Riddley Walker (Magill’s Guide to Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature)
At a glance:
- Author: Russell Hoban
- First Published: 1980
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Science fiction—post-holocaust
- Time of Work: About 4500
- Setting: England
- Genres: Long fiction, Science fiction, Apocalyptic and catastrophe fiction
- Subjects: Dogs, Future, England or English people, Nuclear warfare or weapons
- Locales: England
The Plot
Riddley Walker concerns the efforts of leaders in post- holocaust England to recapture what they perceive to be the glories of civilization destroyed by what the reader knows to have been nuclear war. Unfortunately, the leaders do not realize what the reader knows, and their efforts to reclaim past glories focus, ironically, on reconstructing the invention that led to the destruction of civilization: the atomic bomb. The novel’s young hero, Riddley Walker, must decide what part he will play in these efforts.
The novel begins with Riddley, as a...
[The entire page is 1007 words long]
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