Notes on 'Riddley Walker' (1980) by Russell Hoban (1925-2011)
Set in a quasi-medieval world that can be traced to the County of Kent, United Kingdom, long after a nuclear holocaust has wiped out most of humanity, the tragicomedy Riddley Walker is a high point in nuclear post-apocalyptic fiction. Written in a phonetically corrupted version of English which has come to be known as Riddleyspeak, the novel is a masterpiece in of estrangement. It won the Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel (1982).