Editing Will Self (section)

==Early life==
Self was born in [[Charing Cross Hospital]]<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/sep/18/would-that-all-journeys-were-on-foot-writers-on-the-joy-of-walking|title='Would that all journeys were on foot': writers on the joy of walking|author=Guardian Staff|newspaper=The Guardian |date=18 September 2018|via=www.theguardian.com}}</ref> and brought up in [[north London]], between the suburbs of [[East Finchley]] and [[Hampstead Garden Suburb]].<ref name=autogenerated3>{{cite news|last=Charney|first=Noah|title=Will Self: How I Write|url=http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/01/09/will-self-how-i-write.html|access-date=9 January 2013|newspaper=The Daily Beast|date=9 January 2013}}</ref> His parents were [[Peter Self|Peter John Otter Self]], Professor of Public Administration at the [[London School of Economics]], and Elaine Rosenbloom, from [[Queens]], [[New York City|New York]], who worked as a publisher's assistant.<ref>M. Hunter Hayes ''Understanding Will Self'', p.7</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/may/09/willself#article_continue | location=London | work=The Guardian | first=Sarah |last=Kinson | title=Books, Culture, Will Self (Author) | date=9 May 2007}}</ref><ref name="Hayes2007">{{cite book|author=M. Hunter Hayes|title=Understanding Will Self|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jRVfQI82hx8C&pg=PA7|year=2007|publisher=University of South Carolina Press|isbn=978-1-57003-675-0|page=7}}</ref> His paternal grandfather was [[Henry Self|Sir Albert Henry Self]]. Self spent a year living in [[Ithaca, New York|Ithaca]] in [[upstate New York]].<ref name=autogenerated3 />

Self's parents separated when he was nine, and divorced when he was 18.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/jun/15/biography.review | location=London | work=The Guardian | first=Will | last=Self | title=Biography (Books genre), Books, Culture | date=15 June 2008}}</ref> Despite the intellectual encouragement given by his parents, he was an emotionally confused and self-destructive child, harming himself with [[cigarette]] ends and knives before beginning to use drugs.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://72.166.46.24/archive/features/00/11/09/WILL_SELF1.html |title=Living Will |access-date=5 July 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928003618/http://72.166.46.24/archive/features/00/11/09/WILL_SELF1.html |archive-date=28 September 2007 |url-status=dead  }}</ref>

Self was a voracious reader from a young age. When he was 10, he developed an interest in works of science fiction such as [[Frank Herbert]]'s ''[[Dune (novel)|Dune]]'' and the works of [[J. G. Ballard]] and [[Philip K. Dick]].<ref name="auto1">{{cite web |last1=Self |first1=Will |title=My hero JG Ballard by Will Self |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/nov/14/jg-ballard-hero-will-self |website=The Guardian |date=14 November 2009}}</ref><ref name="auto3">{{cite web |last1=Barker |first1=Nicola |last2=Moorcock |first2=Michael |last3=Roberts |first3=and Adam |title=The Philip K Dick book I love most… |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/aug/27/philip-k-dick-best-novels-blade-runner-minority-report |website=The Observer |date=27 August 2017}}</ref> Into his teenage years, Self claimed to have been "overawed by the canon", which stifled his ability to express himself. Self's use of drugs increased in step with his prolific reading. He started smoking [[cannabis (drug)|cannabis]] at the age of 12, progressing by way of [[amphetamines]], [[cocaine]] and [[LSD]] to [[heroin]], which he started injecting at 18.<ref name="autogenerated2">{{Cite journal |last=Finney |first=Brian |date=2001 |title=Will Self's Transgressive Fictions |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/article/27742 |journal=Postmodern Culture |volume=11 |issue=3 |doi=10.1353/pmc.2001.0015 |s2cid=144272638 |issn=1053-1920}}</ref> Self struggled with mental health issues during this period, and aged 20 became a hospital [[outpatient]].<ref name="auto">{{cite web|url=http://www.interviewmagazine.com/culture/will-self|title=Will Self|author=John Freedman|date=11 April 2014|work=Interview Magazine}}</ref>

Self attended [[University College School]], an [[independent school]] for boys in [[Hampstead]].<ref>''[[Have I Got News For You?]]'', Series 13 episode 1</ref> He later attended [[Christ's College, Finchley]], from where he went to [[Exeter College, Oxford]], reading [[Philosophy, Politics and Economics]] and graduated with a third class degree.<ref name="autogenerated2" /> At Oxford, he was editor of and frequent contributor to an underground left-wing student newspaper called ''Red Herring/Oxford Strumpet'', copies of which are archived in the [[Bodleian Library]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Search result showing location of Oxford Strumpet in Bodleian Library |url=http://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/permalink/f/89vilt/oxfaleph012331051 |website=Bodleian Library |access-date=9 February 2021}}</ref>