OC.TREI%CU20B%COLUMBIA@sri-unix.UUCP (09/27/84)
From: Peter G. Trei <OC.TREI%CU20B@COLUMBIA> > I'm trying to locate a science fiction book. I read part of it a > couple of years ago and returned it to the library. Since then, > I've been unable to find it again because I forgot both the author > and the title. > It is set in the post-nuclear-war future in Great Britain. > Civilization and science have degenerated. Representatives of the > government (called "the ram") travel around giving a puppet show > with propagandistic overtones. A principal character in the show ie > "Eusa" or something like that. From the context it seems like a > misspelling of USA. There are a number of ritual sites located in a > circular pattern around the country. In fact, the title way well > include something like "circle" or "ring" or something like that. > The main character teams up with a mutant of some sort. That's > about all I remember. > Any leads to the book - title, author or anything else would be > greatly appreciated. Thank you. > Doug Anderson > AT&T Bell Laboratories > houxf!dma There is no doubt in my mind that you were reading RIDDLEY WALKER, by Russel Hoban (1980 Summit Books $12.95, ISBN 0-671-42147-6). One of the major points of interest of RW was its writing style, which I can best show by entering the first paragraph: On my naming day when I come 12 I gone front spear and kilt a wyld boar he parbly ben the las wyld pig on the Bundel Downs any how there hadnt been none for a long time befor him nor I aint looking to see none agen. He dint make the groun shake nor nothing like that when he come on to my spear he wernt all that big plus he lookit poorly. He done the reqwryt he ternt and stood and clattert hes teef and made his rush and there we were then. Him on 1 end of the spear kicking his life out and me on the other end watching him dy. I said, 'Your tern now my tern later.' The other spears gone in then and he were dead and the steam coming up off him in the rain and we all yelt, 'Offert!'. The entire book (220 pages) is written in this style; after a remarkably short time you cease to notice it. Back when it first came out, RW has highly praised by many critics outside the SF field; I cant remember, but I think it won the Pulitzer Prize. (??) It is definitely worth going to some trouble to find. Peter Trei oc.trei%cu20b@columbia-20.arpa -------