John Self
published by Drakkar Press
About the Author
Money (1984), subtitled A Suicide Note, centres
on the aptly named John Self, a film producer who becomes overwhelmed by
a series of catastrophes.
From the entry for Martin Amis in The Oxford
Companion to English Literature (2000), edited by Margaret Drabble.
Why the name is considered apt is a mystery. Our ‘John Self’ is no
fictional character or pseudonym, although he did flirt with using one
because of the unauthorised, scandalous treatment of his own respectable
name. Unlike Martin Amis’s creation, our John Self has led an existence
devoid of scurrility and depravity. He was professor of knowledge-based
systems at the University of Leeds and director of the Computer Based Learning
Unit (although that, in itself, is perhaps a non sequitur). He published
over one hundred papers concerned with artificial intelligence, including
in the major journal of the field, Artificial Intelligence. Most
of his research has been concerned with applications of artificial intelligence
to education. He authored, or co-authored, seven books, including:
He remains far from being suicidal or overwhelmed by catastrophe and is
now:
… a man running alone on Yorkshire fells,
in the mud and the wind, taking literally distance with what the community
thinks and questioning what he himself believes.
Pierre Dillenbourg (2003), Merci John, International
Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education, 13, 19-20.
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