Roger Fishbite

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

Themes and literary connections

The novel was written partly as a literary parody of Vladimir Nabokov’s 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, who Lucky calls Roger Fishbite.^[2]

Whilst 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 nineteen fifties.^[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]

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.
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.

External links

• Emily Prager's page at Random House