The psychopath is in the detail

Posted on September 25, 2009 by Chris H

“A mania for wood detailing has gripped British architects in its tongue-and-groove. Ouch! It doesn’t matter how dark or twisted the urban alley you wander down is, at the end of it you’re bound to find a spanking new block of ‘luxury’ flats, its façade a chequerboard of plate glass and outsize Venetian blind slats. More often than not, this gallimaufry will be dubbed with some spurious-sounding pseudo-place-name, such as ‘Viking Wharf’ or ‘Visigoth Quay’.”

To read the rest of Will Self’s New Statesman column, visit their website.

Self on Ballard

Posted on September 23, 2009 by Chris H

Make sure you don’t miss the hour-long Archive on 4: Self on Ballard at 8pm this Saturday, September 26, on Radio 4, which has the enticing blurb: “Will Self explores the imagination and work of writer JG Ballard, who he came to know in his final years. Will draws on the many telling interviews that Ballard gave throughout his working life and on Self’s own tapes of his encounters with him. From his life of suburban anonymity, Ballard charted the realms of inner space and the madness of the modern world with a cool eye and visionary prose.” More...

Thinking Allowed

Posted on September 23, 2009 by Chris H

To dovetail with the fact that, according to the Radio Times, Radio 4′s Thinking Allowed is an “absolute stalwart” for Will Self, here is some footage of the Imagination and the City discussion Self took part in on Thinking Allowed last year.

New Statesman, new columns

Posted on September 23, 2009 by Chris H

The New Statesman has announced that, as part of its redesign, Will Self will be writing Madness of Crowds, a wry look at strange social phenomena and group behaviour. This will alternate with Real Meals, for which he will visit “ordinary” high street food outlets such as McDonald’s and Starbucks.

Martin Amis’s Literature and Sex

Posted on September 23, 2009 by Chris H

If you can’t make it along to Manchester university’s Literature and Sex event on Monday October 12, which Will Self will be part of, it looks like you’ll be able to listen to it at the Manchester Review at some point.

Beverley literature festival

Posted on September 23, 2009 by Chris H

Will Self is taking part in the Beverley literature festival in East Yorkshire on Saturday October 10. For further details, visit their website, bevlit.org or look here at the diary.

Riddley Walker

Posted on September 23, 2009 by Chris H

You can find Will Self’s introduction to Russell Hoban’s masterpiece, Riddley Walker, here, which has obvious parallels with Self’s The Book of Dave.

Dorian bookclub

Posted on September 16, 2009 by Chris H

Dorian is chosen for the Telegraph’s Bookclub: “Praise abounded: clever and dazzling. Trademark show-off vocabulary triumphantly deployed. Characterisation outstanding. Above all, laugh-out-loud funny. As for the book’s misogyny and homophobia, these were gleefully glossed over. Even the ending, which throws an irritating twist, got the thumbs up.”

The legalisation of heroin

Posted on September 16, 2009 by Chris H

Listen to Will Self talking to The Sun’s Jon Gaunt about the legalisation of heroin, further to his comment piece in The Sun that day (sadly not available online).

The Happy Detective (Part 2)

Posted on September 16, 2009 by Chris H

The second instalment of Will Self’s The Happy Detective will be released on Snow Patrol’s Late Night Tales at the end of the month. The first part is on Groove Armada’s Late Night Tales, released last year.