Martin Amis on Love, Loss and Death

Intelligence Squared

News, Society & Culture, Arts, News Commentary

4.2 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 24 May 2023

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

To mark the passing of one of Britain's most celebrated writers, we’re replaying an event recorded with us in November 2020. Martin Amis was often called the Mick Jagger of the British book world. As famous for his love affairs, his friendships and his complicated family history as for his dazzling prose, he dominated the literary scene for decades. In this exclusive Intelligence Squared event, made in partnership with Penguin Live, he speaks about his much anticipated autobiographical novel Inside Story. It is perhaps Amis’s most intimate book, a meditation on love, loss, ageing and death. We encounter the vivid characters who have helped define Amis – his father Kingsley, his literary hero Saul Bellow, the poet Philip Larkin and his novelist stepmother Elizabeth Jane Howard. And of course there is his lifelong friend and conversation partner, Christopher Hitchens, whose death from cancer he chronicles in some of the tenderest prose he has ever written. In conversation with novelist Alex Preston, Amis reflects on his life and work and explore the hardest questions we all face: how to live, how to grieve, and how to die. This podcast was produced by Executive Producer Hannah Kaye with editing by Executive Producer Rowan Slaney To hear the full length episode in which Amis goes into the urgency of youth, the legacy we leave, and dealing with the death of Hitchens, become an Intelligence Squared Supporter today, just visit IntelligenceSquared.com/members — We’d love to hear your feedback and what you think we should talk about next, who we should have on and what our future debates should be. Send us an email or voice note with your thoughts to podcasts@intelligencesquared.com or Tweet us @intelligence2. And if you’d like to support our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations, as well as ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content, early access and much more, become a supporter of Intelligence Squared today. Just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, this is Jeremy Bowen, the International Editor of BBC News, and I'm here because I want
0:05.1	to talk to you about an event I'm doing with Intelligent Squared on the 2nd of November in London,
0:11.5	and I'm going to be talking about the more than 30 years that I've spent reporting on major
0:17.6	events in the Middle East with my great friend and colleague over many, many years, Justin Webb.
0:25.6	And I'm sure we'll talk about a few other things as well, Justin and I started at the BBC on
0:31.6	the same day in 1984. So if you'd like to join us either in person or online, then visit
0:41.6	IntelligentSquared.com to find out more.
0:47.0	Hello, I'm Hannah K, Executive Producer at Intelligent Squared. We thrive on asking the big
0:52.3	questions, and right now there's an abundance of pressing issues demanding our attention.
0:57.1	Is AI a looming threat? Where is the global economy heading? How will the war in Ukraine unfold?
1:02.5	And can we avert climate disaster? Like you, we want answers to these vital questions.
1:07.7	That's why we're redoubling our efforts to do what we do best, gathering the most influential
1:12.5	and insightful speakers who can provide the answers we seek. Each week we offer a treasure
1:17.3	trove of free content, sharing our discoveries with as many people as possible. But to continue our
1:22.4	mission, we need your support. That's why we're reaching out to you today. If you can, we would love
1:27.5	you to consider becoming a supporter of IntelligentSquared for just 4.99 a month. In return,
1:32.9	you'll enjoy at-free access to all IntelligentSquared podcasts, including exclusive bonus content.
1:38.8	So enjoy at-free listening, indulge in more long-form episodes and gain discounts to live events
1:44.0	among other benefits. Visit IntelligentSquared.com slash membership and become a supporter today. Thank you.
1:57.2	Hello and welcome to this episode of IntelligentSquared. I'm senior producer Connor Boyle.
2:03.2	In this episode, we wanted to mark the passing of one of Britain's most celebrated writers,
2:08.0	Martin Amos. Amos was often called the Mick Jagger of the British Book World,
	...

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