the sh*t from the shinola
The Edinburgh Fringe Festival begins tomorrow. To deter the flyer-foisting thespians, performance artists and cursed jugglers, swamping the Royal Mile like bubonic vermin, we suggest handing out your own flyers emblazoned perhaps with the message, “I will take all of your lives.” Alternatively, follow 3:AM‘s brief guide to this year’s choice literary events (all free […]
It’s the Future, Jim, But Not as We Know It
This year is the 30th anniversary of the publication of Russell Hoban’s Riddley Walker. Riddley Walker is The Greatest Book I Have Ever Read, which means that, in solipsistic terms, it is also The Greatest Book Ever Written. It is incredibly complex and layered, rich in symbolism. It is essentially a work of science-fiction, set in a post-post-nuclear Kent, England, approximately 2000-2500 years in the future (the characters themselves are unsure and can only give a rough estimate). It is written in a kind of medieval Chaucerian post-apocalyptic patois, reminiscent of the abbreviated text/web language found in ever-increasing usage today.
Charlotte Young on Russell Hoban‘s masterpiece.