The fictional world of Will Self is unlike any other. In "The Quantity Theory of Insanity" we learn, amongst other things, the dark and terrible secret of Ward 9, why you are right to think that London is full of dead people and that each and every human being is caught up in a colossal balancing act between the sane and the insane. "The Quantity Theory of Insanity" is acerbic, satirical, hilarious and, most of all, utterly unique in imaginative vision.
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‘Very funny and very good, with that unmistakable sign of the genuine comic writer’ -- Doris Lessing
‘Will Self’s world is all his own’ -- Martin Amis
‘Will Self’s world is all his own’ -- Martin Amis
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Winner of the 1993 Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize
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23 of 28 people found the following review helpful
By deadmanjones
This gently intersecting collection of short stories espouses a number of very funny satirical theories. Will Self doesn't just mock the scientists who come up with such theories, but also develops them with a twisted yet unquestionable logic that mocks society's ills at the same time. My favourite would be the Ur-Bororo tribe, who exhibit the usual array of spiritual and cultural beliefs you'd expect from aborignal peoples, but do so with the apathy that the English indulge Christianity and dinner parties.
But the scientific conceit is the books downfall; Will Self is just too good at the syllable drenched wordiness of Newspeak. We've seen him as a chattering head on the telly often enough to realise that using a parody of philosophy is really just an excuse for him to write in the manner he'd write in anyway. Cattle feed becomes 'farinaceous products aimed at the bipedal market' for one example. It's all entertaining enough to start with, or as part of a vox pop on whatever BBC2 programme he's drifted onto this week, but I don't want my novelists going round the Wrekin all the fucking time. It grates very quickly, because Will Self doesn't have the lyricism in his use of language that say Viv Stanshall had. Self comes across more as a provincial pedant to my ears.
But the scientific conceit is the books downfall; Will Self is just too good at the syllable drenched wordiness of Newspeak. We've seen him as a chattering head on the telly often enough to realise that using a parody of philosophy is really just an excuse for him to write in the manner he'd write in anyway. Cattle feed becomes 'farinaceous products aimed at the bipedal market' for one example. It's all entertaining enough to start with, or as part of a vox pop on whatever BBC2 programme he's drifted onto this week, but I don't want my novelists going round the Wrekin all the fucking time. It grates very quickly, because Will Self doesn't have the lyricism in his use of language that say Viv Stanshall had. Self comes across more as a provincial pedant to my ears.
4 of 7 people found the following review helpful
By Ecossaise
If Will Self hadn't been a writer, who knows what the hell he would have been? Having read his more recent work, and impressed by his masterful wordsmithery and curious reinterpretation of the world, I went back to find the earlier stuff. An inward look at the process of research which is its own justification and which feeds on itself, together with some hilarious satirical pokes at the methodology, Self manages to bring into perfect focus wider human issues and stupidities. Beautifully crafted, these fictions seem more real than the world we thought we knew. There is a growing space dedicated to his writing on my bookshelf. Brilliant.
1 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By Andyno_9
I have seen the usual comments about Self's wordy style and can understand the comment as far as new comers to Self's body of work are concerned. This was not the first of Self's works that I have read, and can only say that, like any new author you are reading, once you have gotten a feel for their prose it doesn't register as off-putting at all. In fact, 'Quantity' has an almost stripped down feel to some of the stories, and the language is only appropriately complex when dealing with the fictional pyschological issues Self elaborates upon. I think it's a case of 'getting it' ie, being astonished by the descriptive flair and imagination behind the work, or not 'getting it' ie bemoaning the lack of character developement etc...Any way, I can only urge people to give it a go, and then proceed straight to 'Grey Area' an altogether more complete collection of Self's short stories.
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