My Martin Amis

About My Martin Amis

Personal stories from writers, critics and publicists about the life and legacy of late English novelist Martin Amis (1949-2023). Host and producer: Jack Aldane Music: 'June' by Nigel Martin Twitter: @mymartinamis Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

Publisher

Jack Aldane

Category

arts · comedy · fiction

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

14 Jun 2023

Latest episode

10 Sept 2026

Latest episodes

20 of 26 episodes have a transcript.

1. 

   10 Sept 2026TRANSCRIPT

   "I didn't come to praise Caeser, I came to bury him." Will Self's keynote at After Amis

   Writer Will Self delivers a critical appraisal of Martin Amis's legacy in this interview with host Jack Aldane, offering a profound look at the author's impact.

2. 

   26 Jun 2026TRANSCRIPT

   "Are there any ugly women that Amis affords full humanity? I'm not convinced." Leon Craig

   Author Leon Craig and host Jack Aldane discuss Martin Amis's "The Pregnant Widow," exploring its characters and the sexual revolution's lasting impact.

3. 

   6 May 2026TRANSCRIPT

   "When you don't win The Booker, you know it's alright, because Amis didn't either." Kevin Power

   Many a male Amis reader owes his smoking habit to the author. The novelist Kevin Power is one who thought he'd quit for good, until he spotted Amis and Isabel Fonseca walking on the grounds of Ireland's prestigious Borris House Festival of Writing and Ideas. Peeling off from his friends, Power sidled up and asked Amis for a lighter. Amis obliged and handed Power a thumb-sized Bic, shortly after which Power became aware that the success of this move had emboldened his cohort to form a crowd around a once discreet scene. The opportunity to speak to Amis one-on-one came again later that weekend, but as Kevin explains on the episode, he has always thought of Amis both as "a prose presence" and "a friend" to the reader, and as such, there is little more one can hope to gain from having met Amis than is permenantly there for them in his writing. Amis is unique among novelists in this sense. Even when you listen to his interviews, what you often hear are lines Amis had committed to print somewhere for posterity. Everything he ever wanted to tell us, he told us. This episode deals with Power's chosen novel, Time's Arrow, which was short-listed for the 1991 Booker Prize, and which Power says uses Amis's "full suite of talents" to portray the atrocities of Auschwitz in reverse, both to darkly comic and deeply moving effect. Frequently overlooked in favour of Amis's trifecta of thick London novels, the slender Time's Arrow is nonetheless one of Amis's most mysterious and morally complex achievements. FOLLOW US ON X: @mymartinamis (https://x.com/mymartinamis) YOUTUBE: @mymartinamispod (https://www.youtube.com/@mymartinamispod) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

Inside a recent episode

"I didn't come to praise Caeser, I came to bury him." Will Self's keynote at After Amis

Published 10 Sept 2026 · Transcript excerpt

[…] Amos's desire was morally comprehensible. What if this great destruction could be unperformed? But the novel evades the harder question. How did this become actual, and does its actuality persist? Reversal is made available to the imagination in Time's Arrow, but the price of understanding irreversibility is never paid. I would apply the same criticism to almost all Amos's attempts to enact social satire during the latter half of his career. if we accept the traditional idea that satire aims at the moral reform of society then some defined ethical calculus must be brought into play but once again amissian mannerism forecloses upon this The fascinating conundrum presented by his paternal agon, given that both Amos Sr. and Conquest had themselves been communists and must therefore have been at least conversant with Marxist and Hegelian dialectics in their youth, did not afford Amos an opportunity to examine his own formation recursively. […]

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

6,308

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.5 / 5

8 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

24 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 44 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

25

Social presence

0

YouTube

74

Engagement

82

Contact My Martin Amis

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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