From one of the world’s greatest modern writers: collected here is some of Martin Amis's best nonfiction work from over two decades, ranging from politics and sports to celebrity, America, and literature.
“Amis throws off more provocative ideas and images in a single paragraph than most writers get into complete novels.”—The Seattle Times
As a journalist, critic, and novelist, Amis has always turned his keen intellect and unrivaled prose loose on an astonishing range of topics—politics, sports, celebrity, America, and, of course, literature.
He writes about finally confronting the effects of aging on his athletic prowess. He revisits the worlds of Bellow and Nabokov, his “twin peaks,” masters who have obsessed and inspired him. And he turns his piercingly observant eye on Donald Trump, whom he finds “scowling out from under an omelette of makeup” in the run-up to the 2016 Republican Convention, and at a post-election rally, regarding his crowd of supporters with a “flat sneer of Ozymandian hauteur.”
Overflowing with startling and singular turns of phrase, and complete with new commentary by the author, The Rub of Time is a vital addition to any bookshelf, and the perfect primer for readers discovering Amis’s fierce talents for the first time.
MARTIN AMIS is the author of 15 novels—among them Zone of Interest, London Fields, Time’s Arrow, The Information, and Night Train—along with the memoir Experience, the novelized self-portrait Inside Story, two collections of stories, and seven nonfiction books. He died in 2023.
Hometown:
Oxford, England
Date of Birth:
August 25, 1949
Place of Birth:
Oxford, England
Education:
B.A., Exeter College, Oxford
Table of Contents
Author’s Note and Acknowledgments
By Way of an Introduction He’s Leaving Home
Twin Peaks Vladimir Nabokov and the Problem from Hell Saul Bellow, as Opposed to Henry James
Politics 1 The Republican Party in 2011: Iowa The Republican Party in 2012: Tampa, Florida The Republican Party in 2016: Trump
Literature 1 Philip Larkin: His Work and Life Larkin’s Letters to Monica Iris Murdoch: Age Will Win
The House of Windsor Princess Diana: A Mirror, Not a Lamp The Queen’s Speech, the Queen’s Heart
More Personal 1 You Ask the Questions 1 The Fourth Estate and the Puzzle of Heredity On the Road: The Multicity Book Tour The King’s English
Twin Peaks 2 Bellow’s Lettres Nabokov’s Natural Selection
Americana (Stepping Westward) Losing in Las Vegas Travolta’s Second Act In Pornoland: Pussies Are Bullshit
Literature 2 Don DeLillo: Laureate of Terror J. G. Ballard: From Outer Space to Inner Space Early Ballard: The Drowned World The Shock of the New: A Clockwork Orange Turns Fifty
Sport Three Stabs at Tennis The Champions League Final, 1999 In Search of Dieguito Maradona On the Court: My Beautiful Game
More Personal 2 Deciding to Write Time’s Arrow Marty and Nick Jr. Sail to America You Ask the Questions 2
Politics 2 Ivan Is Introduced to the USSR: All Together Now Is Terrorism “About Religion”? In Memory of Neda Soltan, 1983–2009: Iran The Crippled Murderers of Cali, Colombia
Literature 3 Philip Roth Finds Himself Roth the Elder: A Moralistic Investigation John Updike’s Farewell Notes Rabbit Angstrom Confronts Obamacare Jane Austen and the Dream Factory
More Personal 3 Christopher Hitchens
Politics 3 On Jeremy Corbyn, Leader of Her Majesty’s Opposition President Trump Orates in Ohio
Twin Peaks 3 Bellow: Avoiding the Void Véra and Vladimir: Letters to Véra