The walking novelist
Aside from writing books, Will Self also takes walks. Epic walks.
The New York Times devotes ink and a photo slideshow to documenting Self’s 20-mile trek from New York’s Kennedy airport to his hotel. Accompanied on this walk by Times writer Charles McGrath, Self smokes hand-rolled cigarettes with the help of a classy cigarette holder, stops for lunch, and waxes philosophic about walking.
“‘People don’t know where they are anymore,’ he said, adding: ‘In the post-industrial age, this is the only form of real exploration left. Anyone can go and see the Ituri pygmy, but how many people have walked all the way from the airport to the city?’”
It’s worth noting that in Self’s latest book, The Book of Dave, the main character, a London taxi driver, leaves the city and takes a long walk to the country as part of his healing process.
Although there are hints that on this six-hour journey Self and McGrath talked about books, including Self’s latest, the article is more concerned with Self’s new hobby. “‘Alcohol and drugs tend to keep you from taking walks,’ he said while in New York. ‘Or at least walks of the right kind,’ and he added that walking made him feel better than drugs ever had. ‘But I’m not addicted,’ he said. ‘I don’t need to score a walk.’”
Related links:
Follow Self’s footsteps at the Times
