The Quantity Theory of Morality by Will Self review raucously inventive state-of-the-nation satire

"the surface of the collective psyche was like the worn, stripy ticking of an old mattress. If you punched into its coiled hide at any point, another part would spring up there was no action without reaction, no laughter without tears, no normality without its pissing accompanist."

"I estimate that when a social group's morality quotient begins to decline, a sequel of bad behaviour will inevitably be bad feeling, as well. Juries, jewellers, the Jews no matter the size or derivation of the group in question, the new theory applies to all."

Will Self's 1991 debut collection introduced psychiatrist Zack Busner and the Quantity Theory of Insanity, proposing that the collective psyche operates like a mattress where pressure at one point causes displacement elsewhere—no action without reaction, no normality without its opposite. Thirty-five years later, Self revisits Busner in The Quantity Theory of Morality, now presenting an aged Busner who theorizes that morality itself exists in finite supply. When a social group's moral quotient declines, bad behavior and bad feeling inevitably follow, regardless of group size or composition. The novel opens at a Hampstead dinner party featuring various characters including Will himself, a writer observing his own creations navigating personal dramas and social dynamics.

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