Will Self
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Will Self is an English novelist, reviewer and columnist. Will Self is known for his satirical, grotesque and fantastic novels and short stories set in seemingly parallel universes. These include
- Cock and Bull (1992) - the stories of a man and a woman who develop sexual organs of the opposite sex.
- Great Apes (1997) - a man who wakes up in a world where chimpanzees have taken the place of humans.
- How the Dead Live (2000) - an old lady dies, only to be moved to a London suburb where the dead have taken residence.
- Dorian (2002) - a modern take on Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray.
He has published four books of short stories, Dr. Mukti and Other Tales of Woe, Tough Tough Toys for Tough Tough Boys, Grey Area and The Quantity Theory of Insanity, all of which hint at the influence of authors such as J.G. Ballard and William Burroughs. Martin Amis is often mentioned alongside Self; Self went to interview him but they ended up having more of a discussion about each other's work and lives - it is known that they have tremendous respect for each other.
Self also has compiled several books of work from his newspaper columns - Junk Mail (1996) and Feeding Frenzy (2001) - which mix interviews with counter-culture figures, restaurant reviews and literary criticism. He has made several appearances on British television, notably as a contestant on Have I Got News For You and a regular on Shooting Stars and Grumpy Old Men. He gained a degree of infamy in 1997 when he was sent by the British broadsheet newspaper The Observer to cover the electoral campaign of John Major, and was subsequently fired from the newspaper after taking heroin on the Prime Minister's jet.
External links
- Unofficial Will Self site (http://www.willself.org.uk/index.php) (Includes a complete short story (http://www.willself.org.uk/return/0104return.php) by Self from Dr. Mukti and Other Tales of Woe).
- Author page: Will Self (http://books.guardian.co.uk/authors/author/0,5917,-164,00.html) - Guardian Books (http://books.guardian.co.uk)
- The Sweet Smell of Excess: Will Self, Bataille and Transgression (http://www.csulb.edu/~bhfinney/WillSelf.html) (An essay examining Self's work and parallels with Georges Bataille.)
- A short interview (http://www.bbc.co.uk/berkshire/features/2004/01/willself.shtml) - BBC (http://bbc.co.uk)
- Interview (http://www.spikemagazine.com/0597self.htm) - Spike Magazine (http://www.spikemagazine.com)
- Audio Interview (available in Real Audio or mp3) (http://archive.salon.com/audio/col/mill/2000/10/19/miller/) - Salon.com (http://www.salon.com)de:Will Self