Psychogeography: Disentangling the Modern Conundrum of Psyche and Place »

Will Self is the acclaimed author of such books as The Quantity Theory of Insanity, Great Apes, How the Dead Live, and The Book of Dave. He won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize and was short listed for the Whitbread. He lives in London. Ralph Steadman is an award-winning cartoonist and illustrator. Renowned as a political and social satirist, he has collaborated with Hunter S. Thompson, illustrated classics such as Alice in Wonderland, Treasure Island, and Animal Farm, and published his own books, including Doodaaa and the memoir, The Joke's Over. They both live in London.

For those interested in the connection between people and place, the best of the decade long collaboration between literary brat packer Will Self and gonzo illustrator Ralph Steadman.

Opening with a dazzling new 20,000-word essay on walking from London to New York, Psychogeography is a collection of 50 short pieces written over the last four years, together with 50 four-color illustrations by Ralph Steadman. In Psychogeography Self and Steadman explore the relationship between psyche and place in the contemporary world. Self thinks most people have a "wind-screen-based virtuality" on long- and short-distance travel. We drive, take buses and trains, fly. To combat this compromised reality, Will Self walks, relating intimately to place, as pedestrians do. Ranging in subject from swimming the Ganges to motorcycling across the Australian outback, shopping in an Iowa mall to surfing a tsunami, Psychogeography is at once a map of our world and the psychoanalysis of the way we inhabit it. The pieces are serious, humorous, facetious, and rambunctious. Psychogeography, the study of the effects of geographical environment on the emotions and behavior of individuals, has captivated other writers including W. G. Sebald and Peter Ackroyd, but Self and Steadman have their own unique spin on how place shapes people and vice versa.

The New York Times - Matt Weiland

"As with Self's novels, the ideas behind his long walks can be more engaging than the walks themselves. This may be because on the page Self is a sprinter, not a distance man; certainly he is at his most perceptive and convincing when writing short and focused little pieces. Which is to say: Self is a natural and excellent columnist."

Contents

Introduction: Walking to New York....................11
South Downs Way....................69
On Péages....................72
Apples or Pears?....................76
High on Merseyside....................80
The Holy City....................83
The Chilterns....................86
Madame Jacquard....................89
Zooming Moulay....................92
Decoys in Iowa....................96
Business as Usual....................99
Canary Dwarf....................102
The Hot Spirit of the Caribbean....................105
Fujian Mind Warp....................108
Côte of Desire....................112
Be Here Now....................116
Spin City....................119
Hitler in Rio....................123
A Handful of Carbohydrate....................126
Thai Strip....................130
Modelling the Neapolitan....................134
Bend Sinister....................138
Sizewell Again....................141
Bouncy Metropolis....................145
Back to the Renaissance....................149
The Sound of the Suburbs....................152
Right to Urban Roaming....................155
Havana ... in Brighton....................158
Line of Control....................162
Teatowel Archipelago....................166
Tsunami....................170
Rotten Smoke....................173
The Stones of Rome....................176
Foulness....................179
Spain - the Final Frontier....................183
In the Garden....................187
Tea Time in Turkey....................191
Deliverance - Doggy Style....................194
Fantastic MrFox....................197
Feng Shui in Singapore....................200
The Fugitive....................204
Black Cloud....................207
The Vatican at Sea....................210
Canalised....................214
Middle Earth....................218
Kate Moss or Moss?....................221
Where's Papa?....................225
Sweaty Hearth....................229
Pink, Fluffy Barcelona....................232
The Art of Lobster....................235
I Am a Cable Car....................238
Wild Water....................242
Beard in Space....................245
Romantic Services....................249
Newfoundland....................253