Egg Thoughts and Other Frances Songs

Marjorie Ingall reviews the 2018 exhibition at the Beinecke Library of Russell and Lillian Hoban's collaborations, with an emphasis on Lillian. Includes some fascinating details from private interviews with the Hobans' children, as well as remarks on the manuscripts on display at the exhibition including an unpublished Frances title.

Michael Dirda's round-up of the best American fiction in this article dated 1 June 1997 names Russell Hoban: 'at his best he is the finest all-round writer in the world: author of brilliant picture books (about Frances the Badger and Captain Najork); of a wistful, Beckett-like parable for middle readers, The Mouse and His Child; and of the inspired Riddley Walker, a post-nuclear holocaust Huckleberry Finn, told in fractured English, largely about spiritual regeneration. Like this last's youthful hero, Hoban remains at heart a "connection man," looking for meaning beneath the surfaces of life.'