From the Editor

The Old Devil

Kingsley Amis was one of the funniest men I have ever met. His comic novels were, of course, falling-off-the-sofa funny—not just Lucky Jim, as the clodhopping obituary in the New York Times implied, but also That Uncertain Feeling, I Want It Now, Jake’s Thing, The Old Devils, and (with Robert Conquest) The Egyptologists. A scene in the last in which two fake Egyptologists completely rout a real one in a television debate should be required reading in media-studies courses. (It won’t be, of course.)

About the Author

John O’Sullivan

John O’Sullivan is a senior fellow at National Review Institute and a contributing editor of National Review.

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The Old Devil

Kingsley Amis was one of the funniest men I have ever met. His comic novels were, of course, falling-off-the-sofa funny—not just Lucky Jim, as the clodhopping obituary in the New York Times implied, but also That Uncertain Feeling, I Want It Now, Jake’s Thing, The Old Devils, and (with Robert Conquest) The Egyptologists. A scene in the last in which two fake Egyptologists completely rout a real one in a television debate should be required reading in media-studies courses. (It won’t be, of course.)