Kingsley Amis prophesied a grim future for university education in Lucky Jim, a comic novel which became a landmark of the 50s. In 1978 his target was again university life and the women's movement in Jake's Thing, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. He's also published poetry, won a science fiction prize with The Alteration, looked at the supernatural in The Green Man and crime in The Riverside Villas Murder. In conversation with Michael Billington he discusses his work, ideas and plans for the future. Producer ANNE WINDER