One of England’s most popular, controversial, and versatile writers, Sir Kingsley Amis was intricately involved in many of the socio-literary debates since World War II. His more than 40 books include 24 novels, seven editions of poetry, four short story collections, and hundreds of reviews and essays. From his earliest publication –

Bright November

(1947) – to the last during his lifetime –

The Biographer’s Moustache

(1995) – Kingsley Amis functioned as a moral register for the rapidly shifting mores of contemporary life. Of course such a position engendered more than its share of controversy as well. Never lacking a captive audience, either condemnatory or complimentary, Amis once quipped about his own late conservatism that the world had shifted left while he’d stayed…

2381 words

Citation: Keulks, Gavin. "Kingsley Amis". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 06 January 2005 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5102, accessed 19 March 2024.]

5102 Kingsley Amis 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

Save this article

If you need to create a new bookshelf to save this article in, please make sure that you are logged in, then go to your 'Account' here

Leave Feedback

The Literary Encyclopedia is a living community of scholars. We welcome comments which will help us improve.