I’m knee deep in Russel Hoban’s Riddley Walker, set in an age where written language is forgotten and spoken language has mutated in its own way. As such, the whole of the book is written in this English which makes it hard to understand — but there’s more. It lends itself to wordplay and indulges the inner etymologist in you, often urging you read things out loud as opposed to reading the text internally. I include a sample here :
>! Being the Big 2 they only done ther 4 shows a year regler plus special is now and then but they liket to look like ful time Eusa show men they kep ther faces shavit and all. Orfing the littl 1 he carrit the fit up and Goodparley the big 1 he carrit the weapons the same as regler Eusa show partners done even tho they cudve had the hevvys carry the fit up and the weapons and them as wel. Goodparley had a big face with littl eyes like lookouts looking over the top of a fents and he wer all ways smyling with his big sqware teef. Orfing had a face like a limpit.!<
Along with teaching you the language by context, Hoban intentionally doesn’t reveal the meaning of certain words until you need to know them. At first these caused frustration but when I did gain knowledge that was hidden so far, it was a beautiful quenching of the thirsting mind.
Along with this delightfully touching marvel of writing, one of my favourites Flowers for Algernon also uses this device – it is simply the protagonist’s tongue, and not that of the writer à la Finnegans Wake.
What are your views? And do you know other such books?
by Direct_Bus3341
1 Comment
It’s like reading Chaucer or the Faerie Queene.