Will Self

[WICKES]

Has anyone read any of this guy's stuff? He is an English-British novelist and short story writer. A former heroin addict and heavy drug user (now clean) he is very influenced by Hunter S Thompson and William Burroughs and especially by J G Ballard (whom Self considers the most important British writer of the late 20th century and something of a prophet).

He is an unnerving writer- intellectual, trippy and funny. There are some Youtube clips of him and he comes across as pretty intimidating, even scary. I like him though. Anyone familiar with him?

[WICKES]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=766cxYtbffQ

This is a great BBC documentary on him

[LitNetIsGreat]

Yes I am familiar with him, but have not read any of his works. He wrote an "updated" version of Dorian Gray set during the 1980s drug scene. It is supposed to be very graphic in nature, especially in its depiction of gay sex, but I have never felt an enormous compulsion to read it.

He comes across as a very well spoken figure (I have see him on TV a few times) but perhaps a little pretentious too. I think he is the type to throw obscure words into sentences for no real reason, at least this is the impression I have of him and that of one or two friends.

[wessexgirl]

He was very good on Shooting Stars, taking on the role of the grumpy captain after Mark Lamarr, but not afraid to send himself up. He comes across as very well read and intelligent, but I have never read his work.

Can you spot him here?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oizYp...eature=related

and here.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Klq9i...eature=related

I love these idiots.

[atiguhya padma]

I have read three of his novellas ****, Bull and The Sweet Smell of Psychosis, his short story collections The Quantity Theory of Insanity and Dr Mukti his novel Dorian. He depicts fantastic worlds in realities very much like ours. For instance, one of his novellas is all about a pretty ordinary character in a pretty ordinary place, except that this character has a vagina growing on the back of his knee. A short story depicts Crouch End, London mostly as it really is, except that the people who move into the area are all recently dead, and so on. I didn't find Dorian particularly interesting, it was a bit like reading Amsterdam by Ian McEwan or some of Peter Ackroyd's less accomplished work.

[sixsmith]

I've read several of his works and consider him to be a very intelligent and very funny guy. In my opinion his best work is his first, the aforementioned **** and Bull. Kind of Kafka meets the better bits (few though they are) of William Burroughs. I also enjoyed the Quantam Theory of Insanity which has a Ballardian feel to it. I feel that in his later novels (How the dead live, The Book of Dave), he is just too hard at it. I think sometimes (maybe subconsciously) he is trying to out Amis Amis and falls into that same trap of trying to grab a grotesque laugh on every page; trying so hard to avoid cliche that his prose becomes jarring.

Here is an interview that i love.
http://media.humanities.manchester.a...iting/amis.mp3

[prendrelemick]

I read The Book of Dave a couple of years ago. It was a mixture of brilliance and tedium. He ought to allow his accomplished wife,(Deborah Orr) to edit his work.

His restaurant reviews for the Times are good, you feel him bursting with barely restrained satire.


I heard him on the radio once, The idea was for two authors to review each others book- it didn't go well- I they ended up hurling insults at each other. The poor girl who's program it was was heard to say afterwards, "I think I need a hug"

[mal4mac]

His introduction to William Burroughs' "Junky" is excellent.

[meh!]

I've never read him, but his introduction to Alasdair Gray's 1982, Janine is excellent as well.

[WICKES]

His introduction to William Burroughs' "Junky" is excellent.

I think William Burroughs and Hunter S Thompson are his two favourite writers. It's hardly surprising when you read his biography on Wikipedia! The man was a heavy drug user from his early teens.

He reveres J G Ballard, whom he considers a mentor and the best English-British writer since Graham Greene.