Will Self’s article “Some Like it Hot” appeared on The Independent website. What Self is essentially doing is poking
fun at people’s laziness when it comes to traveling. He discusses how people, instead of traveling to “diminishing
equatorial rainforest,” just go to the local sauna, which reproduces a similar
climate. Later in the article,
Self tells the story of when he got a massage only to realize, when he turned
around for a little “something extra” that it was a boy who was giving him the
massage. While the tone is
certainly comedic and ironic, it seems that Self is trying to shed light on
more important social behaviors.
Similarly, in Cock
and Bull, there are many instances of humor that are undercut by more
serious social criticism.
Certainly Carol’s dilemma of sprouting a penis is amusing because it is
so strange and uncomfortable, but it is clearly, like The Metamorphosis, a manifestation of, a reaction to, something
more serious in her life. She
struggles to find happiness as a married woman and is fed up with Dan’s drunkenness. When she finally begins to explore her
body through masturbation she discovers that she is also growing a penis. Is the penis a reaction to the masturbation, and the empowerment she experiences
as a result of self-given orgasms?
Perhaps the penis is a manifestation of her independence from Dan – of he
autonomy as a woman?
Biographically speaking I could not find an article that
shed light on Cock and Bull, but
it is clear that Self’s work is provocative and controversial because he
explores things that most people would rather not recognize as real. A woman sprouting a penis is very
unlikely, but the feelings Carol experiences are very real.
The article I read can be found here:
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