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The Quantity Theory of Insanity
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The Quantity Theory of Insanity Paperback - 1996

by Self, Will

  • Used

Combining a wild imagination, a bizarre sense of humor, and a masterful command of language, Self is the newest young literary star to appear out of England. The six short stories include: a man finds his mother walking up a hill in a distant London suburb, although she died ten months ago and much more. Major review coverage.

Description

Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Used - Good. Former library book; may include library markings. Used book that is in clean, average condition without any missing pages.
Used - Good
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Details

  • Title The Quantity Theory of Insanity
  • Author Self, Will
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition Reprint
  • Condition Used - Good
  • Pages 224
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, NY
  • Date 1996-03-19
  • Bookseller's Inventory # GRP62078022
  • ISBN 9780679750949 / 0679750940
  • Weight 0.57 lbs (0.26 kg)
  • Dimensions 8.02 x 5.24 x 0.63 in (20.37 x 13.31 x 1.60 cm)
  • Library of Congress subjects Satire, English, Humorous stories, English
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 95045867
  • Dewey Decimal Code FIC

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Summary

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.

From the publisher

Will Self grew up in London, where he lives with his wife and two children. The Quantity Theory of Insanity won the 1993 Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize and was shortlisted for the 1992 John llewellyn Rhys Prize. He is also the author of Cock & Bull and My Idea of Fun.

From the jacket flap

What if there is only a limited amount of sanity in the world and the real reason people go mad is because "somebody has to? What if a mysterious tribe in the Amazon rainforest turn out to be the most boring people on the earth? What if the afterlife is nothing more than a London suburb, where the dead get new flats, new jobs, and their own telephone directory? These are the sort of truths that emerge in this collection of stories by one of England's most gifted writers.
In The Quantity Theory of Insanity, Will Self tips over the banal surfaces of everyday existence to uncover the hideous, the hilarious, and the bizarre. Psychiatry, anthropology, theology--and literature--will never be the same.

Media reviews

"If a manic J.G. Ballard and a depressed David Lodge got together, they might produce something like The Quantity Theory of Insanity. But Will Self's world is all his own; it is both exotic and institutionalized, full of dread and dowdiness and entirely unsuspected comedy." --Martin Amis

"The outright excellence of this book cannot be denied. The Quantity Theory of Insanity is of such high caliber that it could strike a new literary rivalry between the U.K. and the United States." --Los Angeles Reader

Citations

  • Publishers Weekly, 02/26/1996, Page 0

About the author

Will Self grew up in London, where he lives with his wife and two children. The Quantity Theory of Insanity won the 1993 Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize and was shortlisted for the 1992 John llewellyn Rhys Prize. He is also the author of Cock & Bull and My Idea of Fun.

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