Roger Fishbite

Last updated
Roger Fishbite
Roger Fishbite.jpg
Author Emily Prager
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Genre Fiction
Publisher Random House
Publication date
November 1999
Media typePrint
Pages187
ISBN 9780679410539
OCLC 39143159
813.54
LC Class PS3566.R25

Roger Fishbite is a novel by the American writer and journalist Emily Prager, which was published in 1999.

Contents

Themes and literary connections

The novel was written partly as a literary parody of Vladimir Nabokov's 1955 novel Lolita , partly as a "reply both to the book and to the icon that the character Lolita has become." [1] It tells the story of thirteen-year-old Lucky Lady Linderhoff, and her mother, and their lodger, whom Lucky calls Roger Fishbite. [2]

While taking its inspiration from Nabokov's Lolita, Prager's novel is narrated by Lucky, not Fishbite, and displays a number of twists and turns that differ from the original text. Prager also updates the story, setting it in the modern-day period, rather than choosing to set it in the 1950s. [3]

Reviews

At the heart of the novel is the issue that Lucky raises constantly throughout: The way in which children in America (and western society in general, I would add) are hated and feared by a society that seeks to eroticise them whilst at the same time destroying them. [4]

What prevents the novel from devolving into an inside joke is the enthralling voice of Lucky Linderhof, who, at nearly 15, tells her tale with the world-weariness befitting an elder statesman of child abuse. [5]

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Emily Prager is an American author and journalist. Prager grew up in Texas, Taiwan, and Greenwich Village, New York City. She is a graduate of the Brearley School, Barnard College and has a master's degree in Applied Linguistics. She has written for The Daily Telegraph, The New York Times, Penthouse, The Guardian, and Village Voice.

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References

  1. Author's Note, Prager, Emily - Roger Fishbite, Vintage: 1999
  2. ANDREA HIGBIE (May 23, 1999). "Books: Roger Fishbite". the New York Times.
  3. "Emily Prager : Roger Fishbite: A Novel". Bookmooch.com. 1999-03-16. Retrieved 2010-10-13.[ permanent dead link ]
  4. "Roger Fishbite". The F-Word. 2006-07-02. Retrieved 2010-10-13.
  5. "Roger Fishbite". Salon.com. 1999-04-14. Retrieved 2010-10-13.