Stanley and the Women (ISBN 978-0-06097-145-8) is a 1984 novel by British author Kingsley Amis.
 Cover of first edition (hardcover) | |
| Author | Kingsley Amis |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Alistair Taylor |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Comedy novel |
| Publisher | Hutchinson |
Publication date | 1984 |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 256 pp |
| ISBN | 0-09-156240 6 |
Plot
Stanley Duke works in advertising, and had been married to an actress, Nowell. He is now married to Susan, with whom he has a complicated relationship, seemingly because of her mother, Lady Daly. His son, Steve, suffers a mental breakdown, and Stanley takes him to two psychiatrists. The first, Dr. Collings, is female and too liberated for Stanley; and the second, Dr. Nash, seems to be more interested in drinking than helping his son.
A doctor's suggestion that all women are mad becomes an increasing obsession with Stanley (in parallel with Steve's increasing insanity) culminating in outbursts of offensive misogynistic bigotry. Various ironic episodes of middle-class London life - including a successful dinner party; a less successful drunken evening with Nowell's second husband; Stanley's removal from his job; and others - all drive continuing reassessments of the characters. The ending floats a possibility that all women are in fact terrifyingly sane.
Reception
Marilyn Butler for the London Review of Books says that Amis "has created a world in which only men appear to communicate with one another, and their favourite topic is their dislike of women".[1] Amis' son, Martin, called it "a mean little novel in every sense, sour, spare, and viciously well-organized".[2]
Adaptation
The novel was adapted for the television by Nigel Kneale and directed by David Tucker, it was produced by Central Independent Television for the ITV network.