- Cock and Bull
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This article is about the book. For the 2006 film, see A Cock and Bull Story. For the expression, see Coaching inn#Cock and Bull.
Cock and Bull 
1st editionAuthor(s) Will Self Country United Kingdom Language English Genre(s) Novel Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing Publication date Oct 1992 Media type Print Pages 224 ISBN 0-7475-1274-4 OCLC Number 27136296 Cock and Bull is the title of a volume composed of two novellas by Will Self, which includes the stories Cock and Bull. The two stories are characterized by empty, emotionless, phatic sex; rape; cruelty; and violence. The book was originally published in 1992 by Bloomsbury.[1]
Contents
Plot summaries
Cock
A woman grows a penis and then uses it to rape her tedious, alcoholic husband and his patronising, evangelical mentor from Alcoholics Anonymous. In the story's final twist, the woman comes into non-consensual contact with her violating member, and makes allusions to the Ancient Mariner's Tale.
Bull
A sensitive rugby player cum writer for a small magazine grows a vagina behind his knee. His megalomaniacal general practitioner, having discovered the vagina during an examination, conceals it from Bull, telling him it was 'a burn and a wound', though later visits Bull at home, fixated on this popliteal lingam. The doctor, removing the bandages from the site, reveals the truth, and seduces Bull while he is traumatised and huddled beneath the sink. Gender stereotypes are examined; much fun is made of modern literary criticism and its often clichéd takes on the gender debate.
Reviews
"In recounting such events, Mr. Self demonstrates an uncanny ability, similar to that displayed by Kafka in "The Metamorphosis," to lend utterly absurd events an aura of verisimilitude by grounding the fantastic in the mundane. He possesses all those gifts a satiric writer might want: an eye for the telling detail, an ear for the pretensions of contemporary locution, an ability to write idiosyncratic prose that twinkles with cleverness and wit. Unfortunately, in this volume, these copious gifts are all too frequently put in the service of a misogynistic and ridiculously sophomoric vision. "[2] Michiko Kakutani, New York Times
References
- ^ Cock and Bull by Will Self
- ^ Kakutani, Michiko (1993-05-31). "Comic Novellas on Metamorphoses". New York Times. http://partners.nytimes.com/books/99/09/19/specials/self-bull.html. Retrieved 2009-02-13.
External links
Fiction Cock and Bull (1992) • My Idea of Fun (1993) • Great Apes (1997) • How the Dead Live (2000) • Dorian, an Imitation (2002) • The Book of Dave (2006) • The Butt (2008) • Walking to Hollywood (2010)Short fiction The Quantity Theory of Insanity (1991) • Grey Area (1994) • License to Hug (1995) • The Sweet Smell of Psychosis (1996) • Design Faults in the Volvo 760 Turbo (1998) • Tough, Tough Toys for Tough, Tough Boys (1998) • Dr. Mukti and Other Tales of Woe (2004) • Liver: A Fictional Organ with a Surface Anatomy of Four Lobes (2008) • The Undivided Self: Selected Stories (2009)Non-fiction Junk Mail (1996) • Perfidious Man (2000) v Sore Sites (2000) • Feeding Frenzy (2001) • Psychogeography (2007) • Psycho Too (2009)Categories:- 1992 novels
- Novellas
- British novels
- Novels by Will Self
- Debut novels
- 1990s novel stubs
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