DURHAM LITERATURE FESTIVAL 2000

 

WILL SELF

Will Self is the author of The Quantity Theory of Insanity, shortlisted for the 1992 John Liewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize and winner of the 1993 Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize, Cock and Bull, My Idea of Fun, Grey Area, Junk Mail, The Sweet Smell of Psychosis, Great Apes and Tough, Tough Toys for Tough, Tough Boys. He lives in London.

How the Dead Live, his latest novel is the story of Lily Bloom, a sixty-five year old American, who lies dying of cancer in the Royal Ear Hospital in Central London. Not that there’s anything wrong with her ears – it’s the only bed they could find for her. As her two daughters buzz around her and the nurses pump her full of morphine, Lily slides in and out of consciousness; outraged that there’s so little time left and so many people still to disparage. In her delirium she is tormented by the corkscrew hatred of Jewish anti-semitism, and a lifetime of unruly passions. In the corner of the ward sits an impassive Aboriginal Australian man, who from time to time reminds Lily that it will be his responsibility to ferry her across the Styx, and that in lieu of a coin, he’ll be happily accept her dentures.