Will Self, whom the Los Angeles Times calls "the hottest young
novelist in England," demonstrates his razor-sharp wit in these nine new
stories. Self's method depends upon taking an ordinary aspect of the
world and then pushing it to its limit in furious absurdity. The short
stories in Grey Area reflect the technical brilliance and satiric
voice that have made him one of the most highly praised comic writers in
a decade.
These are stories that delve into the modern psyche with unsettling and
darkly satiric results. "Inclusion" tells the story of a doctor who is
illegally testing a new antidepressant made from bee excrement. "A Short
History of the English Novel" brings us face to face with a pompous
publisher who is greeted at every turn by countless rejected authors. In
"The End of the Relationship," a woman who has been left by her
boyfriend provokes--like some emotional Typhoid Mary--that same reaction
among all the couples she goes to for comfort. The narrator of "Between
the Conceits" declares without hesitation that London is controlled by
only eight individuals, and, thankfully, he is one of them. Self's world
in these pieces is both curiously familiar and hauntingly strange.
Published to critical acclaim in England, Grey Area is a dazzling
collection by one of the most talented and original writers of his
generation.
