the next room.” he
said.
The decisive phase of his
turning-point, Amis went
on. came when he met
Robert Graves, the poet, at
llllltlill illiitini iliiiiiittiiiiii
his home in Majorca last
year.
“There he was. writing
like mad. No phone He
showed me a shelf of his
collected works as long as
that ” — he pointed to a
bookcase running along
the wall. “ i thought of
my own miserable output
of seven books. . .
Freedom
Hilly and I haven’t
travelled a lot, but we in¬
stantly liked this place.
year in America
said * You must live some¬
where other than in Eng¬
land. 1 Majorca said ‘ You
must live here
Output apart, Amis sees
the physical move from
the rigidities of life in
England to the freedom of
full-time authorship in the
Mediterranean sun as his
T^2 Ce T< t0 , get rW 0f the
Lucky Jim label and tackle
a completely different kind
of novel.
He has long been irri¬
tated because the critics
interpreted his famous
" ovel as a political
protest and hung the
..""""iniim,i|,i
y.
© Crown Copyright
The National Archives' reference KV-2-4399 20
© Crown Copyright
The National Archives' reference KV-2-4399_21 .jpg
FROM THE PRESS SECTION
Date
Angry Young Man tag on
him.
“ I don’t want to do
* documentary realism’
any more. In England one
Is supposed to be a writer
about Britain In the ’50s or
’60s. I don’t want to write
that kind of book.
Complaints
“As a Socialist, I com¬
plain about a lot of things,
but as a novelist I’m fas¬
cinated by human nature,
how people behave to each
other, rather than the
effects of the class system/ 1
Amis admits he will miss
teaching — “ The excite¬
ment of communicating
with young minds is great.
44 But for the first time
I’ll be self-employed He
spoke the word In italics.
“ It’s like leaving school
again, I feel 20 years
younger/*
• Kingsley Amis (above,
in Cambridge) is a
young-looking 40; more
like an actor than a
don, with his Chclsca-
stylc haircut and casual
clothes.
Born in London's lower
middle class S.E.16, son of
a clerk in a mustard lirm.
First turning point was
when he won a scholarship
to City of London School;
then open exhibition that
took him to Oxford. Met
his lively blonde MdleJKJlary
when they Were both
students there.
They have three children:
Phillip and Martin, in their
early teens, and Sally, nine.
They also have a pet don¬
key who will accompany
them to Majorca.
Amis taught at University
College, Swansea, for 12
years before going to Cam¬
bridge just over a year ago.
Jazz fan. Posed for beer
advertisement because he
likes beer.
...uni!........
© Crown Copyright
The National Archives' reference KV-2-4399_22.jpg
CONFIDENTIAL
From: —The Chief Constable,
City Police,
.Cambridge'.'.
Our Ref.: HFF/hMC.A.l /62
Your Ref.:
To :—Box 500,
Parliament Street B.O.,
London, S.W.l.
Date l^th January, 1963.
U-J
AMIS, Kingsley William
Name:
@ :
Please note the following additional/amended information in respect of the above:
Full Names:
Address(es)
(Give dates)
Identity No.
Nat.
Born at
on
Oooupation
Employer
Seourity Information:
Miscellaneous:
Dear Sir,
Please refer to my letter dated 5th January, 1962, under the
above reference relative to the above named.
Will you please note that Mr. AMIS now resides in this City
at No. 9, Madingley Road.
He is still a Fellow and Director of Studies in English at Peterhouse.
Yours sincerely,
fb. At
. Chief Constable”/-'.
-- —fa
Note: —Information sought for record purposes is:
(a) Identification data ( i.e ., name, full Christian names; alias(es); address(es);
date of birth; identity number; occupation/employer) / A
(5) Details of the person’s relationship with a suspect organisation ( e.g ., as
a member, active or otherwise; or official ;^-or an aspociats, close or
casual, etc.)
yf v
v? t?
© Crown Copyright
The National Archives' reference KV-2-4399_23.jpg
CONFIDENTIAL
From :— The Chief Constable,
City Police,
. CWE&TE;]!: .
Our Ref.: HAF/lHC. A. 1/6 2
To :—Box 500,
Parliament Street B.O.,
London, S.W.l.
Please note the following additional/amouded information in respect of the above:
Full Names : As above
AddressCes):
(Give dates)
9, Madirgley Hoad, Cambridge
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9
TO„.
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Miscellaneous : \ 0
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Dear Sir,
Further to ray Form S. 233A dated 16th, January, 1963 ,
I have to infoxro you that the above named has tendered hi 3
resignation as a Fellow of Peterhouse, Cambridge.
His contract empires in September of this year,
and it is re_ orted that Hr. AMIS will be leaving this country
for Majorca in the Spring of 1 ° 6 h 0
smqpr*
>i v
Chi' f Cor
Note: —Information sought for record purposes is:
(a) Identification data (i.e., name, full Christian names; alias(es); uddress(es);
date of birth; identity number; occupation/employer)
(b) Details of the person’s relationship with a suspect organisation (c.g., as
a member, active or otherwise; or official; or an associate, close or
casual, etc.)
[ Ur ■
B. Form 283A/iev.9.58
© Crown Copyright
The National Archives' reference KV-2-4399_24.jpg
FROM TIIE PRESS SECTION.
"Pf 3-^ 3 <x ' 4 ' **
Date.
MR. AMIS RESIGNS
FELLOWSHIP
FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT
k ' 2 "
Mr. Kingsley Anns, the author, who
has held an English fellowship at Peter-
house, Cambridge, for the past year, has
resigned his post and will leave at the
end of next year.
Mr. Amis, who is 40 said at his home in
Madingley Road, CJimfcr?dge, today: “I
dislike the excessive foVfriality of faculty
life—too much dressing up and respectabi¬
lity. 1 do not like having to wait for a
smoke after dinner untiltiie, port has gone
round high table twice. T&fning out in other
colleges as a guest seefhs to me to involve
an excessive amount of protocol.
“ The atmosphere in Peterhouse has
always been most friendly. My fellow
dons were relaxed, unmalicious and never
stooped to backbiting. I cannot say the same I
about the rest of the Cambridge academic !
world.”
Mr. Amis continued: 44 When I have
escaped from the stuffiness of Cambridge
I shall take my wife and children to !
Majorca. I ho-pe to finish one uncompleted
novel, and I have an idea for a further
novel which will be a radical departure for
me.”
1 7 DEC 191
\
© Crown Copyright
The National Archives' reference KV-2-4399_25.jpg
FROM THE PRESS SE«
’ION.
THE 0£5^RVEh
fc - S-CA.
/
-p .
ZCflXL+Cf.
Date...
7
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NLlJ
J UDGED by his own definition of success—to
succeed in one’s chosen career — Kingsley
William Amis has no reason to feel sorry for
himself. As a novelist he commands both critical
respect and best-seller sales; as an academic he
left Swansea last summer after eleven satisfactory
years there as an English lecturer and he
has now gone to Cambridge as the first
director of Studies in English at Peterhouse
is also a Fellow of the College. Financially he
las little cause for regret: besides his salary and
literary earnings, the film of his second novel had
its first showing last week.
But any serious writer wants his books to be read
as he intended, and here Amis has less reason for
satisfaction. His first noVel, “ Lucky Jim" (which
has also been filmed), had an immediate welcome
when it appeared in January, 1954; it also became
‘the symbol of an ill-defined movement of revolt whose
members, whether or not they admitted membership,
were lumped together under the much-misused label,
Angry Young Men.
Novel interpreted
wrongly
Even more annoying for Amis, the novel was
widely misread. Because its hero, Jim Dixon, was
appalled by the tediousness and falseness of much
of academic life, he was interpreted as a symbol of
anti-intellectualism. Because he taught at a provincial
university, he became a symbol of contempt for
^Oxford and Cambridge. And because Amis himself
^aught at a provincial university, he and Dixon
scarne associated in people’s minds.
In fact. Amis resembles Dixon
chiefly in his ability and readiness
to make funny faces (his features,
thanks to an almost imperceptibly
drooping left eyelid, give the
faintest impression of lop-sided-
ncss). Dixon is a hopeless lecturer
who detests his job: Amis enjoys
work. Dixon is aggressively
t Jnscious of his social, cultural and
intellectual shortcomings: Amis,
now thirty-nine, charming and
socially assured, is in no apparent
doubt of his cultural and intellec¬
tual qualifications.
Perhaps he is confident because
© Crown Copyright
The National Archives' reference KV-2-4399_26.jpg
FROM THE PRESS »®.
1
C K
Date.
M1962
he had an uncomplicated back¬
ground. He was an only child.
His father was an export clerk
with a manufacturing firm, earn¬
ing just enough to provide his
family with a fcotnfortable home in
Norbury, 5.W.16. His mother, he
remembers, had"a maid when he
was small£and he himself never
lacked “any rcasprtablc luxury.”
He won a scholarship to the City of
London School*# day boys’ public
school where Asquith had been
educated,^nd won an open exhi¬
bition to St^ John’s College,
Oxford. In 1^)1 he went into the
Army (Royal Signals), which he
disliked, mainly because of his
fellow officers, especially majors
and above; but is glad to have had
the experience.
In October,41S45, he went back
to Oxford, took a First in English,
but, somewhat’* to his surprise,
failed to get Jais B.Litt. In 1949 he
went to Swansea, where, except for
a year at Princeton as visiting
lecturer in creative writing, he re¬
mained until last year.
Personal experience
of poverty
While never really poor, he has
been too close to poverty for com¬
fort : the heaf>squalid conditions
of “ That Uncertain Feeling ” were
largely taken from personal ex¬
perience., Butjn 1951 his wife (he
married in 1947 and has two sons,
aged thirteen and twelve, and a
daughter of eight) came into
enough money for them to buy a
house, furnish it properly and buy
a car. It y was now that “Lucky
Jim,” on which lie had been work¬
ing for years, really got under way,
and its appearance in 1954 put him
welf into the upper income group.
(So l far the book has had twenty-
one v im press iorts besides paper¬
back editions, i Translations in¬
cludes. V Jim if Fortunato,” “ Jim-
la-CIftnce,” “.JjJiick fur Jim ” and
im Szszesciarz.”)
a few miles outside
in an old cottage, large,
warm, ^td convenient enough for
comfdrt ; 4 this month he hopes to
move into a house he has bought
in the tptfn. His, oldest *and
youngest children Lgo tp local
private, schools; _ih«^tfJnger
boy is at Cambrii^e^tjTimimar
School (he would like to sec the
great public schoofs'>bphrtnjtl, ex¬
cept that “ government?' - which
abolish bad things tiftftfdo abolish
good things, like lihertv;.”; he'
would not send his children to
one). He eats iand'well
—studying drinft if direst
he has to a hobbyf(pWs^^ this
was why he had no objection to
sponsoring a beer advertisement:
“ I thought it would, fu'p, and
it was ”). He collects recipes
for powerful mixtures such as
Mr. Sutton's Gin Blind: four
parts gin, two parts brandy,
one part orange cura 9 ao. He
dresses smartly: in “Take a Girl
Like You,” Patrick’s interest in
clothes “ is a bit of me.”
It is not clear just how seriously
he takes his politics, especially in
view of his Fabian pamphlet,
“Socialism and the Intellectuals,”
which appeared in 1957 and con¬
tained the remark that the best and
most trustworthy political motive
was self-intelrest. It was unwise not
to amplify the apparent paradox:
what he dislikes, as he made clear
in a radio talk last summer, is un¬
questioning enthusiasm for imme¬
diately popular, erpotion-rousing
causes. The implication is that the
better way is steady support of less
spectacular, even unpopular
causes. This is a valid argument;
it is also true that it is easier to note
causes that Amis thinks should not
be supported than causes he thinks
should.
The pamphlet gave rise to
another mistaken idea about Amis,
that he is frightened of being
thought an intellectual. What he
is frightened of (and this comes
through in some of his poems) is
intellectual pretentiousness, which
may help to explain his advocacy
of science fiction as a legitimate
form of literature — his “New
Maps of Hell ” is the first serious
appreciation of science fiction—
and his advocacy of jazz as a legiti¬
mate form of music.
Pointed observation
of society
Sweeping statements about
Society are not really Amiss line,
however. He is more at home as a
critic of Eng. Lit., where his
“ revaluations ” are controversial
and highly readable: he has called
“ Beowulf ” the only long poem in
the language more boring than
; “ The Owl and the Nightingale,”
| and he dismissed most of Dylan
' Thomas as ” a blend of answerless
, riddle, outworn poeticism and care¬
ful linguistic folly.”
Most of all, he is at home as a
novelist, where he has provided
some wonderfully funny writing
and some of the most pointed
observation of contemporary
society. Above all, there is the
Amis Figure, not necessarily the
“ great English comic invention ”
hailed by some critics, but certainly
developing from his first appear¬
ance as Jim Dixon, who was a bit
of a caricature, to his latest as
Patrick Standish, who is far more
carefully observed.
As a novelist, Amis’s greatest
weakness is construction. In
Lucky Jim ” the characters
appeared when the plot needed
them rather than when circum¬
stances ^ did. “That Uncertain
Feeling (published in 1955; its
film title is: “ 0n | y T wo Can
nnd y l ^ n° re tieh,l >’ wri «en
bm i, h a d Ca,ly 3 - big advance -
,7*1 l had a . sen timental ending
tacked on quite out of key with
Here” rm^ C h " 1 Uke l(
Here (1958), his weakest book,
had a slight clement of mystery,
perfunctorily married to an ac¬
count of a trip to Portugal. The
ending of the latest, “ Take a Girl
Like You ” (I960), was indeed im¬
plicit in its beginning—too implicit,
perhaps. ItV^gko inevitable that
some people ceased to care just
how it was reioffed
He writes slowly, making notes
on the back of clreque books, old
envelopes and other scraps of
paper * he has time »
they exercise book.
For hilfcaext^'J^yel, set mainly in
America JwJfich he admires, some¬
what uncritically), the exercise
book has £uch jottings as: —
f Ernst stickler for accuracy,
/mpression of having done fair
amount of stickling in other fields.
Irving to Roger: “I’m your un-
steadying influence.”
The Bangs quarrel in Danish at
party. H. challenges E. to remem¬
ber her history. —You were bom
in Kalundborg. —You see! K!
That fish market! Later about
religion.
Finally, when enough of the plot
is clear, he starts writing, straight
on to a typewriter.
Bad reviews
spoil breakfast
Amis claims that ” I try to write
good books, and his unvarying
text is that it takes a serious writer
to be a really funny writer. Bad
reviews hurt, but “although they
spoil breakfast, they don’t spoil
lunch. It is not that he is arro-
gant. Moments of feeling inade¬
quate come only too often, as a
writer, as a teacher (“there is
nothing more depressing than to
come out of a tutorial and think,
‘ My God, I’ve taught that girl
nothing ’ ”) or as anything else. He
tries to be thankful for such
moments—he believes they help
him to be a better writer and a
better person.
Some people complain that he
harps on sex. Others try to read
his novels as social commentaries.
He finds such judgments irrelevant,
though the fact that they are made
at all is evidence of incomplete
communication on his part. But
such critics have a clue. Amis is
a man of his time who writes good
comedy and incidentally produces
a disconcertingly accurate picture
of the world around him. Never
before has society examined itself
so closely and constantly. And if
some of Amis’s characters are
immoral and frank about it, they
are not very -different from the
world they mirror.
© Crown Copyright
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