Amis family denies 'racist' allegations
Sir Kingsley's family have denied the accusations
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Wednesday, 10, Oct 2007 10:33
The family of author Sir Kingsley Amis have hit back at claims that he was a racist, misogynistic anti-Semite.
Professor Terry Eagleton, a Marxist professor of cultural theory at the University of Manchester, had made the accusations a preface to his new book Ideology: An Introduction.
He called the Lucky Jim author "a racist, anti-Semitic boor, a drink-sodden, self-hating reviler of women, gays and liberals".
However, Sir Kingsley's second wife, the novelist Elizabeth Jane Howard, and his homosexual brother-in-law Colin Howard have sprung to his defence.
In a letter to the Daily Telegraph, Ms Howard wrote: "Kingsley was never a racist, nor an anti-Semitic boor. Our four great friends who witnessed our wedding were three Jews and one homosexual.
She added: "I never heard him behave in a racist manner towards Jews, nor when he was teaching in Nashville did he accept the prevailing attitude of the racist whites against the black people there."
And Mr Howard, who lived with Sir Kingsley and Ms Howard for 17 years, explained: "During that time, we became very close and affectionate friends. Prof Eagleton is, at the least, careless in his description of Kingsley as homophobic."
He continued: "Calling him anti-Semitic should be actionable were it not so absurd."
However, Professor Eagleton has refused to apologise for his characterisation of Sir Kingsley, saying: "I still stand by my characterisation of Kingsley Amis and I am not sure I have anything more to say about it."
He has also accused the author's son, famed novelist Martin, of "rambling like a British National Party thug" in a 2006 essay.