I used to think Will Self was a bit of a smug prick who tried his best to use really obscure words unnecessarily. Case in point: I'd picked up "Design Faults..." a few years ago because I liked the cover, and although it's a very, very slim book which collects just two of his short stories, i couldn't get through the first one.
This was probably due to laziness, cos I picked it up again the other day and read the whole thing in one sitting. It's really cleverly structured, funny stuff. I noticed he uses pointed wordplay a lot in both stories, i'm not sure if this is something which is characteristic of his writing style or if it's just used here. For example- in one scene, a couple is in the park having sex in a 'copse' (a small grove) and keeping an eye out for the 'cops'.
The first story is a surreal sketch about a London psychiatrist who details his shambles of a marriage and the affair he's having, while also chronicling the problems of his car. Further use of wordplay here, he's having the affair with an ex-model name Serena, who is more 'serene' than his wife. Bill, the character in question spends his time systematically blotting out the word 'Volvo' from the cars instruction manual because it makes him think of Serena's 'vulva'. After studying Georges Bataille and his use of language and wordplay in 'Le Histoire d'Oeil', I've noticed I tend to pay attention to these smaller details and don't really brush them aside as just idiotic puns, especially if they're recurring as they are here. It's an absurdly funny piece of work, kind of like a daft satire of JG Ballard's 'Crash'.
At different stages of the story Bill is sixty feet tall, his car stretches around an entire block and the cars ashtray is analogous to Serena's mouth. As if to complement the confusing wordplay visually, there's a moment where Bill stops at a zebra crossing to let a man with black and white striped trousers cross the road.
The second story is called 'A Story For Europe', which is about an English baby who is fluent in German. I don't think I need to say any more about that one. It's a pretty interesting collection- not really long enough to be a satisfying read, but enough for me to decide he mightn't be all that bad.
I did a search on youtube to see if I could find the Will Self clip from Trigger Happy TV, but I couldn't find it. Basically they hold an official launch night for 'Self Magazine' which is supposed to be a new magazine exclusively about the work of Will Self. They get loads of celebrities including Self to turn up for a wine reception and after a speech from Dom Joly, they unveil this poster that says "If you want a magazine, make it your SELF".
Oh wordplay, wordplay, wordplay.
