Editing Will Self (section)

==Career==
[[File:Willselfauthor.jpg|right|thumb|Self at a 2002 book signing]]
After graduating from [[University of Oxford|Oxford]], Self worked for the [[Greater London Council]], including as a road sweeper, while residing in [[Brixton]].<ref name="you_ask_the_questions">{{cite news| url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/you-ask-the-questions-will-self-672941.html| location=London | work=The Independent | title=You ask the questions: Will Self | date=6 June 2001}}{{dead link|date=August 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> He pursued a career as a cartoonist for the ''[[New Statesman]]'' and other publications and as a [[Stand-up comedy|stand-up]] comedian.<ref name="you_ask_the_questions" /> He moved to [[Gloucester Road, London|Gloucester Road]] around 1985. In 1986 he entered a treatment centre in [[Weston-super-Mare]], where he claimed that his heroin addiction was cured.<ref name="autogenerated2" /> In 1989, "through a series of accidents", he "blagged" his way into running a small publishing company.<ref name="theparisreview.org">{{cite web|url=http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2012/08/09/larger-than-life-an-interview-with-will-self/|title=Larger Than Life: An Interview With Will Self|author=Jacques Testard|date=9 August 2012|work=The Paris Review}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/will-self-is-apple-worthy-of-reverence/#.UuJBvRyQEy4|title=The Book of Jobs |work=prospectmagazine.co.uk}}</ref>

The publication of his short story collection ''[[The Quantity Theory of Insanity]]'' brought him to public attention in 1991. Self was hailed as an original new talent by [[Salman Rushdie]], [[Doris Lessing]], [[Beryl Bainbridge]], [[A. S. Byatt]] and [[Biff Byford|Bill Buford]].<ref name=autogenerated2 /> In 1993, he was nominated by ''[[Granta]]'' magazine as one of the 20 "Best Young British Novelists".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.specialistspeakers.com/?p=1670|title=Will Self|author=Specialist Speakers Profile|work=specialistspeakers.com}}</ref> Conversely, Self's second book, ''[[My Idea of Fun]]'', was "mauled" by the critics.<ref>No 242: Will Self The Guardian (1959–2003) London 16 September 1993: A3.</ref>

Self joined the ''[[The Observer|Observer]]'' as a columnist in 1995.<ref name=autogenerated4 /> In 1997 when covering the election campaign of [[John Major]], he was caught by a rival journalist using [[heroin]] on the Prime Minister's jet; he was fired as a result.<ref name="Addicted_to_transmogrification">{{cite news|last=Wroe|first=Nicholas|title=Addicted to transmogrification|newspaper=The Guardian|date=2 June 2001|url=https://www.theguardian.com/Archive/Article/0,4273,4196343,00.html|access-date=9 February 2007 | location=London}}</ref> At the time, he argued "I'm a hack who gets hired because I do drugs".<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/jun/11/willself | location=London | work=The Guardian | title=Will Self (Author), Books, Culture | date=22 July 2008}}</ref> He joined the ''[[The Times|Times]]'' as a columnist in 1997.<ref name=autogenerated4 /> In 1999 he left the ''Times'' to join the ''[[Independent on Sunday]]'',<ref name=autogenerated4 /> which he left in 2002 for the ''[[Evening Standard]]''.<ref name=autogenerated4 />

He has made many appearances on British television, especially as a panellist on ''[[Have I Got News for You]]'' and as a regular on ''[[Shooting Stars (British TV series)|Shooting Stars]]''. Since 2008 Self has appeared five times on ''[[Question Time (TV programme)|Question Time]]''. He stopped appearing in ''Have I Got News for You'', stating the show had become a ''pseudo''-panel show. Between 2003 and 2006, he was a regular contributor to the BBC2 television series ''[[Grumpy Old Men (TV series)|Grumpy Old Men]]''.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/4145681.stm|title=Why are we so grumpy?|date=5 January 2005|via=news.bbc.co.uk}}</ref>

Since 2009, Self has written two alternating fortnightly columns for the ''[[New Statesman]]''. ''The Madness of Crowds'' explores social phenomena and [[group behaviour]], and in ''Real Meals'' he reviews high street food outlets. For a May 2014 article in ''[[The Guardian]]'', he wrote: "the literary novel as an art work and a narrative art form central to our culture is indeed dying before our eyes", explaining in a July 2014 article that his royalty income had decreased "dramatically" over the previous decade. The July article followed the release of a study of the earnings of British authors that was commissioned by the Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society.<ref>{{cite news|author1=Alison Flood|title=Authors' incomes collapse to 'abject' levels|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jul/08/authors-incomes-collapse-alcs-survey?CMP=twt_gu|access-date=12 July 2014|work=The Guardian|date=8 July 2014}}</ref>

Self is a professor of Modern Thought at [[Brunel University London]]. He was appointed in 2012.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.brunel.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/articles/Will-Self-joins-Brunel-University-as-Professor-of-Contemporary-Thought|title=Will Self|author=Brunel University|work=brunel.ac.uk}}</ref>