Martin Amis Amis's work centres on the excesses of late-capitalist Western society, whose perceived absurdity he often satirises through grotesque caricature; he has been portrayed as a master of what "The New York Times" called "the new unpleasantness". Inspired by Saul Bellow, Vladimir Nabokov, and James Joyce, as well as by his father Kingsley Amis, Amis himself has gone on to influence many successful British novelists of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, including Will Self and Zadie Smith. Amis was born in Oxford, England. His father, noted English novelist Sir Kingsley Amis, was the son of a mustard manufacturer's clerk
Kingsley Amis literary style and tone changed significantly after 1970, with the possible exception of "The Old Devils", a Booker Prize winner. Several critics accused him of being old fashioned and misogynistic. His "Stanley and the Women", an exploration of social sanity, could be said to instance these traits. Others said that his output lacked the humanity, wit and compassion of earlier efforts. This period also saw Amis the anthologist, a role in which his wide knowledge of all kinds of English poetry was on display. "The New Oxford Book of Light Verse" (1978), which he edited, was a revision of the