March 15, 2026
Will vs. Self: Internet has thoughts
The Passion of Will Self
Will Self vs cancer: raw, raging — comments split between sympathy and 'miserable misanthrope'
TLDR: Author Will Self faces blood cancer and releases a novel mirroring his own decline, serving pain, faith doubts, and barbed wit. Commenters split between calling him a brave truth-teller and a relentless misanthrope, with wordplay on “Will” and “Self” and memes about his Russian roulette quip fueling the drama.
Will Self’s latest interview is a gut punch and a gauntlet. The writer behind The Quantity Theory of Insanity now faces blood cancer and has written a sequel, The Quantity Theory of Morality, where a fictional Self dies at 64 — the age he’s approaching. He details a brutal stem-cell transplant and years of graft-versus-host disease (when donor cells attack you), the nonstop itch, the steroid burns, and losing the ability to walk. He’s still combative, cracking black jokes about Russian roulette odds and taking swipes at political foe Alastair Campbell. But the real fireworks are online.
One camp rolls its eyes: user rwmj calls him “as miserable and misanthropic” as ever, arguing the performance hasn’t changed, only the stakes have. Another camp goes full philosophy class. User samirillian riffs on nominative determinism and faith, musing that the “Self” can’t simply will belief — a sly nod to the author’s flirtation with Christianity he says he can’t quite reach. Meanwhile, mitchbob drops the archive link like a mic, fueling the pile-on.
Jokes fly about “Will vs Self” and the bleak “one bullet in five” line becoming a meme. The big split: raw bravery versus tired brand. Is this a man in pain telling hard truths, or a lifelong provocateur doubling down? The comments can’t decide — and that’s why they can’t look away.
Key Points
- •Will Self has secondary myelofibrosis and underwent a stem‑cell transplant that led to chronic graft‑versus‑host disease (GvHD).
- •His new novel, The Quantity Theory of Morality, is a sequel to his 1991 debut and depicts a fictional Self dying of blood cancer at age 64; he is currently halfway through that age year.
- •Self reports an estimated 80% chance of surviving two more years post‑transplant.
- •GvHD symptoms require thrice‑daily steroid cream and have caused persistent itching, neuropathy from antihistamines, and loss of mobility that halted his habitual long walks.
- •The article recounts Self’s 2000s UK media prominence (Radio 4, Question Time, Have I Got News for You) and his combative commentary on New Labour figures, notably Alastair Campbell and the Iraq dossier.