Dr. Mukti and Other Tales of Woe

by WillSelf (Author)

• Used

  Hardcover
  2004

  $3.25

  Shiva Mukti is a hardworking and conscientious psychiatrist, who, in the inauspicious surroundings of St Mungo's - a central London hospital of more than average decrepitude - does his level best to staunch the flow of mental illness. But Mukti is not a happy man, beset by thwarted ambition and sexual frustration, he now finds himself in thrall to the more successful and urbane Dr Zack Busner, consultant psychiatrist at Heath Hospital, and an originator of the once modish Quantity Theory of Insanity. Why is it that Busner seems so intent on fostering a professional relationship with Mukti? Is it his way of putting his junior colleague in his place? Or is Busner - as Mukti begins to suspect - a member of a sinister cabal? And what about the schizophrenic patients Busner refers to Mukti for his opinion, are they merely sick people, or in fact human weapons in a bizarre psychological duel?

• Used

  Paperback
  2009

  $3.25

  Dr Mukti and Other Tales of Woe - an astonishing collection by Booker nominee Will Self 'Strange, disquieting, very funny and, frankly, rather frightening' GQ As good as anything he has written ... one of Self's grisliest creations. There is no contemporary writer of fiction more perceptive about psychosis' Financial Times 'Self's enjoyable, intelligent collection of savage stories is splendidly satiric. The title story is a brilliant novella that tells of duelling psychiatrists who use mental patients as weapons. You laugh, but you also flinch' Scotsman 'The conceit of 'Dr Mukti' is as prescient as it is hilarious' Observer 'A destabilizing, funny, abundantly Gothic tour de force' Guardian 'Self is a preternaturally gifted writer. On almost every page of his fiction, one finds stupefyingly arresting images, viciously cutting remarks and hypodermic-sharp social observation' GQ 'Very funny. The flips and folds of Self's writing are as muscular and alarming as ever; there is simply no one else using language in such a manner in Britain today' Independent on Sunday Will Self is the author of nine novels including Cock and Bull; My Idea of Fun; Great Apes; How the Dead Live; Dorian, an Imitation; The Book of Dave; The Butt; Walking to Hollywood and Umbrella, which was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. He has written five collections of shorter fiction and three novellas: The Quantity Theory of Insanity; Grey Area; License to Hug; The Sweet Smell of Psychosis; Design Faults in the Volvo 760 Turbo; Tough, Tough Toys for Tough, Tough Boys; Dr. Mukti and Other Tales of Woe and Liver: A Fictional Organ with a Surface Anatomy of Four Lobes. Self has also compiled a number of nonfiction works, including The Undivided Self: Selected Stories; Junk Mail; Perfidious Man; Sore Sites; Feeding Frenzy; Psychogeography; Psycho Too and The Unbearable Lightness of Being a Prawn Cracker.