In 1984, Anthony Burgess published Ninety-Nine Novels, a selection of his favourite novels in English since 1939. The list is typically idiosyncratic, and shows the breadth of Burgess’s interest in fiction. This podcast, by the International Anthony Burgess Foundation, explores the novels on Burgess’s list with the help of writers, critics and other special guests.

In this episode, Graham Foster explores the military satire of The Anti-Death League by Kingsley Amis, with writer and academic Andrew James.

The Anti-Death League follows the soldiers of an army base that borders a quaint English village. They are preparing for the mysterious Operation Apollo, but there may be spies in their midst. As the preparations progress and the lives of the soldiers intersect with the inhabitants of the village, including a lustful aristocratic lady and a psychotherapist who may me more insane than his patients, Lieutenant James Churchill begins to question his purpose.

Kingsley Amis was born in 1922 in London. He wrote over twenty novels, the most famous being Lucky Jim, which also appears on Burgess’s list. He won the Booker in 1986 for The Old Devils and was knighted in 1990. He died in 1995.

Andrew James is currently a professor in the School of Commerce at Meiji University in Tokyo, where he conducts research in both literary biography and wine. He is the author of the books: Kingsley Amis: Antimodels and the Audience (McGill-Queen’s UP, 2013) and Bandol Wine and the Magic of Mourvèdre (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2023).  His latest book is The Life of the Author: Graham Greene (Wiley Blackwell, 2025).

Books mentioned in this episode

By Kingsley Amis:

• Lucky Jim (1954)
• That Uncertain Feeling (1955)
• Colonel Sun: A James Bond Adventure (1968)
• Jake’s Thing (1978)
• Difficulties with Girls (1988)

By others:

• A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess (1962)
• The Wanting Seed by Anthony Burgess (1962)
• Honey for the Bears by Anthony Burgess (1963)
• Albert Angelo by B.S. Johnson (1964)
• A Vision of Battlements by Anthony Burgess (1965)
• The Unfortunates by B.S. Johnson (1969)
• Joysprick: An Introduction to the Language of James Joyce by Anthony Burgess (1973)
• Earthly Powers by Anthony Burgess (1980)

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In previous series of Ninety-Nine Novels, we learnt about authors including James Joyce, Thomas Pynchon, Nadine Gordimer, Vladimir Nabokov and Christopher Isherwood, among others. These episodes are available at your favourite place to get podcasts.

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The theme music for the Ninety-Nine Novels podcast is Anthony Burgess’s Concerto for Flute, Strings and Piano in D Minor, performed by No Dice Collective.

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