Zack Busner

Last updated

Zack Busner is a recurring character in the fiction of British author Will Self, appearing in the short story collections The Quantity Theory of Insanity , Grey Area , Dr. Mukti and Other Tales of Woe , the novels Great Apes , The Book of Dave , and the 2010s novel trilogy Umbrella , Shark and Phone .

Will Self English writer and journalist

William Woodard Self is an English author, journalist, political commentator and television personality. He has written eleven novels, five collections of shorter fiction, three novellas, and five collections of non-fiction writing.

<i>The Quantity Theory of Insanity</i> book by Will Self

The Quantity Theory of Insanity is a collection of short stories by Will Self. It won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize in 1993.

<i>Dr. Mukti and Other Tales of Woe</i> book by Will Self

Dr. Mukti and Other Tales of Woe is the sixth collection of short stories by Will Self.

Contents

Appearances

As one can never tell if Self intends there to be a coherent storyline, piecing together a backstory for Dr. Busner can be exceedingly difficult. In the story "Inclusion", he is seemingly absorbed by the character Simon Dykes. While some might consider this the end of Busner, he reappears in Great Apes.

Employment and characteristics

He apparently holds an institutional position in the stories "Dr. Mukti" and "Ward 9". Because his previous work is referenced throughout the latter, it can be safely assumed that these events take place after "The Quantity Theory of Insanity".

Busner has also lectured for the Royal Society of Ephemera and has written numerous pieces for their British Journal of Ephemera. It was in this publication that "The Quantity Theory of Insanity" was first published. Despite his age and failing health in "Dr. Mukti" he still provides a formidable opponent to the eponymous character. He is shown to be able to not only accurately predict people's behaviour but to use this along with manipulation to ensure his preferred outcome.

In the short story Inclusion Busner muses that although Psychiatry has been his main focus, he could have gone into any number of fields and that a good epitaph for him might be "He had no interests but interest."

In an interview with DNA India Self described the similarities between Busner and himself

We both grew up in North London; we're both of Jewish heritage (although him more than me), we're both philosophically inclined, we're both highly sexual, we're both rebellious, we're both obsessed by mental illness (although him as a practitioner, me as a writer), we've both been married more than once and have numerous children, we both affect a certain dishabille, we both like Jimi Hendrix. The main difference between us is that he's 27 years older than me and a lot realer. [1]

Inspiration

Busner is a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst practicing in London, and is prone to self-promotion at the expense of his patients. He is often the antagonist of the stories he appears in, although not always with villainous intent. It has been suggested that the character is based on the psychiatrist R. D. Laing [2] and the neurologist Oliver Sacks. [3]

R. D. Laing Scottish psychiatrist and author

Ronald David Laing, usually cited as R. D. Laing, was a Scottish psychiatrist who wrote extensively on mental illness – in particular, the experience of psychosis. Laing’s views on the causes and treatment of psychopathological phenomena were influenced by his study of existential philosophy and ran counter to the chemical and electroshock methods that had become psychiatric orthodoxy. Taking the expressed feelings of the individual patient or client as valid descriptions of lived experience rather than simply as symptoms of mental illness, Laing regarded schizophrenia as a theory not a fact. Though associated in the public mind with anti-psychiatry he rejected the label. Politically, he was regarded as a thinker of the New Left. Laing was portrayed in the 2017 film Mad to Be Normal.

Oliver Sacks British neurologist and writer

Oliver Wolf Sacks, was a British neurologist, naturalist, historian of science, and author. Born in Britain, and mostly educated there, he spent his career in the United States. He believed that the brain is the "most incredible thing in the universe." He became widely known for writing best-selling case histories about both his patients' and his own disorders and unusual experiences, with some of his books adapted for plays by major playwrights, feature films, animated short films, opera, dance, fine art, and musical works in the classical genre.

Related Research Articles

Sanity refers to the soundness, rationality, and health of the human mind, as opposed to insanity. A person is sane if they are rational. In modern society, the term has become exclusively synonymous with compos mentis, in contrast with non compos mentis, or insane, meaning troubled conscience. A sane mind is nowadays considered healthy both from its analytical - once called rational - and emotional aspects. Furthermore, according to Chesterton, sanity involves wholeness, whereas insanity implies narrowness and brokenness.

Anti-psychiatry

Anti-psychiatry is a movement based on the view that psychiatric treatment is more often damaging than helpful to patients. It considers psychiatry a coercive instrument of oppression due to an unequal power relationship between doctor and patient and a highly subjective diagnostic process. It has been active in various forms for two centuries.

<i>Love Story</i> (1970 film) 1970 romantic drama film written by Erich Segal

Love Story is a 1970 American romantic drama film written by Erich Segal, who was also the author of the best-selling novel of the same name. It was produced by Howard G. Minsky and directed by Arthur Hiller and starred Ali MacGraw and Ryan O'Neal, alongside John Marley, Ray Milland, and Tommy Lee Jones in his film debut in a minor role.

Andrea Pia Yates is a former resident of Houston, Texas, who confessed to drowning her five children in their bathtub on June 20, 2001. She had been suffering for some time from very severe postpartum depression, postpartum psychosis and schizophrenia. During her trial, she was represented by Houston criminal defense attorney George Parnham. Chuck Rosenthal, the district attorney in Harris County, asked for the death penalty in her 2002 trial. Her case placed the M'Naghten Rules, along with the irresistible impulse test, a legal test for sanity, under close public scrutiny in the United States. She was convicted of capital murder, but the jury refused the death penalty option. She was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 40 years. The verdict was overturned on appeal, in light of false testimony by one of the expert psychiatric witnesses.

Maurice Evans (actor) English actor

Maurice Herbert Evans was an English actor, noted for his interpretations of Shakespearean characters. His best-known screen roles are Dr. Zaius in the 1968 film Planet of the Apes and as Samantha Stephens's father, Maurice, on Bewitched.

<i>After Many a Summer</i> novel by Aldous Huxley

After Many a Summer (1939) is a novel by Aldous Huxley that tells the story of a Hollywood millionaire who fears his impending death. It was published in the United States as After Many a Summer Dies the Swan. Written soon after Huxley left England and settled in California, the novel is Huxley's examination of American culture, particularly what he saw as its narcissism, superficiality, and obsession with youth. This satire also raises philosophical and social issues, some of which would later take the forefront in Huxley's final novel Island. The novel's title is taken from Tennyson's poem Tithonus, about a figure in Greek mythology to whom Aurora gave eternal life but not eternal youth. The book was awarded the 1939 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction.

Rob Minter

Rob Minter is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Stuart Laing. He made his first appearance on 21 June 2006. Of his new role, Stuart said: "I am really excited about joining EastEnders and am thrilled to be working with the cast – I can’t wait to get stuck in." It was announced on 15 June 2007 he would leave the show at the end of his current storyline. Laing's contract was initially for a few episodes but was soon extended to six months and stayed on for a year in total and departed on 25 June 2007. He is the husband of May Wright and father of Dawn Swann's daughter, Summer Swann.

<i>George of the Jungle</i> (2007 TV series)

George of the Jungle is a Canadian–American animated television series. It is the reboot of the 1967 animated series of the same name, using Flash animation. It is produced in Canada, airing there on Teletoon. The remake mostly stays true to the original production, with a few key differences existing between the two. One episode of the show typically consists of two 12-minute episodes. This is unlike the original cartoon, which featured other stories such as Tom Slick and Super Chicken.

<i>Grey Area</i> (short story collection) collection of short stories

Grey Area is the second collection of short stories by the author Will Self.

<i>Liver: A Fictional Organ with a Surface Anatomy of Four Lobes</i> book by Will Self

Liver: A Fictional Organ with a Surface Anatomy of Four Lobes is the seventh collection of short stories by Will Self. The stories in the collection are all connected to the liver and was described by the author as "...a collection of two novellas and two longer short stories, all on a liverish theme. Each story features different people suffering from different forms of liver damage." Time Out was one of the first publications to review it and said...

"This inspired collection of four stories uses the liver as framework and controlling metaphor – there’s a tale for each lobe – but is less interested in the organ as a metabolic regulator than in what happens when it’s damaged beyond repair. At this point, Self’s gift for (ahem) bilious satire kicks in, its target largely the ‘slapstick of addiction’ – for which the reformed junky has witheringly little time...Self has all the fun you’d expect with this, and the result is satire so vicious it makes Charlie Brooker look restrained."

The Critical Psychiatry Network (CPN) is a psychiatric organization based in the United Kingdom. It was created by a group of British psychiatrists who met in Bradford, England in January 1999 in response to proposals by the British government to amend the 1983 Mental Health Act (MHA). They expressed concern about the implications of the proposed changes for human rights and the civil liberties of people with mental health illness. Most people associated with the group are practicing consultant psychiatrists in the United Kingdom's National Health Service (NHS), among them Dr Joanna Moncrieff. A number of non-consultant grade and trainee psychiatrists are also involved in the network.

John Batty Tuke British psychiatrist

Sir John Batty Tuke PRCPE FRSE LLD was one of the most influential psychiatrists in Scotland in the late nineteenth century, and a Unionist Member of Parliament (MP) from 1900 to 1910. Tuke’s career in Edinburgh from 1863 to 1910 spanned a period of significant social and political changes in asylum governance and care in Scotland. Tuke’s professional success in public and private practice and his powerful role in several prominent medical societies allowed him to influence his colleagues toward a more physiological understanding of mental illness and its treatment.

Joe Hudson (<i>Shortland Street</i>)

Joe Hudson is a fictional character on the New Zealand soap opera Shortland Street who was portrayed by Rawiri Paratene from 2001 to 2002.

"Everybody Dies" is the series finale of the American medical drama television series House. It is the 22nd episode of the eighth season and the 177th overall episode of the series. It aired on Fox in the United States on May 21, 2012. The series finale aired immediately following a retrospective episode, "Swan Song", a two-hour special. The title is a reference to the pilot episode which was called "Everybody Lies". The episode featured cameos from characters in previous seasons including Remy "Thirteen" Hadley, Allison Cameron, Martha Masters, Dominika Petrova, and Stacy Warner, as well as Lawrence Kutner and Amber Volakis who both died in previous seasons but appeared as hallucinations. Notably, Lisa Edelstein who played Dr. Lisa Cuddy in the first seven seasons of House, did not return for the series finale.

<i>Umbrella</i> (novel) book by Will Self

Umbrella is the ninth novel by Will Self, published in 2012.

Shark is the tenth novel by Will Self, published in 2014.

References

  1. Zack Busner is a lot realer than me
  2. R.D. Laing
  3. Great Apes and Oliver Sacks