J.G. Ballard at his home, Shepperton, United Kingdom, 2004
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Striking the keys of the same typewriter that once sat under J.G. Ballard’s fingers, Will Self reimagines the legendary writer’s last days.
J.G. Ballard at his home, Shepperton, United Kingdom, 2004
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‘The anglophone world, we have to infer, has run out of words for its own feelings.’
Daisy Hildyard on the wisdom of scarecrows.
‘What is the read receipt for?’
Lillian Fishman on texting, power and the ethics of leaving a friend on read.
‘Like pretty much everyone who uses the internet, I have seen many terrible things that I did not search for and that I cannot unsee.’
Rosanna McLaughlin on what the internet thinks she wants.
‘I have a pathological addiction to the internet, which I indulge with the excuse of making art. It rarely translates to anything good and mostly leaves me overstimulated and afraid.’
Paul Dalla Rosa on excess and the internet.
‘rumors of bees on speedwell, / no oxidative stress just / effortless pollination’
Two poems by Sylvia Legris.
Will Self is the author of numerous novels, including The Book of Dave. In 1993 he was named as one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists.
More about the author →In this episode of the podcast, Max Porter, author of Grief is the Thing with Feathers reads ‘False Blood’ by Will Self.
Will Self and Mark Doty's discussion with Granta publisher Sigrid Rausing about blood, the surprising relationship between Bram Stoker and Walt Whitman and the nature of addiction.
‘The only real universals are that we all live – and, of course, we all must die.’
‘I had been struggling – as every wannabe writer should – with what it was that I could conceivably write.’
Will Self on the influence of J.G. Ballard.
‘To explain what I now feel for the pipe I must paraphrase the writer Robert Stone’s remarks on hard drugs: I admire it from afar.’
‘Everybody’s face looks different at night, especially outside. You see their real faces.’
A new story by Sam Munson.
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