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Will Self

ウィル・セルフ

Will Self

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1961-09-26 （London (Charing Cross Hospital)）
Nationality
United Kingdom
Languages
English
Religion
Jewish heritage (complex/referred to culturally)
Residence History
North London (East Finchley / Hampstead area) → Brixton → Stockwell, London → Ithaca, New York (one-year stay)

Career

Occupations
novelist, journalist, columnist, broadcaster/commentator, university professor
Active Years
1991-
Influenced By
J. G. Ballard, Frank Herbert, Philip K. Dick, Jonathan Swift, Franz Kafka, Louis-Ferdinand Céline, Hunter S. Thompson, Martin Amis, Alasdair Gray
Nominations
Booker Prize longlist (Dorian, an Imitation) 2002, Booker Prize shortlist (Umbrella) 2012

Education

University College School
Country: United Kingdom
Secondary education (independent school)
Christ's College, Finchley
Country: United Kingdom
Further secondary education prior to university
Exeter College, Oxford
Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE)
Degree: BA (third class)
Period: 1980s
Year of Graduation: 1984
Country: United Kingdom
Read PPE at Oxford; graduated with a third-class degree

Awards

Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize
1991
Work: The Quantity Theory of Insanity
Organization: Geoffrey Faber Memorial Trust
Result: winner
Aga Khan Prize for Fiction
1998
Work: Tough, Tough Toys for Tough, Tough Boys
Organization: The Paris Review
Result: winner
Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize
2008
Work: The Butt
Category: Comic Fiction
Organization: Everyman/Wodehouse Prize organisers
Result: winner

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

The Quantity Theory of Insanity

1991 Short story collection

Early short-story collection exploring sanity, madness and urban life.

madnesscity/urban lifepsychiatry

Dorian, an Imitation

2002 Novel (imitation/reworking of classic material)

A modern reworking inspired by The Picture of Dorian Gray, dealing with morality and decay.

selfmoral decayart and ethics

The Book of Dave

2006 Novel (dystopian / satirical)

Mixes diary fragments and a future society to satirise religion and social formation.

religious satirelanguage changesocial construction

Umbrella

2012 Novel (experimental / modernist)

A complex novel depicting a protagonist's psychiatric history and layered London settings; Booker Prize shortlisted.

mental illnessmemorythe city

Bibliography

  • Cock and Bull (1992)
  • My Idea of Fun (1993)
  • The Quantity Theory of Insanity (1991)
  • Dorian, an Imitation (2002)
  • The Book of Dave (2006)
  • Umbrella (2012)
  • The Butt (2008)
  • Shark (2014)
  • Phone (2017)
  • Elaine (2024)
  • Numerous other short stories, essays and non-fiction

Adaptations

  • The Minor Character — short film adaptation of a short story; starred David Tennant

Style & Themes

Literary Style
satiricalgrotesquefantasticalexperimental/modernist style
Recurring Motifs
mental illnessdrug abusepsychoanalysis/psychiatrythe urban space of London

Health

  • Polycythaemia vera, progressed to myelofibrosis
    2011 - 現在（経過観察／治療あり）
    Long-term blood disorder that has been reported to affect life and work; under monitoring/treatment

Legacy

Known for satirical, experimental prose and London-set fiction. Influential in contemporary British letters; British Library acquired his archive in 2016.

Archives

  • British Library (The Papers of Will Self)

In Popular Culture

  • Frequent TV panel appearances (Have I Got News for You, Shooting Stars, etc.)
  • Short story 'The Minor Character' adapted as a short film starring David Tennant

Quotes

  • I don't write fiction for people to identify with and I don't write a picture of the world they can recognise. I write to astonish people.
    Source: Interview / literary commentary (attributed to Will Self in interviews and essays) (2007)

Trivia

  • Approximately 196 cm tall (6'5")
  • Collector of vintage typewriters
  • Has undertaken psychogeographic long walks, including a 2006 walk from London to Manhattan (via airports)
  • Reportedly became vegetarian in 2019