Showing results for "will self"

“Self is the most daring and delightful novelist of his generation.”—GuardianA blistering, brilliant novel from the Booker-shortlisted author, elegantly reflecting his Geoffrey Faber Memorial award-winning story collection The Quantity Theory of InsanityIn The Quantity Theory of Morality, Will Self’s unconventional new novel, his pen remains dipped in vitriol and elegance as ever. In this dark yet hilariously sati...

'Reads like early Nabokov: barbed, provocative, virtuosic in his performance of linguistic jokes...rollicking, unsettling and furiously intelligent' Guardian'Full of pathos and penetrating insights into the best and worst in human nature. A consummate performance, it's a book that might finally silence Self's critics' SpectatorThis dark yet hilariously satirical state-of-an-era novel sees Will Self's middl...

One of Will Self’s best-loved novels, newly reissued by Grove, The Book of Dave begins when East End cabdriver Dave Rudman’s wife takes from him his only son. In response, Dave pens a savage jeremiad against the contemporary world that filters his fearful bigotry through religious mania, with a generous dose of the London cabby’s unique knowledge of the sprawling city. Dave buries the book in his ex-wife’s Hampstead backyard, intending it for his son, Carl, when he comes of age. F...

Unflinching, intoxicating, heartfelt, and propelled by an exceptional energy, Will is the long-awaited memoir by Will Self, whose works have been shortlisted for the Booker Prize and translated into over twenty languages. A portrait of the artist as a young addict, Will is one of the most eloquent and unusual depictions of the allure of hard drugs ever written.Will spins the reader from Self’s childhood in a quiet North London suburb to his mind-expanding...

Facing a one-in-five chance of dying during a stem cell transplant for blood cancer - odds slightly worse than Russian roulette - Will Self realised that, having spent most of his life in Zone Two, he might well die in Zone One. Some people, confronted by such a prospect, might travel somewhere exotic. Self chose instead to go deeper than ever before into the ancient, strange and haunted metropolis of his birth.Walking outwards through London in the four cardinal directions, Self p...

Will Self has been praised by The New York Times Book Review as a high-powered satirical weapon” and Cock & Bull is one of his most outrageous works of fictionCock: A Novelette” is the story of a woman who grows a fully functional penis. Bull: A Farce” is the story of a man who acquires a vagina and all its companion parts. There are, however, complications. Cock & Bull, the book that introduced an enfant terrible of English letters to an American audience, has quickly become a ...

“Self often enough writes with such vividness it’s as if he is the first person to see anything at all.”—The New York TimesA fiercely original, darkly comic and deeply personal exploration of London and its suburbs, written in the shadow of Will Self’s confrontation with mortalityFacing a one-in-five chance of dying during a stem cell transplant for blood cancer—odds slightly worse than Russian roulette—Will Self realized that, hav...

When artist Simon Dykes wakes after a late night of routine debauchery, he discovers that his world has changed beyond recognition. His girlfriend, Sarah, has turned into a chimpanzee. And, to Simon's appalled surprise, so has the rest of humanity. Simon, under the bizarre delusion that he is 'human', is confined to an emergency psychiatric ward. There he becomes of considerable interest to eminent psychologist and chimp, Dr Zack Busner. For with this fascinating case, Busner thinks may fi...

“For intelligence and ambition . . . inventive comedy, heartbreak and levity . . . Will Self belongs in the company of Nabokov, Pynchon, William Gaddis and Don DeLillo.” —The New York Times Book ReviewWill Self has established himself as one of the most brilliant, daring, and inventive writers of his generation. My Idea of Fun is Will Self’s highly acclaimed first novel. The story of a devilishly clever international financier/marketing wizard and...

The Book of Dave is Booker-shortlisted author Will Self's dazzling sixth novelWhat if a demented London cabbie called Dave Rudman wrote a book to his estranged son to give him some fatherly advice? What if that book was buried in Hampstead and hundreds of years later, when rising sea levels have put London underwater, spawned a religion? What if one man decided to question life according to Dave? And what if Dave had indeed made a mistake?Shuttling between the rece...

Will Self, whom the Los Angeles Times calls the hottest young novelist in England,” demonstrates his razor-sharp wit in these nine new stories. Self’s method depends upon taking an ordinary aspect of the world and then pushing it to its limit in furious absurdity. The short stories in Grey Area reflect the technical brilliance and satiric voice that have made him one of the most highly praised comic writers in a decade.These are stories that delve into the modern psyche with unset...

From the Booker-shortlisted author of Umbrella, a world-girdling collection of writings inspired by a life lived in and for literatureFrom 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 o...