The Martin Chronicles
The Martin Chronicles
Dan Kois
Martin Amis, one book at a time.
Lionel Asbo: State of England
Dan Kois (Hampton Heights), Parul Sehgal (New York Times), and Jason Zinoman (New York Times) discuss Martin Amis' 2012 comedy about a violent lout and his sensitive ward.
Dec 4, 2025
1 hr 8 min
Night Train
Dan Kois (Slate), Parul Sehgal (New York Times), and Jason Zinoman (New York Times) discuss Martin Amis' 1997 mystery novel about suicide, motive, and the age of the universe.
May 9, 2025
56 min
Money
Dan Kois (Slate), Parul Sehgal (New Yorker), and Jason Zinoman (New York Times) discuss Martin Amis' 1984 book about sex, cash, and all the things the novel can do that the movies can't.
Oct 30, 2024
1 hr 4 min
The War Against Cliché
Dan Kois (Slate), Parul Sehgal (New Yorker), and Jason Zinoman (New York Times) discuss Martin Amis' 2001 collection of criticism—and the state of criticism in 2024.
Jun 29, 2024
1 hr 22 min
The Zone of Interest
Dan Kois (Slate), Parul Sehgal (New Yorker), and Jason Zinoman (New York Times) discuss Martin Amis' 2014 novel about Auschwitz—as well as Jonathan Glazer's 2023 film adaptation.
Dec 19, 2023
1 hr 22 min
Inside Story
Dan Kois (Slate), Parul Sehgal (New Yorker), and Jason Zinoman (New York Times) discuss Martin Amis' final novel, 2020's Inside Story, and Amis' death on May 19, 2023.
Sep 9, 2023
1 hr 20 min
House of Meetings
Dan Kois (Slate), Jason Zinoman (New York Times), and special guest host Willa Paskin (Decoder Ring) discuss Martin Amis' 2006 novel about the Soviet gulag, House of Meetings. What are we to make of the novel's monstrous narrator, his pacifist brother, and the Amisian object of desire who divides them (and unites them)? And what is it about the horrors of 20th-century history that makes a novelist like Amis prick up his ears?
May 12, 2023
1 hr 5 min
The Information
Dan Kois (Slate), Parul Sehgal (New Yorker), and Jason Zinoman (New York Times) discuss the ambitious novel that upended Martin Amis' personal, professional, and dental life: The Information. Dan quizzes Parul and Jason about the details of 1995's wildest lit-world gossip, and the panel argues about a novel about literary envy that inspired £500,000 worth of literary envy before it was even published.
Nov 14, 2022
1 hr 10 min
The Moronic Inferno
Dan Kois (Slate), Parul Sehgal (New Yorker), and Jason Zinoman (New York Times) leap into the 1980s, when Martin Amis made his living as a hack: a freelance journalist writing about America for British outlets. The Moronic Inferno, published in 1986, collects features about American politics (evangelicism, Reagan, AIDS); profiles of literary and Hollywood stars (Mailer, Spielberg, Bellow); and scathing book reviews. What does Martin Amis see when he looks at America? Why does his harshest cri...
Sep 9, 2022
1 hr 1 min
The Rachel Papers
The Martin Chronicles debuts with Dan Kois (Slate), Jason Zinoman (New York Times), and Parul Sehgal (New Yorker) discussing Martin Amis' first novel, The Rachel Papers, published in 1973 when Amis was just 24 years old. Why is Charles Highway so disgusting? Why isn't Rachel Noyes Jewish? And how does the son of a successful, controversial novelist secure his entrée into the literary world?
May 5, 2022
1 hr 6 min