Synopsis:
This black comedy is divided into two parts. In the first a woman grows a penis and rapes her husband. In the second a man grows a vagina behind his knee and is then seduced by his doctor.
Cock And Bull was first published in 1992.
Cock And Bull Reviews:
Greg Heinimann at Bloomsbury has created a series of new book covers for Will Self’s back catalogue to coincide with the paperback publication of Walking to Hollywood (below) in September. The new covers are for My Idea of Fun, The Quantity Theory of Insanity, Cock & Bull, The Sweet Smell of Psychosis, Junk Mail, Grey Area, Great Apes and The Butt.
Read a short report about it in Creative Review here.
7 reader reviews
“Not one for the faint-hearted (if you’re easily offended, better steer clear of this one)! Self’s Londoners live weird existences that I feel would fit in very well with Hieronymus Bosch’s “Garden of Earthly Delights”. Probably Self would treat any attempt at analysis of his work with some disdain, but nevertheless I felt that (as usual) he was attempting to challenge the reader’s view of morality and sexuality. Self seemed to me to be saying that human sexuality (for that read sexual roles) is both ambiguous and mutable: the commonly-held view that all is black-and-white is nonsense, rather it’s all various shades of grey. I enjoyed the book immensely – it’s challenging, funny and disturbing……” – Mr. G. Rodgers
7 reader reviews
“Very, very funny. The problem with Will Self is that he cannot write without being ultra-ironic and cool, but here it works. The stories (2 novellas), about a woman who grows a penis and rapes her husband, and a man who develops a vagina, could have been merely vulgar in the hands of a lesser writer. But Self writes with such linguistic variety, panache and humour that he lifts these stories to the level of highly intelligent satire. They are shocking, obscene and hugely enjoyable (plus they make some very interesting observsations about gender along the way).” – A Reader
Michiko Kakutani, September 1999
“His first book to be published in the United States, “Cock & Bull,” consists of two comic novellas, both based on the time-honored theme of metamorphoses. The result, however, owes less to Ovid or Kafka than to William Burroughs and scores of naughty schoolboys caught snickering in the lavatory about sex and bodily functions.