Midnight Robber

Midnight Robber

First edition
Author	Nalo Hopkinson
Cover artist	Leo and Diane Dillon
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	Science fiction Bildungsroman
Publisher	Warner Aspect
Publication date	2000
Media type	Print (paperback)
Pages	336
ISBN	0-446-67560-1
OCLC	42397150
Dewey Decimal	813/.54 21
LC Class	PR9199.3.H5927 M53 2000
Preceded by	Brown Girl in the Ring

Midnight Robber is a science fiction bildungsroman (coming-of-age novel) by Jamaican-Canadian writer Nalo Hopkinson. Warner Aspect published the novel in 2000.

Plot[]

One of the most beloved and well-known of the traditional carnival characters line-up, the Midnight Robber graces stages and audiences with his colourful exaggerated costumes, based on the American Wild West, inclusive of an oversize cowboy hat with fringed brim. The hat’s crown comes in different shapes and colours, such as a, coffin. The Robber usually has a flowing cape adorned with symbols of death, a black satin shirt, black pantaloons, and black shoes/boots. However, modern interpretations can see the Robber in a variety of colours outside of the traditional black.

Cultural references[]

Midnight Robber (named after a Trinidadian traditional Carnival/Mas character) incorporates a number of characters and stories from Caribbean and Yoruba culture, including Anansi, Dry Bone, Papa Bois, Duppy, Obeah, J'Ouvert (from Trinidad Carnival), Tamosi (Kabo Tano), douens, and Eshu.^[1]

The planet on which Tan-Tan (Trinidad Carnival Character) is born is called Toussaint, after the Haitian revolutionary hero Toussaint L'Ouverture. The municipality where Tan-Tan's father is mayor is called Cockpit County, after a region in Jamaica. There is a statue of Mami Wata in the middle of the town. A local group of pedicab runners calls itself the Sou-Sou Collective, a reference to a West-African-specific form of credit union or collaborative. A nearby quarry is named Shak-Shak Bay. The company that landed the settlers on Toussaint is called the Marryshow Corporation, after T.A. Marryshow.^[2] The book also references Jonkanoo Week celebrations.

The planet to which the main characters are exiled is called New Half-Way Tree, a reference to the Half Way Tree neighbourhood of Kingston, Jamaica. Settlements include Sweet Pone, named after a sweet potato dessert, and Chigger Bite. One of the native creatures has been named the "manicou rat" by settlers, which is a Caribbean term for an opossum.

Tan-Tan befriends a douen whose name is "Chichibud", a reference to a mento song by Max Romeo. Chichibud's partner is named Benta. In the end, Tan-Tan names her child Tubman, after Harriet Tubman.

Reception[]

Midnight Robber was nominated for a Hugo Award and shortlisted for the Nebula Award, the Tiptree Award, and the Sunburst Award.^[3][4]

Gary K. Wolfe praised Midnight Robber, characterizing it as "an inventive amalgam of rural folklore and advanced technology" and commending Hopkinson's distinctive narrative voice, which "reminds us that most of the world does not speak contemporary American middle-class vernacular, . . . raises questions about the highly conventionalized way that SF has always treated language, [and] mak[es] us question the hegemony of American culture in SF worlds."^[5]

Locus reviewer Faren Miller praised the novel, saying "Hopkinson take[s] potentially downbeat material and compel[s] the reader's attention with vigorous narrative, vividly eloquent prose, and forms of magic which may actually be SF."^[6]

References[]

External links[]

• Soyka, David (2000). "Midnight Robber: A review". SF Site. Retrieved 9 August 2013.