Perhaps the best-known British novelist of his generation, he had to compete with his father, Kingsley Amis (1922-95) who was himself a leading novelist of his generation. In reacting to his father he adopted a self-conscious, ludic mode of fiction and cultivated a unique and much imitated style.
The book is divided into three parts. Part 1 situates his life in the context of the literary climate and social, political and cultural gestalt of his lifetime. It constitutes the most extensive biographical narrative to appear by the date of publication. Part 2 provides a critical introduction to the eleven novels, two collections of short stories, two autobiographical works, and three collections of essays, reviews, profiles, and articles that he had published so far. Part 3 offers a more advanced examination of the major critical debates about the nature and value of his work. They range from his turn to American fiction for models, his portrayal of women (including charges of misogyny), and his unusual views on linguistic language ("Style is morality," he wrote).