William Self is an English novelist, reviewer, and columnist. He is celebrated for his satirical, grotesque, and fantastical novels and short stories, often set in seemingly parallel universes. His work delves into the darker aspects of human nature and society. Self's distinctive style masterfully blends raw realism with supernatural elements, creating unsettling yet captivating reading experiences. His writing is noted for its sharp social critique and insightful exploration of human foibles.
Set in 1950s America, the story follows Elaine as she grapples with her dissatisfaction in a seemingly perfect life with her Ivy League husband and child. Standing by her mailbox, she questions her choices and ultimately seeks freedom through a reckless affair. This decision leads to the unraveling of her marriage and forces her to confront the consequences of her actions, exploring themes of identity, desire, and the constraints of societal expectations.
Exploring the intricacies of writing and literature, this collection of essays showcases Will Self's unique voice and sharp wit. Celebrated as a bold and engaging novelist, he offers insightful reflections that challenge conventional perspectives on reading. Each piece invites readers to reconsider their relationship with literature, making it a compelling read for anyone interested in the art of storytelling and the written word.
"From the Booker-shortlisted author of Umbrella, a world-girdling collection of writings inspired by a life lived in and for literature. From one of the most unusual and distinctive writers working today, dubbed "the most daring and delightful novelist of his generation" by The Guardian, Will Self's Why Read is a cornucopia of thoughtful and brilliantly witty essays on writing and literature. Self takes us with him: from the foibles of his typewriter repairman to the irradiated exclusion zone of Chernobyl, to the Australian outback, and to literary forms past and future. With his characteristic intellectual brio, Self aims his inimitable eye at titans of literature like Woolf, Kafka, Orwell, and Conrad. He writes movingly on W. G. Sebald's childhood in Germany and provocatively describes the elevation of William S. Burroughs's Junky from shocking pulp novel to beloved cult classic. Self also expands on his regular column in Literary Hub to ask readers how, what, and ultimately why we should read in an ever-changing world. Whether he is writing on the rise of the bookshelf as an item of furniture in the nineteenth century or on the impossibility of Googling his own name in a world lived online, Self's trademark intoxicating prose and mordant, energetic humor infuse every piece. A book that examines how the human stream of consciousness flows into and out of literature, Why Read will satisfy both old and new readers of this icon of contemporary literature"-- Provided by publisher
From the Booker-shortlisted author of Umbrella, a world-girdling collection of writings inspired by a life lived in and for literature.
Will's mother's hokey homily, Waste not, want not... hisses in his ears as he oscillates furiously on the spot, havering on the threshold between the bedroom and the dying one... all the while cradling the plastic leech of the syringe in the crook of his arm. Oscillating furiously, and, as he presses the plunger home a touch more... and more, he hears it again and again- Waaaste nooot, waaant nooot..! whooshing into and out of him, while the blackness wells up at the periphery of his vision, and his hackneyed heart begins to beat out weirdly arrhythmic drum fills - even hitting the occasional rim-shot on his resonating rib cage. He waits, paralysed, acutely conscious, that were he simply to press his thumb right home, it'll be a cartoonish death- That's all folks! as the aperture screws shut forever.
“How was your day?” is a special commissioned piece of work from The Humber Mouth Literature Festival 2017.
A five-hundred-quid worry bead - and all I worry about is losing the bloody thing . . . ' Dementia-addled, 78-year-old antipsychiatrist Dr Zack Busner, turfed out of his home by his ungrateful progeny, is no longer certain of anything - except the persistent ringing of the phone in his pocket. Meanwhile, his autistic grandson Ben, drowning in conspiracy theories as he investigates the ruse known as the Iraq war, is urgently calling. Elsewhere, MI6 agent Jonathan De'Ath (aka the Butcher) is trying to conceal the one secret he knows will ruin him - his affair with tank commander Colonel Gawain Thomas, whose unit is busy shooting up Iraq. And somewhere a phone is ringing . . .
London's underground railways are an expression of the spread and diversity of the most international of capitals. Indeed, for many Londoners the subterranean network is the very essence of the city, its arteries carrying the pulse of urban life from the heart of the metropolis out to its farthest extremities. How to capture that breadth in one work of art? How to celebrate a single system while also reflecting the millions of lives that it has transported over the past century and a half? That was the challenge facing Turner Prizewinning artist Mark Wallinger. His response was to create a vast, permanent work of public art across the entire network, layered with rich cultural and historical references. This book provides a record of this extraordinary project
Shark turns upon an actual incident in WWII - mentioned in the film Jaws - when the ship which had delivered the fissile material to the south Pacific to be dropped on Hiroshima was subsequently sunk by a Japanese submarine with the loss of 900 men, including 200 killed in the largest shark attack ever recorded.
A brother is as easily forgotten as an umbrella. James Joyce, Ulysses Recently having abandoned his RD Laing-influenced experiment in running a therapeutic community – the so-called Concept House in Willesden – maverick psychiatrist Zack Busner arrives at Friern Hospital, a vast Victorian mental asylum in North London, under a professional and a marital cloud. He has every intention of avoiding controversy, but then he encounters Audrey Dearth, a working-class girl from Fulham born in 1890 who has been immured in Friern for decades. A socialist, a feminist and a munitions worker at the Woolwich Arsenal, Audrey fell victim to the encephalitis lethargica sleeping sickness epidemic at the end of the First World War and, like one of the subjects in Oliver Sacks' Awakenings, has been in a coma ever since. Realising that Audrey is just one of a number of post-encephalitics scattered throughout the asylum, Busner becomes involved in an attempt to bring them back to life – with wholly unforeseen consequences.
