Riddley Walker | Style

Riddley Walker Style

Point of View

Hoban's speaker is Riddley Walker, a twelve year old boy considered a grown man in his world. Riddley's text is a kind of travelogue or diary interspersed with relevant legends and bits of commentary. Riddley is highly intelligent and perceptive, and his often puzzling and cryptic speech - lost on his fellows - should reveal to the canny reader what Russell Hoban means to convey.

Setting

The setting of Riddley Walker is a post-apocalyptic England thrown back to a second Iron Age. The center of this Inland is Cambry, a forest of half-ruined columns and lone-standing arches.

Language and Meaning

Russell Hoban's language is straightforward and excruciating. There are no great tricks or turns of phrase, but it is barely recognizable as English. This was his intention. Hoban wishes to deconstruct language such that it is broken into bites of sound and syllabic similarities. Simply put, he is playing with language to illustrate what...
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