Punk Rock as urban fantasy
5 stars
China Mieville turned me on to these children's books, and I treasure them. They were originally published in 1978, 1981 and 1986... not exactly synchronous with the emergence of punk, but for me the parallel is there. They are set in a grotty contemporary London, with descriptions of crumbling landmarks which are now almost certainly gone. Some of the settings were photographed by fans before they disappeared.
The Borribles are a cross between elves and street children. A Borrible never grows up, unless the top of their pointed ears are cut off, thus ending their joyous existence, allowing them to become adults and enter the mundane world of ordinary people - a terrible fate. The vile chief of police is their nemesis, committed to catching every Borrible and clipping their ears.
It might sound like some sort of twee Peter Pan type of thing, but it is gritty and violent, …
China Mieville turned me on to these children's books, and I treasure them. They were originally published in 1978, 1981 and 1986... not exactly synchronous with the emergence of punk, but for me the parallel is there. They are set in a grotty contemporary London, with descriptions of crumbling landmarks which are now almost certainly gone. Some of the settings were photographed by fans before they disappeared.
The Borribles are a cross between elves and street children. A Borrible never grows up, unless the top of their pointed ears are cut off, thus ending their joyous existence, allowing them to become adults and enter the mundane world of ordinary people - a terrible fate. The vile chief of police is their nemesis, committed to catching every Borrible and clipping their ears.
It might sound like some sort of twee Peter Pan type of thing, but it is gritty and violent, an evocation of the war of destruction waged by the establishment against emerging youth culture in the decades after the second world war.
It's nine years since I first read this trilogy, a re-read is due!
