Self (novel)

Self (novel)

Infobox Book |
name = Self
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption =
author = Yann Martel
cover_artist = Keith Ng (photo), Jonathan Howells (design)
country = Canada
language = English
series =
genre = Novel
publisher = Alfred A. Knopf, Canada
release_date = April 1996
media_type = Print (Hardcover)
pages = 331 pp
isbn = ISBN 0-394-28160-8
preceded_by = The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios
followed_by = Life of Pi

"Self" is a novel by Yann Martel. It tells the story of a traveling writer who wakes up one morning to discover that he has become a woman. It was first published by Knopf Canada in 1996.

Plot summary

The narrator, at first male, explains various events from his early childhood, living with a traveling family who finally settle in Ottawa, Ontario. He goes on to explain events from his years in private school (including his parents' death), until he graduates and travels to Portugal, where he, on his eighteenth birthday, wakes up as a female.

Surprisingly unfazed by her transformation, the narrator concludes her trip and begins university back in Toronto. She begins writing, and keeps travel in her life, eventually visiting such places as Spain and Thailand, to name a few. She shares romances with a select few — males and females alike. Eventually she gets published, and after graduating, moves to Montreal, where she gets a job as a waitress while continuing to write. At her job she meets Tito, her final love. But as the novel is nearing a conclusion, she is suddenly raped by a vicious neighbour in her secluded apartment and her body reverts to being a male again.

"Self" entails the underlying theme of venturing curiosity. The narrator had an upbringing in which he shares a close relationship with a female friend, without it going any further. This confidant of his allows him to share even the deepest secrets of his life.


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