Talk:Will Self

Vandalism?
I suspect that the inclusion of the image caption "Will Self is a self-righteous twat" is the result of an act of vandalism. Or is this a scientifically proven fact? 84.198.246.199 (talk) 05:06, 10 December 2008 (UTC)

"Highly Articulate"??
This reads so much like a fan review. He's definitely verboise, and has a pompous schoolboyish habit of trying to make himself sound more intelligent than he is, but is no more articulate than any university graduate I know. Put him next to, say, Gore Vidal or Julian Barnes and he sounds like an insecure windbag.

Search
I'm concerned that this entry cannot be found by the Wikipedia Search engine. Is it because the name is too short/words too common?

Will this be rectified in the future?


 * Looks like both "will" and "self" are MySQL stop words, causing the search to fail. --Stephen Gilbert 14:47 Sep 19, 2002 (UTC)

It's a legitimate entry, this is the author's name. He wouldn't be recogised by users as William Self. - Greg Godwin

Drugs on Major's aeroplane
I'm not sure it's fair to say that WS first came to the public's attention with the election campaign affair, many people had actually read his books! This entry feels a bit tabloidish in its focus. GRAHAMUK 11:14, 9 Nov 2003 (UTC)


 * I've moved that section to the end- we should start with the important bit, i.e. the books. Markalexander100 05:40, 15 Apr 2004 (UTC)

was subsequently fired from the newspaper after taking heroin on the Prime Minister's jet. I don't think this is correct. I read the Guardian and the Observer, and have done for many years. As I remember it he was sacked because, when the allegations came to light, he denied it strenuously to his editor. The paper decided to back him, and printed an article calling the accuser a liar, based on Self's denial. When it came to light that he had indeed taken the drugs on the aeroplane the paper had no real choice, he had lied to them and they had stuck their neck out for him, only to be made to look like liars themselves. Alun 16:13, 8 May 2006 (UTC)

Elf Swill
It maybe trivial to point out that elf swill is an anagram of his name - but not vandalism - POV is more to the point. Still it is interesting to see that his potato-salad prose and elvan humour are posited as sublated in his own name. Pliny 15:48, 29 June 2006 (UTC)

Real name?
Is Will Self (or William Self) his real name? I had heard it was a pseudonym he came up with so his name would be listed as "Self Will" in card catalogs and the like. --Jfruh (talk) 20:21, 2 August 2006 (UTC)


 * Indeed. I must admit I have wondered about this also. Mujinga 23:36, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

At least, i have heard him on radio saying it was really his name. whether it was true or not...--AchilleT 22:13, 5 October 2007 (UTC)

His real name really is William Self. I know because I was at school with him from quite a young age. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.143.162.66 (talk) 19:13, 4 September 2008 (UTC)

Disambiguation requested
We need a disambiguation page here. There are two notable William Selfs: The one currently featured in this article, and the noted organist William Self. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Deputydog23 (talk • contribs).


 * If the organist goes by the name "William Self", then they can exist as "Will Self" and "William Self" articles, each having a disambiguation link to the other. "William Self" doesn't appear to have an entry on Wikipedia yet, though, so this is a bit premature. --McGeddon 02:14, 1 September 2006 (UTC)

Renewed Call for Disambiguation
I have written an entry for the organist William Shuford Self (1906-1998), but can't see how I can enter it with the redirect in place and no disambiguation. The organist never used his middle name or initial, and I think he deserves the "William Self" name rather than the novelist Will Self, who as far as I can tell is never referred to as William. Any advice to a new contributor? NancePG 22:37, 1 February 2007 (UTC)


 * When you see "(Redirected from William Self)" on a redirected page, you can click the "William Self" to go back to that article without being redirected, and edit it from there. http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=William_Self&action=edit will take you straight to the edit, though. --McGeddon 23:12, 1 February 2007 (UTC)


 * Done, but you created a REDIRECT rather than a disambiguation page. Changed it as I think it should be. Hervegirod 21:57, 2 February 2007 (UTC)


 * Not quite: I changed you redirect to a William Self page for the organist and put a disambiguation at the top for Will Self. Your solution is an improvement, and allows someone to create an entry for the actor and producer. NancePG 17:07, 3 February 2007 (UTC)
 * OK, I think it is better now !!! Hervegirod 21:29, 4 February 2007 (UTC)

Making it better
Ok so I have begun adding a more thorough biography. It's not complete, but it is certainly an improvement. There are plently of links to fill in the gap of Self's life after graduation, plus more information can be added to what I've written about his youth.

User - Ascreavie.

Too many external links
This article seems to have rather too many external links, compared to other articles on living novelists. Can a senior editor take a look at this? Perhaps some should be converted into references, and some simply dropped.

wikibiohistory (talk) 11:48, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

Family
Just state the facts, we don't want a pointless tour through the pages of Burkes's Peerage. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.16.85.59 (talk) 22:37, 30 May 2008 (UTC)

Other Will Self activity
I watched a TV programme where Will Self watched the Prodigy's Smack My Bitch Up with some toffs and intellectuals. It was quite funny. Can someone add some information regarding this.
 * Was that the one with Paul Johnson saying "unacceptable" like a whole battalion of retired colonels? Hilarious I agree, but a bit ephemeral to be included here. BTLizard (talk) 11:01, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

Huh?
Self's father was a professor in Political Sciences at the London School of Economics, and his mother who was a Jewish-American émigré. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 211.225.37.54 (talk) 02:26, 20 September 2008 (UTC)

His Family
Is it really necessary having the names of his children on the page?


 * Done. Ceoil (talk) 23:54, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

Will Self is Jewish?
Has he said so himself, or is this just inferred from the fact that his Mum is? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.141.7.206 (talk) 22:03, 30 June 2009 (UTC)

Names
I've removed the names of his children on the page. There is absolutely no need to put their names on his Wiki page. Instead, why not put a few more literary influences on the 'influences' section? It says that he is influenced by Martin Amis, perhaps true but there are greater influences to his work - namely Kafka, Borges, Turgenev, Carroll and so on. I think it is fair to say that his literary influences are more important than publishing the names of his children on the Wiki page. And I've noticed that there are a lot of citations missing - What's up with that? I remember seeing this page with plenty of citations. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.13.219.59 (talk) 10:15, 28 July 2009 (UTC)

Someone else wrote: What are the names of his children? I'm not convinced that the name someone chooses for their children is totally irrelevant. If, for example, his children were called Karl and Vladimir that would be very relevant. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.229.219.55 (talk) 00:19, 26 August 2010 (UTC)

Like Salman Rushdie?
Under "literary style" someone's put that "Like Salman Rushdie, Self writes in such and such a way". That seems to me a little irrelevant, as writing with references to modern culture isn't exactly groundbreaking. 0o0o0ok (talk) 05:31, 3 January 2010 (UTC)

Crafty Will Self has been Wikipediaing himself
Ay up lads, he's on to us: "But the truth is that, not being acculturated or contextualised by my Jewish heritage (wrong name, most obviously) I could pass – and still do, although it does say at the bottom of my Wikipedia page “British Jews”. British Jews? Puh-lease! Anything but that. Next they’ll be calling me a “British writer”.http://www.newstatesman.com/lifestyle/lifestyle/2012/05/will-self-who-are-you-call-me-jewish"

Although ironically, in the same breath as criticising Wikipedia's accuracy, he himself misquotes Wikipedia. We have him as as "English Jew" not as a "British Jew" (yes, we managed to be even more specific)! Silly Will Self!

Badinage aside, I'm not sure how we proceed on this one. Do we honour his wish not to be identified as Jewish? Or do we ignore his pleas, and tell him that he is very much a Jewish man, because his mother was Jewish, don't cha know, and Jewishness is passed through the matriarchal line according to that faith, as well as being ethnically Jewish. Farrtj (talk) 23:29, 21 July 2012 (UTC)
 * This article has actually just been "English people of Jewish descent" for some time now. --McGeddon (talk) 11:09, 21 January 2013 (UTC)


 * You mean that he has been looking at the article about himself? I have read several newspaper articles by writers who have noted their discomfort at the Jewish category being added to their WP article. Here's one. As they themselves did not identify as Jewish at all, they wondered if the cat'ing was done under the auspices of some anti-Semitic cohort determined to 'out' the supposed international conspiracy of Jews taking over the world. I wonder myself sometimes. I can well imagine a writer being much surprised to find themselves listed as 'British' and 'Jewish' if they identify with neither. WP categories have never seemed to have much to do with a subject's own self-identity. Whether they mightn't wish to be labelled (for sake of accuracy) as a feminist, a gay rights activist or a Catholic seems to have little bearing on anything at all. Span (talk) 07:26, 22 January 2013 (UTC)


 * I concur with Span's reasons and will defer to her (him?) if she (he?) wishes to remove the relevant category/label from the article page. - Fantr (talk) 22:27, 23 January 2013 (UTC)

Template:James Bond books
Will anybody object if I add the "James Bond" books (and short stories) template to the article? The template lists Self's story License to Hug. Although an unauthorised work - rumour has it the Fleming estate made threatening legal noises at Esquire for publishing the story without permission - Bond fans generally admire it and it is better than most continuation Bond works. Self isn't the only literary figure to write Bond fiction: Kingsley Amis, Arthur Calder-Marshall, Cyril Connolly (another unofficial work), Sebastian Faulks and now William Boyd. - Fantr (talk) 23:09, 20 February 2013 (UTC)

A Point of View
This programme mentions that Will Self is a frequent contributor to BBC Radio Four. It could also mention how he often presents the Radio Four programme, "A Point of View". Vorbee (talk) 21:01, 3 November 2017 (UTC)

External links modified
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Novelist or Television personality
theres a proposal to change the order of the lead paragraph regarding what Self is notable for. The vast majority of sources refer to him as a writer or novelist first and foremost, but his TV work is significant. His career as a writer has certainly been longer and is what brought him to prominence.Heliotom (talk) 03:03, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

Self Jewish?
I don't think that if Self is of Jewish descent, it is significant enough to his notability to mention in the article. We certainly can't have him in an ethnic category which is mentioned nowhere else in the article. Thoughts? --The Huhsz (talk) 09:33, 1 September 2019 (UTC)
 * He's addressed it extensively in his writings - indeed, it probably should be addressed in the article. Also WP:BRDBledwith (talk) 09:39, 1 September 2019 (UTC)
 * Let's see your sources then. Meanwhile it stays off, per WP:BLP which takes precedence over the essay WP:BRD. Please don't add or restore any other unsourced material to this article. --The Huhsz (talk) 09:42, 1 September 2019 (UTC)

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/apr/14/british-american-jewish-londoner-will-self https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b5xh33 https://www.interviewmagazine.com/culture/will-self
 * Since there is extensive WP:RS coverage of Self's Jewish heritage in the context of his own discussion of his background and his public statements specifically on this issue I have added a section in his personal history, and re-added the category. This is more than adequate to cover WP:BLP on this category. English people of Jewish descent. Note: this is not discussion about whether he considers himself to be Jewish but in the context of specific discussion of his heritage. Bledwith (talk) 10:30, 1 September 2019 (UTC)

Influences

 * Where is the source that he was influenced by Alasdair Gray? --The Huhsz (talk) 10:33, 1 September 2019 (UTC)
 * Here's the disputed passage: "The influences on his fiction mentioned most frequently include J. G. Ballard whom he considers 'a great mentor', William Burroughs and Hunter S. Thompson. He has cited influences such as Jonathan Swift, Alasdair Gray, Franz Kafka, Lewis Carroll, Joseph Heller and Louis-Ferdinand Céline as formative influences on his writing style."

All of these supposed "influences" would need references. We can't have stuff on a BLP that has been marked as needing a source since 2007! --The Huhsz (talk) 10:39, 1 September 2019 (UTC)
 * The source mentions Celine. All the others would need actual sources. --The Huhsz (talk) 10:47, 1 September 2019 (UTC)
 * And there's a difference between Self saying he loved Gray's work, and it being an "influence" on him. Ideally that would need a third-party source. You know, like lit crit? --The Huhsz (talk) 10:55, 1 September 2019 (UTC)


 * I think an author can self certify on his or her influences...Bledwith (talk) 13:05, 1 September 2019 (UTC)
 * See WP:PRIMARY. --The Huhsz (talk) 13:38, 1 September 2019 (UTC)
 * Bledwith, nobody here is interest in such bullshit. While I will always respect men that are 6 feet 5 inches tall; primary sources are no good to an encyp. Ceoil  (talk) 13:43, 1 September 2019 (UTC)
 * So Self can say of himself and his works, could authoritatively say in an article by a reputable publisher, "I am influenced by XXXX, and I admire YYYY", and that can't go in? What a lot of bollocks you guys come up with sometimes. Go read WP:PRIMARYNOTBADBledwith (talk) 13:53, 1 September 2019 (UTC)
 * I'm glad you like tall men, Ceoil, good for you!Bledwith (talk) 13:55, 1 September 2019 (UTC)
 * Bledwith, unfortunately your doomed in this discussion; wiki just doest work as you, we all, wish it would. However, you are among friends and we can battle through. Ceoil  (talk) 14:53, 1 September 2019 (UTC)