Terry Pratchett’s Narrative Worlds: From Giant Turtles to Small Gods

Description

This book highlights the multi-dimensionality of the work of British fantasy writer and Discworld creator Terry Pratchett. Taking into account content, political commentary, and literary technique, it explores the impact of Pratchett's work on fantasy writing and genre conventions.With chapters on gender, multiculturalism, secularism, education, and relativism, Section One focuses on different characters’ situatedness within Pratchett’s novels and what this may tell us about the direction of his social, religious and political criticism. Section Two discusses the aesthetic form that this criticism takes, and analyses the post- and meta-modern aspects of Pratchett’s writing, his use of humour, and genre adaptations and deconstructions. This is the ideal collection for any literary and cultural studies scholar, researcher or student interested in fantasy and popular culture in general, and in Terry Pratchett in particular. Front Matter ....Pages i-xv Shedding the ‘Light Fantastic’ on Terry Pratchett’s Narrative Worlds: An Introduction (Marion Rana)....Pages 1-20 Front Matter ....Pages 21-21 Be a Witch, Be a Woman: Gendered Characterisation of Terry Pratchett’s Witches (Alice Nuttall)....Pages 23-36 ‘Not the Most Stable of Creatures’: Female Monstrosity and Gender Negotiations in the Character of Angua von Uberwald (Marion Rana)....Pages 37-55 ‘There Is No Race So Wretched That There Is Not Something Out There That Cares for Them’: Multiculturalism, Understanding, Empathy and Prejudice in Discworld (Mel Gibson)....Pages 57-71 And the World Continues to Spin…: Secularism and Demystification in Good Omens (Daniel Scott)....Pages 73-91 (Non-)Formal Education in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld Novels: Mort’s Apprenticeship, Tiffany’s Coming of Age, Susan’s Learning Path and the Unseen University (Maxi Steinbrück)....Pages 93-114 Learning Relativism Through Humour, Play and the Shift of Viewpoint in the Truckers Trilogy (Virginie Douglas)....Pages 115-134 Front Matter ....Pages 135-135 Seriously Relevant: Parody, Pastiche and Satire in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld Novels (Gideon Haberkorn)....Pages 137-157 ‘At Times Like This It’s Traditional That a Hero Comes Forth’: Romance and Identity in Terry Pratchett’s Guards! Guards! (Emily Lavin Leverett)....Pages 159-175 Fantasy as Belief and Its Happenings in Terry Pratchett’s Hogfather (Minwen Huang)....Pages 177-194 Metamodern Approaches in Johnny and the Dead (1993) and Nation (2008) (Nurul Fateha)....Pages 195-209 Feeling the Potential of Elsewhere: Terry Pratchett’s Nation in Theatre (Justyna Deszcz-Tryhubczak)....Pages 211-226 Where Discourse Meets Discworld: Labyrinths, Humour and the Neo-Baroque in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld Stories (Thomas Scholz)....Pages 227-245 Back Matter ....Pages 247-254