China Tom Miéville, Kraken

Christopher Palmer (La Trobe University)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.09: English Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary Britain , 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Kerry Myler (Newman University), Jenni Ramone (The Nottingham Trent University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 2010

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

Miéville’s 2010 novel Kraken begins with the theft of the corpse of a giant squid, preserved in a glass case, from the Natural History Museum in London. It’s a locked room mystery, opening however into a kind of open city romp. The squid is associated with the legendary Kraken, harbinger of apocalypse, and its theft unleashes a torrent of searches and combats, anticipations and preemptions of the End, or Ends. All this catches up various amiable or vicious sects and gangs of a wild imaginary London in which the marginals have occupied the centre. Our heroes, Billy, a museum worker, and Dane, member of a sect of Kraken devotees, plunge into this turmoil, both questing (for explanations and for the squid) and fleeing (from …

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357 words

Citation: Palmer, Christopher. "Kraken". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 01 February 2012 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=34368, accessed 25 November 2024.]

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