Russell Hoban

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Russell Hoban in 2005
Russell Hoban in 2005

Russell Conwell Hoban (born February 4, 1925) is an American writer of fantasy, science fiction, mainstream fiction, magic realism, poetry, and children's books. He lives in England.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Hoban was born in Lansdale, just outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of two Jewish Ukrainian immigrants. He was named after Russell Conwell.

After briefly attending Temple University, he enlisted in the Army at age 18 and served in the Philippines and Italy as a radio operator during World War II. During his military service, he married his first wife, Lillian Hoban (née Aberman), who later illustrated many of his books.

Hoban then worked as an illustrator (painting several covers for TIME, Sports Illustrated, and The Saturday Evening Post) and an advertising copywriter—occupations which several of his characters later shared—before writing and illustrating his first children's book, What Does It Do and How Does It Work. He wrote exclusively for children for the next decade, and was best known for his series of short books starring Frances, a temperamental badger child. The Mouse and His Child, a dark philosophical tale for older children, appeared in 1967 and was Hoban's first full-length novel.

In 1969, Hoban, his wife, and their four children travelled to London, intending to stay only a short time. The marriage dissolved, and while the rest of the family returned to the United States, Hoban remained in London and has resided there ever since. All of his adult novels except Riddley Walker, Pilgermann and Fremder are set in whole or part in contemporary London.

Hoban now lives with his second wife, Gundula Ahl; they have three children, one of whom is the composer Wieland Hoban, to whom Riddley Walker is dedicated. Wieland has set one of his father's texts in his piece Night Roads (1998-99).

In 2002 an annual fan activity dubbed the Slickman A4 Quotation Event (SA4QE) began, in which Hoban enthusiasts celebrate his birthday by writing down favourite quotes from his books (invariably on sheets of yellow A4 paper, a recurring Hoban motif) and leave them in public places. The event has now taken place in some 38 cities across 13 countries worldwide and been reported on in the Independent on Sunday[1] and Guardian [2] newspapers.

In 2005 fans from across the world celebrated Hoban's work in London at the first international convention for the author, entitled The Russell Hoban Some-Poasyum (a pun on symposium from Riddley Walker) [3]. A booklet was published by the organisers to commemorate the event featuring tributes to Hoban from a variety of contributors including actor and politician Glenda Jackson, novelist David Mitchell, composer Harrison Birtwistle and screenwriter Andrew Davies.

As of January 2007 Hoban's latest novel Linger Awhile has been released in paperback and his next novel My Tango with Barbara Strozzi is scheduled for publication in November 2007.

[edit] Themes and genres

Hoban is often described as a fantasy writer; only two of his novels, Turtle Diary and The Bat Tattoo, are entirely devoid of supernatural elements. However, the fantasy elements are usually presented as only moderately surprising developments in an otherwise realistic contemporary story, i.e. magic realism. Exceptions include Kleinzeit (a comic fantasy whose characters include Death, Hospital, and Underground), Riddley Walker (generally considered science fiction because of its futuristic though primitive setting), Pilgermann (a historical novel about the Crusades), and Fremder (a more recognisably science-fiction novel).

Many of his novels could also be considered romances, following the development of a relationship between two characters who often take turns as narrators, bonding over some common obsession or artistic interest.

There is frequent repetition of the same images and themes in different contexts: for instance, many of Hoban's works refer to lions, Orpheus, Eurydice, Persephone, Vermeer, severed heads, heart disease, flickering, Odilon Redon, and King Kong.

[edit] Works

[edit] Adult novels

[edit] Selected children's books

[edit] Other works

[edit] Film

Turtle Diary (1985); Screenplay by Harold Pinter; Starring Glenda Jackson, Ben Kingsley and Michael Gambon

[edit] External links

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