Acclaimed British author Martin Amis has passed away at the age of 73. Known for his novels such as “Money,” “London Fields,” and “The Information,” Amis died at his home in Lake Worth, Florida after battling esophageal cancer. His wife, writer Isabel Fonseca confirmed the news to The New York Times.
Amis was born in Oxford, England in 1949 and attended Exeter College at the University of Oxford. His first novel, “The Rachel Papers,” published in 1973, won the Somerset Maugham Award. He gained widespread recognition for his “London Trilogy” which includes “Money,” “London Fields,” and “The Information.” The first of these novels, “Money,” was based on Amis’ experience writing the script for “Saturn 3,” a 1980 sci-fi film starring Kirk Douglas. The novel has since been adapted for television, with a two-part BBC series airing in 2010, and starred Nick Frost, Vincent Kartheiser, Emma Pierson, and Jerry Hall.
Amis was also involved in several film adaptations of his work. His 1989 mystery novel “London Fields” was adapted into a feature film in 2018, starring Billy Bob Thornton, Amber Heard, Jim Sturgess, Theo James, Jason Isaacs, and Cara Delevingne. Amis co-wrote the screenplay for the film. His 1997 novel “Night Train” was also adapted into a film, “Out of Blue,” which was released in 2018 and starred Patricia Clarkson, Toby Jones, Jacki Weaver, and James Caan.
Apart from his fiction writing, Amis was also known for his nonfiction work. His 2000 memoir, “Experience,” won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. He also published numerous short story collections. His most recent work, the autobiographical novel “Inside Story” was published in 2020. The book tells a fictionalized narrative of his relationships with writers Philip Larkin, Saul Bellow, and Christopher Hitchens.
News of Amis’s passing comes as Jonathan Glazer’s film “The Zone of Interest” premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. The film loosely adapts Amis’ 2014 novel of the same name and received an enthusiastic response from critics. In his review of the film, The Hollywood Reporter chief film critic David Rooney called “The Zone of Interest” “a devastating Holocaust drama like no other.” Rooney noted that filmmaker Glazer adapted Amis’ book by “radically pruning and reshaping the entire plot and narrowing its gaze to just one of the three narrators.”
Martin Amis’s contribution to contemporary literature has been recognized by readers and critics alike, and his influence will continue to be felt for generations to come.
