To begin with, let me tell you a story. There were once two jackals: Karataka, whose name meant Cautious, and Damanaka, whose name meant Daring. They were in the second rank of the...
Martin Amis was the son of three fathers—one actual parent and two literary forebears—Kingsley Amis, Vladimir Nabokov, and Saul Bellow.
From Kingsley, he inherited...