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Title: The Quantity Theory of Insanity: Together With Five Supporting Propositions by Will Self ISBN: 0-679-75094-0 Publisher: Vintage Books USA Pub. Date: 01 March, 1996 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.91 (11 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: A casual, erudite stroll down the blind alley of insanity.
Comment: Back in college in the late 60's I remember talking with
a philosophy professor about Roman Polanski's early film
"Repulsion." He said that it helped him to understand that
when some of the mad and troubled people he worked with
(no, not his philosophy students) said that they saw monsters
outside, hiding behind the trees, they really did see monsters.
Will Self's book of short stories provides such revelations.
Epiphanies of the absurd. Each page turns over a rock under
which mental illness is spawning--slowly and quietly and inexorably. The title story is as slow a descent into societal
madness as I've ever taken. You get infected somewhere along
the way but you're not sure where. Like touching a doorknob
that's been contaminated with lunacy. The next thing you
know, you sneeze, and when you look up you see a monster
peering at you from behind a tree.
Will Self is an accomplished stylist with a following of
both avid fans and vocal detractors. Read "The Quantity Theory of
Insanity" and you'll be one or the other.
Rating: 4
Summary: Excellent leap into the absurd and the insane
Comment: Though in no terms a work on par with the quality of Will Self's later efforts (re: Grey Area) Quantity Theory is a thoroughly engrossing anthology. From the outrageous Ur-Bororo to the insanity that was the development and application of the Quantity Theory to the subtle oddities of the North London Book of the Dead, Self's pen delves into deeper realms of consciousness and brings to light certain outlandish traits of humanity.
Will Self is a brilliant writer with a vocabulary which would make any dictionary less than the complete OED worthless and an intellect to match. His works illustrate a biting social commentary that may stem from his far superior intelligence or simply an uneasiness with the world (which very well may be the case; many of his stories centered on drugs or mental health).
The Quanitity Theory is a very good example of his work and a perfect entry into the writings of this strange but brilliant English author.
Rating: 4
Summary: Impressive, almost inspiring
Comment: Will Self's 'The Quantity Theory of Insanity' overflows with (unsurprisingly) dark humor mixed with academic flair. The stories often seem to lack a clear and definitive finishing point, as if one is reading a manuscript of a story half-written. This, of course, may be a purposeful attempt; that by not offering conclusion, Will Self is in essense prodding the reader into personal deliberation over the concepts presented. Unfortunately, if this be the case, these same concepts have seen so much activity in modern psychology that for the author to not thoroughly conclude his own insights leads one not into pondering personal beliefs in the matter, but what the author might have been trying to convey. A fruitless task as Self, undoubtedly, tries to be as enigmatic as possible.
Luckily Self's mastery of language and metaphor, even during points where one might feel unsatisfied with the content, makes this book hard to put down. He easily achieves the daunting task of having a work sopping with verbose floridity while still being both easily readable and completely coherent. The development of his characters and concepts is quite clear and clean, an intimidating feat while having to develop both observations as well as descent into 'madness' on the same pages. Self is able to portray lunacy with impecable flair, often times the feeling of madness transposing itself from prose to reader with every turn of the page.
'The Quantity Theory of Insanity' should be read for it's unequaled portrayals of the subject matter as well as the interesting, albeit fragmentary, social commentary. Positions and answers however, should not be sought here.
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Title: The Sweet Smell of Psychosis by Will Self, Martin Rowson ISBN: 0802136478 Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press Pub. Date: 01 September, 1999 List Price(USD): $11.00 |
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Title: Great Apes by Will Self ISBN: 0802135765 Publisher: Grove Press Pub. Date: 01 September, 1998 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: How the Dead Live by Will Self ISBN: 0802138489 Publisher: Grove Press Pub. Date: 02 September, 2001 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Grey Area: And Other Stories by Will Self ISBN: 0871136732 Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press Pub. Date: 01 March, 1997 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Cock & Bull by Will Self ISBN: 0679750924 Publisher: Vintage Books USA Pub. Date: 01 April, 1994 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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