Psychogeography - Softcover

Self, Will

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1408880326 ISBN 13: 9781408880326

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2017

Synopsis

The very best of novelist and journalist Will Self's columns for the Independent on the oddities of place, accompanied by Ralph Steadman's trademark illustrations.

Provocateurs Will Self and Ralph Steadman join forces in this post-millennial meditation on the vexed relationship between psyche and place in a globalized world, bringing together for the first time the very best of their 'Psychogeography' columns for the Independent.

The introduction, 'Walking to New York', is both a prelude to the verbal and visual essays that make up this extraordinary collaboration, and a revealing exploration of the split in Self's Jewish-American-British psyche and its relationship to the political geography of the post-9/11 world.

Ranging from the Scottish Highlands to Istanbul and from Morocco to Ohio, Will Self's engaging and disturbing vision is perfectly counter-pointed by Ralph Steadman's edgy and beautiful artwork.

About this title

About the Author

Will Self is the author of The Quantity Theory of Insanity, Grey Area, Cock & Bull, Dorian, How the Dead Live, which was shortlisted for the Whitbread Novel of the Year 2002, The Book of Dave, and others. He lives in London.

Ralph Steadman is the author of Sigmund Freud, I Leonardo, The Big I Am, The Scar-Strangled Banner, Doodaaa, and The Joke's Over: Memories of Hunter S. Thompson. He is the illustrator of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Alice, Animal Farm and The Devil's Dictionary. He lives in Kent.

From Publishers Weekly

This artful and entertaining collection of essays by novelist Self (The Book of Dave) will delight anyone who enjoys his weekly column of the same name in the Independent or his last collection of essays, Feeding Frenzy. Here Self shifts from gonzo journalism to the study of psychogeography, the study of how geographical environments affect emotions and behavior. Setting off on a quest for the intrinsic character of various places as well as the manner in which the contemporary world warps the relationship between psyche and place, Self casts a dismissive eye on most of the world. Singapore strikes him as Basingstoke force-fed with pituitary gland; Sao Paolo's lack of a street plan makes it an unholy miscegenation between London and Los Angeles. But Steadman's beautifully harsh illustrations (worthy of their own book) and Walking to New York, a previously unpublished semi-autobiographical meditation on life and death, reveal a surprising depth to Self's cynical insights. (Nov.)
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About this edition

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 1408880326
• ISBN 13: 9781408880326
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256
• Illustrator: Steadman Ralph