AMIS (Kingsley).
Autograph Letter Signed ("Kingsley Amis") to Alan Clodd.
Amis shows his preference for sci-fi.
Succinctly resolving a query: “No - two different John Berrymans. (I rather prefer the Special Flight one myself.)”.
The two John Berrymans Amis refers to are: the rather more famous Berryman, an American poet and key figure in the Confessional school of poetry; the other being a science fiction writer and economist whose first story, Special Flight, appeared in 1939. His preference for the more niche sci-fi Berryman is perhaps unsurprising as Amis had been an avid reader of the genre since he was a boy. His interest continued well into adulthood, first becoming evident to followers of his work in his 1966 novel, The Anti-Death League, which showed a departure from his previous preference for strict realism. He also co-edited (with Robert Conquest) the science fiction anthology series Spectrum I-V (1961-1966), which drew heavily on Astounding Science Fiction magazine (particularly the numbers published during the 1950s).
Near fine.
