Merritt Moseley

6 x 9, 192 pages
cloth, ISBN 0-87249-861-1, $34.95s
Understanding Contemporary British Literature
Matthew J. Bruccoli, Series Editor

ABOUT THE BOOK

In Understanding Kingsley Amis Merritt Moseley surveys the career of a controversial British writer whose concern with class conflict prompted his classification along with John Osborne, John Braine, Alan Sillitoe, and John Wain as one of Britain's "Angry Young Men." Author of biographies, poetry, and criticism, Amis is best known for his fiction.

Moseley's study centers on the novels that have earned Amis's large readership, from Lucky Jim (1954) to The Folks That Live on the Hill (1990). Moseley contends that despite the writer's popular following, his readers failure to recognize Amis's versatility, originality, integration of comedy and moral interests, and attitudes toward ethical and social questions has obstructed a full appreciation of his writing's complexity. Understanding Kingsley Amis gives students, scholars, and admirers of the British writer an overview of the characteristics that distinguish his work.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Merritt Moseley, a native of literature at the University of North Carolina at Asheville and author of David Lodge. He teaches American and British literature.

ALSO BY THE AUTHOR

Understanding Julian Barnes
Understanding Michael Frayn