Appendix Gamma --- Riddley Walker by Russel Hoban

By far, Riddley Walker is the most unique Post Apocalyptic Novel I think I have ever read. It was published in 1980, but Hoban started writing it in 1974 after a trip to Canterbury Cathedral. He won the John W. Campbell Award in 1982 which tells you that, although this is quality writing, it has been rather slow to gain popularity. Since its first publication it has also been a Play (Hoban wrote the script for this in 1986) and also a Puppet Show (Trouble Puppets of Austin TX) and Hoban helped them with their show as well. You can catch a few scenes from the play on youtube, but not much, and the DVD remains rare and elusive. So, you are just gonna have to read it, Mutie!

I admit, with a certain amount of shame, that this work remained unknown to yours truely until two years ago when my pal Travis sent me a copy for Yule. It sat on my test for a month before I picked it up...man, sometimes I am stupid! I regret not having been exposed to this book sooner. Its fantastic and without spoilers I will tell you why.

The narrative is in the form of diary entries by the title character, Riddley Walker, himself and takes place in Southern England two thousand years in the future, after a nuclear war. The technology level of this society is as it was in Iron Age England, but they do not mine the metal...they dig up the old buried technology and re-purpose or smelt it for the metal. This is not the best thing about Riddley's world. In this future the government and religion have merged and are controlled by teams of puppeteers who use Punch and Judy puppets as both gospel and propaganda. I know...it sounds strange, but you have to read it for the full effect. Riddley Walker presents his diary in the dialect of the time which takes a bit to get used to. The reader is forced to slow down and take it all in...and think about what they are reading. For some idea of the linguistics of the thing, Riddley Walker was an obvious influence on Beyond Thunderdome. The dialect that the children speak is a simplified version of it and some mythic characters from the book are human characters in Thunderdome. The most obvious of these is Auntie Entity, who in the book is the personification of Death. There is a rhyme that says of her "Stoan boans and iron tits and teef be twean her legs". Also, those of you familiar with Thunderdome also notice that the saviour that the kids are waiting for is named...Capt. Walker.

Hoban includes future iterations of children's rhymes, full blown mythic narratives and a whole lot of other goodies.

If you read one book this year, make it Riddley Walker! It has appeal that reaches beyond the Post Apoc, into religion, technology, linguistics, folklore and a host of other things. Treat yourself to this one.

I treat you now to the Wood of Stoan...