The Irresponsible Self

The book I took back to the library today, even though I haven't got round to reading it yet, was:



The Irresponsible Self: On Laughter and the Novel
by
James Wood

My interest was sparked by reading this article in The Guardian (for whom he used to be the chief literary critic) which was distilled from the book's introduction. (You can read an extract from the book itself here.)

Wood seems to be a popular critic (if that's not an oxymoron) judging by the opening paragraph of this (quite critical) review in The Telegraph. (And what do you call critics who critique other critics anyway, my friends?) He was also one of the judges who awarded the 1994 Booker Prize to James Kelman for How Late It Was, How Late, causing some wag to suggest it be renamed the Fooker Prize because of Kelman's excessive use of vulgar vernacular.

I knew Wood from his novel The Book Against God which I read last year. Although I have to say that it wasn't particularly memorable - which is surely the most important aspect of any book. However, The Irresponsible Self is a collection of twenty-odd essays about comedy in literary fiction - and that is a strangely compelling combination, like sweet and sour. So I really would like to get round to reading this one - maybe sometime in the next few months. Then again, maybe I should read a few more of the books he discusses first... Oh, as if.