Martin Amis, a writer known for his stylish novels, widely admired literary criticism and acerbic observations about British and American culture, died on Friday at 73.
Amis — the son of famed British writer Kingsley Amis — became one of the characteristic literary celebrities of his generation. He first broke onto the scene with darkly comedic novels about drugs, sex, finance and media, cutting against what he viewed as the British tendency toward airless, sanitized nostalgia. In middle age, he took on self-consciously grander themes: history, war, the specter of nuclear annihilation, environmentalism. His last book, “Inside Story,” was an autobiographical — and metafictional — reflection on his life, his friendships and some contemporary politics.
