Self & I

Self & I PDF Author: Matthew De Abaitua
Publisher: Eye & Lightning Books
ISBN: 1785630652
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 216

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Book Description
A unique, remarkable and hilarious portrait of one our most talked-about and controversial literary figures. 1994. Matthew De Abaitua, fresh out of university, is being interviewed for a job. The interview involves discussing literature, honking on a special cigarette and shooting at empty whisky bottles with an air rifle. The job in question is that of amanuensis, or live-in personal assistant. The employer is Will Self, the enfant terrible of the literary scene. For the next six months, De Abaitua and Self share a remote cottage in Suffolk, working on their literary ambitions. They are distracted by hikes to Sizewell nuclear power station, opium tea and the allure of Soho. Thanks to Self and his library of bad influences, from JG Ballard to William Burroughs, De Abaitua undergoes a rite of passage that changes him forever. Caught up in vital threads of the early Nineties, from the rise of New Labour to the slow decline of the literary establishment and the emergence of the internet, Self & I is set in a time that burns brightest in its final hour. It is a frank and very funny account of a young, hopeful writer who finds himself alongside one of his heroes only to discover that literary ambition comes at a price. 'If you love Withnail & I, you must read this.' Caroline Sanderson, The Bookseller 'I love the perfectly wry balance Matthew De Abaitua achieves between innocence and knowingness, between apprenticeship and ambition. It's a delicious peek into the "Will Self industry" and the vanished publishing world of the Nineties, but it's also a wonderful, highly readable book about love and dedication, and coming of age as a process of learning to be honest with ourselves.' Lauren Elkin, author of Flâneuse Self & I ups the stakes on both U&I and Withnail and I to offer an utterly compelling account of what it means to read, write, live and breathe literature. Anyone interested in the world of letters will devour this book with delight.' Matt Thorne'Very funny but with an undertow of melancholy, Self & I is at root a hymn to the vocation of writing and, as such, sings to all us nearly-writers, wannabe-writers and sometime-writers (i.e. all writers) with the ecstasy of scripture.' Will Ashon, author of Strange Labyrinth

Self & I

Self & I PDF Author: Matthew De Abaitua
Publisher: Eye & Lightning Books
ISBN: 1785630652
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 216

Get Book Here

Book Description
A unique, remarkable and hilarious portrait of one our most talked-about and controversial literary figures. 1994. Matthew De Abaitua, fresh out of university, is being interviewed for a job. The interview involves discussing literature, honking on a special cigarette and shooting at empty whisky bottles with an air rifle. The job in question is that of amanuensis, or live-in personal assistant. The employer is Will Self, the enfant terrible of the literary scene. For the next six months, De Abaitua and Self share a remote cottage in Suffolk, working on their literary ambitions. They are distracted by hikes to Sizewell nuclear power station, opium tea and the allure of Soho. Thanks to Self and his library of bad influences, from JG Ballard to William Burroughs, De Abaitua undergoes a rite of passage that changes him forever. Caught up in vital threads of the early Nineties, from the rise of New Labour to the slow decline of the literary establishment and the emergence of the internet, Self & I is set in a time that burns brightest in its final hour. It is a frank and very funny account of a young, hopeful writer who finds himself alongside one of his heroes only to discover that literary ambition comes at a price. 'If you love Withnail & I, you must read this.' Caroline Sanderson, The Bookseller 'I love the perfectly wry balance Matthew De Abaitua achieves between innocence and knowingness, between apprenticeship and ambition. It's a delicious peek into the "Will Self industry" and the vanished publishing world of the Nineties, but it's also a wonderful, highly readable book about love and dedication, and coming of age as a process of learning to be honest with ourselves.' Lauren Elkin, author of Flâneuse Self & I ups the stakes on both U&I and Withnail and I to offer an utterly compelling account of what it means to read, write, live and breathe literature. Anyone interested in the world of letters will devour this book with delight.' Matt Thorne'Very funny but with an undertow of melancholy, Self & I is at root a hymn to the vocation of writing and, as such, sings to all us nearly-writers, wannabe-writers and sometime-writers (i.e. all writers) with the ecstasy of scripture.' Will Ashon, author of Strange Labyrinth

Umbrella

Umbrella PDF Author: Will Self
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1408841215
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 418

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Book Description
"A brother is as easily forgotten as an umbrella."--James Joyce, "Ulysses" 1918 Audrey Death--feminist, socialist and munitions worker at Woolwich Arsenal--falls ill with encephalitis lethargica as the epidemic rages across Europe, killing a third of its victims and condemning a further third to living death. 1971 Under the curious eyes of psychiatrist Dr. Zack Busner, assumed mental patient Audrey Death lies supine in bed above a spring grotto that she has made every one of the forty-nine years she has resided in Friern Mental Hospital. 2010 Now retired, Dr. Busner travels waywardly across North London in search of the truth about that tumultuous summer when he awoke the post-encephalitic patients under his care using a new and powerful drug. Weaving together a dense tapestry of consciousness and lived life across an entire century, in his latest and most ambitious novel, Will Self takes up the challenge of Modernism and reveals how it--and it alone--can unravel new and unsettling truths about our world and how it came to be.

Chauvo-Feminism

Chauvo-Feminism PDF Author: Sam Mills
Publisher: Black Spot Books
ISBN: 1911648365
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 141

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Book Description
Everybody knows a chauvo-feminist . . . The 2017 #MeToo movement was a flagship moment, a time which empowered women to share their stories of sexual harassment and abuse in a spirit of solidarity and in demand of change. But have some men simply changed tactics? Acclaimed author Sam Mills investigates the phenomenon of the chauvo-feminist, the man whose public feminism works to advance his career, whilst his private self exhibits age-old chauvinistic tactics. Through testimonies and her own experience, Mills examines the psychological underpinnings of the chauvo-feminist, exploring questions of modern relationships, consent, and emotional abuse and asks how we might move beyond 'trial by Twitter' to encourage an honest and productive dialogue between men and women. 'We've all met That Guy. In this searching and provocative essay, Sam Mills neatly skewers the men who publicly spout feminism while treating women badly behind closed doors — and asks how we can move forward to a happier, more feminist future.' Samantha Ellis 'Thought-provoking, on point and abreast of contemporary ideas about the chauvinism of women's everyday lives. A book for our times.' Monique Roffey, author of The Mermaid of Black Conch, winner of the 2020 Costa Prize for Fiction 'In this lithe and luminous essay, Sam Mills explodes the hypocrisy of many men in the wake of the #MeToo movement . . . Clever, funny, gripping and beautifully written, Chauvo-Feminism is an exploration not just of the female experience, but of civilisation itself. This is a dazzling, essential book. Men with mutant politics: beware!' Emma Jane Unsworth, author of Animals

The Quiddity of Will Self

The Quiddity of Will Self PDF Author: Sam Mills
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 1780335024
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 254

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Book Description
The ghost of a beautiful young woman, Sylvie, hovers outside the window of Will Self's study. She is seeking to influence his latest novel, before she can rest in peace. Sylvie was a member of the WSC - a mysterious cult of charismatic writers who appear to worship Will Self. When Richard, a twenty-something idler and literary wannabe, discovers Sylvie's dead body he gets sucked into their dark world of absinthe, cloaks and bizarre initiation rites, slowly losing his sense of perspective on the strange events that encircle him. What is the true nature of the WSC? What did they do to Sylvie? And does Richard now face a similar fate?

The Quantity Theory of Insanity

The Quantity Theory of Insanity PDF Author: Will Self
Publisher: Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
ISBN: 0802193331
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 187

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Book Description
What is there is only a limited amount of sanity in the world and the real reason people go mad is because somebody has to? What if a mysterious tribe in the Amazon rainforest turn out to be the most boring people on earth? What if the afterlife is nothing more than a London suburb, where the dead get new flats, new jobs, and their own telephone directory? These are the sort of truths that emerge in this collection of stories by one of England's most gifted writers. In The Quantity Theory of Insanity, Will Self tips over the banal surfaces of everyday existence to uncover the hideous, the hilarious, and the bizarre. Psychiatry, anthropology, theology—and literature—will never be the same.

Blackout

Blackout PDF Author: Sam Mills
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780571239412
Category : Books and reading
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
am on the run. The police are chasing me because they think I m a terrorist. The trouble all began when my Dad hid the writer of a book called The Exploded in our house. It inspired a terrorist attack on London. That s why it s a BANNED book. We live in dangerous times. The state says books have to be sweetness and light, so they don t inspire teenagers to commit violent crime. Get caught reading a banned book and you go to jail.I thought they were wrong. How much harm can a book do? Then I read one. Now I m about to commit murder. Now I know better.

Avicenna on the Ontology of Pure Quiddity

Avicenna on the Ontology of Pure Quiddity PDF Author: Damien Janos
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110652080
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 774

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Book Description
This study focuses on the metaphysics of the great Arabic philosopher Avicenna (or Ibn Sīnā, d. 1037 C.E.). More specifically, it delves into Avicenna’s theory of quiddity or essence, a topic which seized the attention of thinkers both during the medieval and modern periods. Building on recent contributions in Avicennian studies, this book proposes a new and comprehensive interpretation of Avicenna’s theory of ‘the pure quiddity’ (also known as ‘the quiddity in itself’) and of its ontology. The study provides a careful philological analysis of key passages gleaned from the primary sources in Arabic and a close philosophical contextualization of Avicenna’s doctrines in light of the legacy of ancient Greek philosophy in Islam and the early development of Arabic philosophy (falsafah) and theology (kalām). The study pays particular attention to how Avicenna’s theory of quiddity relates to the ancient Greek philosophical discussion about the universals or common things and Mu’tazilite ontology. Its main thesis is that Avicenna articulated a sophisticated doctrine of the ontology of essence in light of Greek and Bahshamite sources, which decisively shaped subsequent intellectual history in Islam and the Latin West.

The Field of the Cloth of Gold

The Field of the Cloth of Gold PDF Author: Magnus Mills
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1632862875
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
The Great Field lies in the bend of a broad, meandering river. Bounded on three sides by water, on the fourth side it dwindles gradually into wilderness. A handful of tents are scattered far and wide across its immensity. Their flags flutter in the warm breeze, rich with the promise of halcyon days. But more and more people are setting up camp in the lush pastures, and with each new arrival, life becomes a little more complicated. And when a large and disciplined group arrives from across the river, emotions run so high that even a surplus of milk pudding can't soothe ruffled feathers. Change is coming; change that threatens the delicate balance of power in the Great Field. Magnus Mills's new novel takes its name from the site of a 1520 meeting between Henry VIII and Francis I of France, to improve relations between the countries as the Treaty of London deteriorated. It allegorically suggests a number of historical encounters on British soil: the coming of the Vikings, the coming of the Romans. But The Field of the Cloth of Gold sits firmly outside of time, a skillful and surreal fable dealing with ideas of ownership, empire, immigration, charisma, diplomacy, and bureaucracy. It cements Magnus Mills's status as one of the most original and beloved novelists writing today.

Screwtop Thompson

Screwtop Thompson PDF Author: Magnus Mills
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1408806533
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 130

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Book Description
'He has no literary precedent, and he also appears to have no imitators. He mines a seam that no one else touches on, every sentence in every book having a Magnus Mills ring to it that no other writer could produce' Independent In 'Hark the Herald', a guest stays at an eerie guesthouse over Christmas without encountering any other residents, despite constant reassurance from the landlord that he would see them if only he arrived for breakfast slightly earlier; in 'Only When the Sun Shines Brightly' Aesop's fable about a competition between the Sun and the Wind to get a man to take his coat off, gets a new look involving a railway arch, a builder and a piece of plastic sheeting; in 'Once in a Blue Moon' a man arrives home to find the family house under siege, with his mother armed, dangerous and firing at the police with a shotgun, and attempts to appease her with an invitation to seasonal hospitality; and in the title story, rivalry between three cousins over a faulty toy gets out of hand as the cousins unwittingly imitate the toy they're fighting over.Magnus Mills has published two collections of stories - Only When the Sun Shines Brightly and Once in a Blue Moon - which are collected here for the first time, along with three new stories.

White Noise

White Noise PDF Author: Don DeLillo
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1440674477
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 324

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Book Description
NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER • An “eerie, brilliant, and touching” (The New York Times) modern classic about mass culture and the numbing effects of technology. “Tremendously funny . . . A stunning performance from one of our most intelligent novelists.”—The New Republic The inspiration for the award-winning major motion picture starring Adam Driver and Greta Gerwig Jack Gladney teaches Hitler Studies at a liberal arts college in Middle America where his colleagues include New York expatriates who want to immerse themselves in “American magic and dread.” Jack and his fourth wife, Babette, bound by their love, fear of death, and four ultramodern offspring, navigate the usual rocky passages of family life to the background babble of brand-name consumerism. Then a lethal black chemical cloud floats over their lives, an “airborne toxic event” unleashed by an industrial accident. The menacing cloud is a more urgent and visible version of the “white noise” engulfing the Gladney family—radio transmissions, sirens, microwaves, ultrasonic appliances, and TV murmurings—pulsing with life, yet suggesting something ominous.