The Review of Contemporary Fiction
The Sweet Smell of Psychosis by Will SelfBrian Budzynski
Will Self. The Sweet Smell of Psychosis. Illustrated by Martin Rowson. Grove, 1999. 89 pp. Paper: $15.00.
Self’s body of work is perhaps best termed as idiosyncratic; its rendering of the unusual and perverted as familiar and attractive is wonderful. In this sense, The Sweet Smell of Psychosis is nothing short of incredible. The book follows the protagonist, Richard, on a drug-induced tour of the underground “hack” world of London. He runs with a group of small-time journalists and hoods—all of them “charming their isle of tedium,” and all under the hypnotic control of Bell, “superhack” and media demigod. It is Richard’s obsession with Bell that leads him deeper and deeper into a climate of nocturnal cocaine benders and sexual delirium. 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. This book suggests the question: Do all writers fall victim to this sort of vapid, misled lifestyle?
A brilliant satire to the shockingly poetic end, and well served by Martin Rowson’s illustrations—which make visual the twisted atmosphere of Self’s frank prose—The Sweet Smell of Psychosis is an excellent addition to a defiant body of work—hilarious, fantastic, rude. [Brian Budzynski]