Russell Hoban's seminal 1980 science fiction novel Riddley Walker, a vision of post apocalyptic England in an unspecified but distant future, was celebrated for its demiurgic ambition and ideological lampooning. Perhaps it greatest achievement, however, is the incredible facility with language creation that gives this work its momentum. Oscillating between a deep past and spurious future-present, Hoban amalgamates a phonetic Kentish dialectic with the technological buzzwords of the twentieth century his world consistently misremembers. Hoban has joined a long line of localised neologists and dialecticians, from Joyce through Burgess, all of whom placed the fulcrum of inventive possibility and political satire in that first act of linguistic invention. Here Will Self, an author whose own work The Book of Dave sought to continue that tradition, meets Hoban thirty years since Riddley Walker was published. Self is one of the consummate cultural commentators of his generation, his intellectual breath matched only by an uncompromisingly sharp humour. Each appearance is a unique performance and in this company he is sure to be at his acerbic best.
Russell Hoban and Will Self in Conversation is at the Conference Centre, British Library on Tuesday 15 February at 18:45. All tickets are £3.
Peter J. Maxwell
