What Is Punch that They are Mindful of Him? Neil Gaiman, Ben Aaronovitch, and Russell Hoban

Abstract

ABSTRACT Neil Gaiman, Ben Aaronovitch, and Russell Hoban follow 18th and 19th century patterns of reappropriation by using Punch puppetry to frame 20th and 21st century problems, a puzzling choice given that current Punch performances modify the action and curb its violence lest it upset very small children. Gaiman uses Punch at the personal level to explore his focal figure’s traumatic memory involving violence within his family. Aaronovitch uses Punch at the political level to explores issues of empire and power; Punch figures both as victim and as an embodiment of imperial and economic power. The world in Hoban’s Riddley Walker, destroyed by nuclear war two millennia previously, uses puppets to present a combination of cultural myth and government propaganda, but Punch puppets enter as the new secular entertainment. Given Riddley Walker’s philosophical fascination with oneness and twoness, Punch and associated puppets admirably suit his moral explorations because the puppeteer has only two hands. The Punch story seems unconnected to our lives today, so having three intriguing and richly imaginative authors use him to frame current problems invites investigation (and promises enjoyment).