The Sweet Smell of Psychosis

First edition

Author| Will Self
Illustrator| Martin Rowson
Language| English
Publisher| Bloomsbury Publishing

Publication date

| 15 May 1997
Publication place| United Kingdom
Media type| Print (Paperback)
Pages| 92 pp
ISBN| 978-0-7475-3154-8
OCLC| 59651939

The Sweet Smell of Psychosis is English writer Will Self's first published novella. It was printed by Bloomsbury Books in 1996 and features illustrations by Martin Rowson.

Richard Hermes is a London journalist who lives a life of drudging days and cocaine fuelled nights. He falls in with a local media personality called Bell and his crew which includes the delightful and attractive Ursula. Ursula is also a media type writing a good sex column. As Richard attempts to get closer and closer to her, he finds himself consuming more and more until finally psychosis begins to break in.

## Plot

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## Reception

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This section contains too many or overly lengthy quotations. Please help summarize the quotations. Consider transferring direct quotations to Wikiquote or excerpts to Wikisource. (February 2023)

|

In reviewing the book Katherine Guckenberger concludes:

> "Self's message is clear: life is ugly and ironic, and the sooner one figures this out, the sooner one can not overcome it but accept it."

> [1]

Brian Budzynski writing for the Center for Book Culture observed:

> "Self’s satirical indictment of urban literary culture is defined within his prose by Richard’s voice, "brusque to the point of rank rudeness". With an air of contempt and "expensively studied disregard", Self’s characters endeavor to persevere within the "knots of desperation" that they have created. One can’t help but think that Self implicates himself as a fellow "hack"; his language perfectly reflects a subculture that is as mysterious as it is dangerous and intriguing."

> [2]

## References

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1. ^ http://weeklywire.com/ww/11-08-99/boston_books_1.html Boston Phoenix Review
2. ^ http://www.centerforbookculture.org/review/bookreviews/00_1/sweetsmell.html Center for Book culture Archived 25 December 2004 at the Wayback Machine

## External links

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Will Self.

* Official Will Self site
* Will Self at IMDb

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Will Self

Fiction|

* Cock and Bull (1992)
* My Idea of Fun (1993)
* Great Apes (1997)
* How the Dead Live (2000)
* Dorian, an Imitation (2002)
* The Book of Dave (2006)
* The Butt (2008)
* Walking to Hollywood (2010)
* Umbrella (2012)
* Shark (2014)
* Phone (2017)

Short fiction|

* The Quantity Theory of Insanity (1991)
* Grey Area (1994)
* License to Hug (1995)
* The Sweet Smell of Psychosis (1996)
* Tough, Tough Toys for Tough, Tough Boys (1998)
* Dr. Mukti and Other Tales of Woe (2004)
* Liver: A Fictional Organ with a Surface Anatomy of Four Lobes (2008)

Nonfiction|

* Junk Mail (1996)
* Perfidious Man (2000)
* Sore Sites (2000)
* Feeding Frenzy (2001)
* Psychogeography (2007, with illustrations by Ralph Steadman)
* Psycho Too (2009, with illustrations by Ralph Steadman)
* The Unbearable Lightness of Being a Prawn Cracker (2012)
* Will (2019)

Related|

* Deborah Orr (second wife)
* Peter Self (father)
* Jonathan Self (brother)
* Henry Self (grandfather)

*[OCLC]: Online Computer Library Center number
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