Self on Sebald

The English Center of PEN has published some notes from a talk Will Self gave on W.G. Sebald, loosely based on the novel he (Self) wrote as a sort of homage to Sebald:

Primed with this affinity and inspired by the writer's picaresque, Self embarked on one of Sebald's walks, both virtually and literally: 'I thought somewhere between these two places lay Sebald's world.' But after his three-and-a-half day journey from Flamborough on the east coast of Yorkshire to Spurn Head, Self was in a 'terrible state' and 'completely overtaken' by Sebald. 'People talk about a writer's influence. When I did the walk I felt Sebald on my shoulders; I felt so possessed by Sebald, I was talking Sebaldian notes… I'm not that fond of my literary style but I missed it!' Thankfully, Self has since recovered. However, he was not convinced that there could be a new generation of post-Sebaldians, 'like post-Wordsworthians walking the Lake District', as Hopkinson ventured. While Sebald marched with psychogeographic writers like Iain Sinclair, Self contended that the former was 'more interested in the ambulatory as a way of ridding the man machine matrix - the prescribed mechanised way of living off credit cards to rush to the Maldives and make it sink.' He concluded: 'I would say Sebald is unique but I don't think there can be a school of Sebalds in that way.'

And later on:

An audience member, who was once a student of Sebald's at UEA, declared that he also used to actively avoid fiction, although he would take it to the extreme by reading trade magazines and even phone books.

Comments

[Kevin Arthur]

I didn't know Will Self's Psychogeography had a Sebald connection. I think the Ralph Steadman cover suggests anything but that, which is probably why I hadn't noticed it before.