Terry Pratchett and Discworld

Adelaide Now released a new article on Terry Pratchett and his books, with several insights into Terry Pratchett’s “gentle satire” and his attitude toward Australia. The article also puts an interesting new perspective on Ankh-Morpork, calling it a parody of ‚ÄúOliver Twist‚Äôs London.‚Äù To quote the article:

The city, which is a sort of parody of Oliver Twist’s London with the addition of trolls, dwarfs, zombies, werewolves, scientific wizards, an orang-utan and Death, gives the humanist social observer in Pratchett the room to roam and to comment on modern life without actually pointing a finger or causing offence.

“If you can accept the fact that the trolls and dwarfs and fairies and all the other creatures of mythology are actually real and are, along with the people, in a sort of Dickens’ London, all grubbing away trying to make a dollar, then you can understand Discworld,” he says of his creation. And although the characters and situations in his books might not exactly be the everyday type, the resolutions are always well considered and, well, human.

“While it sounds like a huge heap of undirected fantasy, you can do so many things with it,” he says. “Like, you can look at race relations, but because it’s between trolls and dwarfs you can have that bit of distance - it draws the sting. However, the logic has to work.

“None of that, ‘Ho, landlord, a pint of your finest ale!’ ” he mimics, raising his own bottle to emphasise the point.

The article also includes a small tidbit of Wintersmith for those fans who haven’t read it yet.

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