Pig

A triptych of interconnected short works of alternative fiction comprises Jeff Nuttall’s Pig, which was first published in 1969, shortly after his landmark cultural study, Bomb Culture. ‘I’ll manage some voices next time,’ says a character in ‘The Train’, but in fact a gallery cast of voices and characters emerges throughout the work that includes ‘The Rain’ as well as ‘The Coast’. There’s Jurgens, Mrs Flanders, Mickey/Mickey Boy/Mike Flanders, Andrew Hand, Doctor Gnome, Elvira Death, Miss Fawnfoot, George Gland (‘a man who looks like a pig’), and others, all painted onto a tableaux that ranges from the coast to the pub, from the doctor’s surgey to the train lines of the north, from east London to the Midlands. Rich in language that is finely nuanced, as in all Jeff Nuttall’s work, Pig ultimately goes to the heart of the human condition. Befitting the period in which it was constructed, it also reflects the work of other champions of experimentation, such as Gysin, Beilles, and of course William S Burroughs whose work Nuttall was the first to promote in the United Kingdom.

‘A beautiful and unique structure…. Jeff Nuttall touches his words’

William S Burroughs

‘Jeff Nuttall… was a catalyst, perpetrator and champion of rebellion and experiment’

Michael Horowitz