RIP Russell Hoban

Just noticed in The Guardian that Russell Hoban died. (It will take US papers another week to decided whether it’s worth reporting. We’re so insular much of the time.)

Hoban wrote nearly non-stop, trying in the past twenty years or so to complete a book a year. His two best, going back still further, were The Mouse and His Child (the most adult, which is to say “mature,” children’s book I know) and Riddley Walker (the best apocalyptic novel I know, though The Road comes close).

guardian.co.uk/books/2011/de … an-dies-86

ps

Nice piece on Russell Hoban in The Guardian by Will Self:

My hero: Russell Hoban by Will Self

Sentence from the end of the article:

'He spoke about his writing methods, saying that he never planned anything, just sat down at the typewriter and worked it out on the page.’

Probably saying far more than the sum of its words.

Interesting link from one of the comments: sa4qe.blogspot.com/2011/02/russe … -will.html Look for the video of Self reading excerpt from Riddley Walker
Vic

Article from Salon magazine:

Russell Hoban: The last cult writer