" Will Self:Watched Over By Aristocrats..."

Prof Will Self is controversial . No doubt about that.
So when he lolled onto the Town Hall stage, all 6ft 5ins of him ( oh so relaxed in jeans and trainers), standing beneath the beady aristocratic eyes of several of the Westminster's, we sat up in our seats, eager to meet him.
AND we weren't disappointed: his views are as controversial as his writing and his self.

Self's latest book is " Umbrella". It's the story of Audrey D'eath and D'eath has encephalitis lethargica and lies, supine, for 49 years in a London Mental Hospital
Its prose is experimental. Extremel experimentaly: one may not like it! Writers like William Burroughs and James Joyce inflence.
 " Umbrella" is a mix of sci-fi and fantasy.....splashing along as a rapidly flowing " stream of consciousness". It zaps betwixt tenses and time zones....characters and plots....dialogues and settings.
AND while sentences stray and straddle, words bloom into italics ...to shock and surprise.
" The Observer" declared that Readers might require " a bit of a lie-down" after sheltering under this particular umbrella...I think they may well be RIGHT!

BUT IT WAS A TREAT to meet such a brilliant zany character during LitFest.
CHESTER NEEDS FOLK LIKE HIM!
SELF says: " I write to astonish people!" . AND believe me he does!!