Hipsters - what's not to love:-
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Ah right. So having a pop at a fat mockney TV chef and a group of ludicrous fops is not playing to the gallery with cheap shots? I'm pretty sure there's tumblr sites that beat Self to that gig years ago.
I think there is a middle ground here that Bold Seagull appears to have taken that Self is a brilliant satirist when writing novels but not so elsewhere. I'd go further and add that I think he's nothing more than a thinking man's Russell Brand when giving his opinions for money in the Fourth Estate. I do love your way of describing his writing though. It's a fantastic way of expressing his style. I feel the same way about Umberto Eco. The man is an unadulterated genius, who half the time I have no idea what he's writing about but I just feel privileged to hang on to his coat-tails as he waxes lyrical about yet another obscure subject that he's an expert in.
Aside from Botton or Liddle who I've already mentioned? Martin Amis, Mark Steyn...off the top of my head. Love him or hate him, Peter Hitchens is an extremely versatile, prize-winning writer - have a look at what Peter Kellner says about him if you're in any doubt. There's plenty of hacks with as much range as Will Self
I just don't get your hero-worship of him as a journalist when he's reduced to trying to be controversial about hipsters when the internet has been doing a much better job of that for the last 5 years. Not exactly cutting-edge, is it?
I don't hero worship Self
As to Will Self, he's a genius. Check out him on Orwell, which was one of the greatest assessments you'll come across....The only other cultural figure in the UK that has more invention than Will Self is Chris Morris.
And again:at no point have I hero-worshipped him as a journalist
but can't think of any hack that matches his range -- enlighten us.
Nor has this got anything to do with one article about hipsters (which I didn't read until after my initial comment) but, rather, his output that I'm aware of.
I beg to differ:
And again:
You regard him as a genius, the number 2 cultural figure in invention in the UK. Praise indeed. And he has the broadest range of any UK journalist ("hack"). Any UK journalist. That's some testimonial from you.
That article is part of his output, it's the subject of this thread and you're the one who set the terms of who I was allowed to be comparing him to by asking for comparable 'hacks'. And it's as a hack, rather than as a novelist that he wrote this article about hipsters. I feel similarly about Umberto Eco as you do about Self, and I think my admiration is hero-worship. If you disagree then fair do's but I hope it's easy to see why I would think that when you chuck superlatives around like confetti when writing about Self.