Christopher Hart
The Joylessness of Self
Dr Mukti and Other Tales of Woe
By Will Self
Bloomsbury 257pp £15.99
'RIGHT HO SELF. For tonight's homework you will write a story that is full of generosity, good cheer and human variety, set anywhere except the suburbs of London, at any period except the present, in which no one has mental health problems, nobody uses words such as tmesis or cachinnate, syzygy or anaglypta, and everyone lives happily ever after.'
Wishful thinking, I'm afraid. Once again, Will Self displays as much involvement with his characters as a virologist with his specimens: he has put the human virus on the microscope slide, and found only 'puddles and smears of humanity'. Welcome to Self-world, where the characters, landscape and language are all
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Twitter Feed
Under its longest-serving editor, Graydon Carter, Vanity Fair was that rare thing – a New York society magazine that published serious journalism.
@PeterPeteryork looks at what Carter got right.
Peter York - Deluxe Editions
Peter York: Deluxe Editions - When the Going Was Good: An Editor’s Adventures During the Last Golden Age of Magazines by Graydon Carter
literaryreview.co.uk
Henry James returned to America in 1904 with three objectives: to see his brother William, to deliver a series of lectures on Balzac, and to gather material for a pair of books about modern America.
Peter Rose follows James out west.
Peter Rose - The Restless Analyst
Peter Rose: The Restless Analyst - Henry James Comes Home: Rediscovering America in the Gilded Age by Peter Brooks...
literaryreview.co.uk
Vladimir Putin served his apprenticeship in the KGB toward the end of the Cold War, a period during which Western societies were infiltrated by so-called 'illegals'.
Piers Brendon examines how the culture of Soviet spycraft shaped his thinking.
Piers Brendon - Tinker, Tailor, Sleeper, Troll
Piers Brendon: Tinker, Tailor, Sleeper, Troll - The Illegals: Russia’s Most Audacious Spies and the Plot to Infiltrate the West by Shaun Walker
literaryreview.co.uk