The War Against Cliché

The War Against Cliché (2001) is an anthology of essays, book reviews and literary criticism from the British author Martin Amis.

The book takes its title from one of Amis' essays, an encomium to James Joyce's novel Ulysses.

[1] Like Amis's previous collection Visiting Mrs Nabokov, the book is composed of many pieces written over the course of the author's career, beginning in the mid-1970s as a journalist and following up to his period of recognition as one of Great Britain's most acclaimed novelists.

Among the many authors considered are John Updike, Anthony Burgess, Saul Bellow, Iris Murdoch, Elmore Leonard and Philip Roth.

Many of the essays also touch on pet topics of Amis's, such as chess, poker, football, cue sports, masculinity, and nuclear weapons.