When I was a child, I had a book (maybe you did, too) called
A Bargain for Frances. In it, a little girl (okay, she's a badger) is tricked out of her money and a coveted tea set by her friend Thelma, who wants the tea set for herself. The clever Frances, rather sadly, outwits Thelma and exposes the swindle.
.“That is not a very nice trick to play on a friend,” says Thelma. “From now on, I will have to be careful when I play with you.”
.“Being careful is not as much fun as being friends,” says Frances. “Do you want to be careful, or do you want to be friends?”
.It’s a children’s book, so Thelma says she wants to be friends and they go to the candy store and share some candy and everything’s fine. But Frances’s question, as many of my closest friends know, became a part of my ongoing philosophy. I tend to be a bit overly trusting, and thus easily utilized. I have learned to watch for a look in a prospective friend’s eye, a look that says,
How can I use this person to my own ends? Sometimes, I can get past that and find the real person behind it. Sometimes, I can’t. Sometimes the person turns out to be Thelma, and she doesn’t really want to be friends. In general, though, it's true: being careful is not as much fun as being friends. And once I decide to trust, careful goes out the window. It's worth the risk.
.The book was written by Russell Hoban, and when I first met Scott, I told him about it. He was startled at the author’s name and hauled his favorite novel off the shelf:
Riddley Walker, by none other than Russell Hoban. It turned out that he had written many novels in addition to his popular children’s books.
.I’ve read most of them at this point, and Hoban is in my top five list of authors. His view of the world fascinates me, and in fact it’s very close to my own. There’s a sense that we can only catch glimmers of meaning, as though the universe is aware of its own purpose but can only impart it to us through random clues, hidden messages, puzzles. You can find these clues in ancient myths or in bus schedules, opera arias or Kinks songs. All you can do is keep looking. And laugh when you find them, at least sometimes. I find a lot of Hoban’s writing hilarious.
Kleinzeit is a comedic favorite of mine. I would recommend that odd little novel to absolutely anyone.
Turtle Diary, too. If you're interested in trying Hoban for the first time, try that one. And, of course,
Riddley Walker, which Scott read out loud to me in the first few weeks we were together. It’s a post-apocalyptic story written in a mutated, futuristic northern English patois that
has to be read aloud, really. I believe that book is what really made Hoban a true cult novelist. Cormac McCarthy’s
The Road has apparently recently been compared to it. If that’s the case, it’s definitely next on my reading list.
.Anyway. The point is,
today is Russell Hoban’s 85th birthday. On his birthday every year, Hoban fans leave Russell Hoban quotes on pieces of yellow paper (a reference to
Kleinzeit) in public places. I got in on the game this year. I left mine in a defunct newspaper vending machine at the Ypsilanti bus terminal.
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The paper says:
I exist, said the mirror.
What about me? said Kleinzeit.
Not my problem, said the mirror.
--Russell Hoban, Kleinzeit
http://sa4qe.blogspot.com/ .
I don't know about you, but on some mornings I have that very conversation with my mirror.
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So – happy birthday, Russell Hoban. Thank you for helping us find our way to go where them Chaynjis take us.
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A related link from the Londonist: Look Out for Yellow Paper on Russell Hoban Day
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