Terry Pratchett/Discworld
The Discworld is the creation of Terry Pratchett. It is an imaginary location that appears in most of his books. (One of Pratchett's earlier novels, Strata, also features a disc-shaped world, but a different one.)
It consists of (as the name suggests) a flat disc (complete with edge-of-the-world drop-off and consequent waterfall) resting on the backs of four huge elephants (Great T'phon, Tubul, Berilia, and Jerakeen) which are in turn standing on the back of an enormous turtle (Great A'Tuin) as it slowly swims through space.
The gender of the Turtle is something of a mystery to the inhabitants of the disc, being not able to peer underneath the turtle themselves. This leads to some great debate and argument as to what position the turtle would assume should there be another cosmic big bang.
Directions within the discworld are not given as north south east and west, but rather as directions relating to the disc itself, eg hubward (towards the centre), rimward (away from the centre) and to a lesser extent, turnwise and widdershins (relation to the direction of the disc's spin). It relies on magic.
The most famous city on the Disc is Ankh-Morpork, site of the Unseen University and setting of many Discworld novels.
At the hub of the disc are some incredibly high mountains, the largest of which is Cori Celeste, upon the peak of which rests "Dunmanifestin", home of the Discworld's gods.
Chief among the Gods, by reason of having more worshippers than any of the others, is Blind Io. He is a thunder god: in fact, he is every thunder god worshipped on the disc, appearing under different guises and answering different names in various places, so as to ensure the largest possible number of worshippers. (He nevertheless comes by his position of leadership relatively fairly, since all his rivals use similar dodges.)
The world has been chronicled through at least 30 novels so far and several short stories. The novels prior to The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents (and almost all Pratchett books to date) had cover art done by Josh Kirby (who died in October 2001), but only in the original British editions. The American editions, published by HarperCollins, do not feature Kirby's cover art.
Almost all of the Discworld novels are notable for having no chapter divisions. Instead most of the time there are different storylines interwoven with each other. The biggest advantage of not having chapters is: you can stop reading on nearly every page... if you are able to. Or you can just go through it non-stop, as some do.
The novels can be grouped into five categories:
- The Rincewind stories - These stories centre around a wizard (of sorts) called Rincewind. The 'of sorts' is because Rincewind is a complete failure at magic, but through a series of events is recognised as a wizard. The other wizards at the Unseen University are sometimes seen in these stories.
- The Witches stories - These stories centre around the witches of Lancre, particularly Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, Magrat Garlick, and later Agnes Nitt.
- The Death stories - These stories centre around Death in his usual personification of a skeleton in black robes with a scythe. Death's companions are his granddaughter Susan, his butler Albert and the Death of Rats, the rat equivalent of the human Death. In later novels Susan takes centre stage, although Death is still a key player.
- The City Watch stories - These stories centre around Ankh-Morpork's equivalent of a police force, the City Watch. Samuel Vimes leads the city watch, and among his officers are Carrot Ironfoundersson, Angua, Fred Colon, Detritus and "Nobby" Nobbs.
- The Miscellaneous stories - where none of the above four applies, or the main characters from them only appear briefly, or at least not as the main characters of the story in question.
The Discworld novels are as follows:
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Name
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Group
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ISBN
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Notes
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Motifs
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The Colour of Magic
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Rincewind
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Paperback: ISBN 0552124753
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Fantasy clichés; Role-playing games
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The Light Fantastic
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Rincewind
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Paperback: ISBN 0552128481
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Fantasy clichés
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Equal Rites
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The Witches
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Paperback: ISBN 0552131059
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Fantasy clichés
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Mort
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Death
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Paperback: ISBN 0552131067
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Death; Death
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Sourcery
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Rincewind
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Paperback: ISBN 0552131075
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Fantasy Stories, Apocalypse
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Wyrd Sisters
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The Witches
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Paperback: ISBN 0552134600
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Shakespeare
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Pyramids
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Miscellaneous
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Paperback: ISBN 0552134619
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School stories; Egyptian mythology
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Guards! Guards!
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The City Watch
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Paperback: ISBN 0552134627
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Cop Novels, Fantasy Stories
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Eric
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Rincewind
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Paperback: ISBN 0575600012
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Originally published as a 'Discworld story': larger format and fully illustrated by Josh Kirby; more recently reissued as a normal paperback with no illustrations.
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Faust, Dante's Inferno
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Moving Pictures
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Miscellaneous
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Paperback: ISBN 0552134635
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Hollywood, The Cthulhu Mythos
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Reaper Man
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Death
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Paperback: ISBN 0552134643
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Alien invasion SF
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Witches Abroad
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The Witches
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Paperback: ISBN 0552134651
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Fairy tales, Voodoo
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Small Gods
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Miscellaneous
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Paperback: ISBN 0552138908
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Religion, Philosophy
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Lords and Ladies
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The Witches
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Paperback: ISBN 0552138916
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Shakespeare, UFOs
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Men at Arms
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The City Watch
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Cop novels
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Soul Music
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Death
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Paperback: ISBN 0552140295
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Rock music
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Interesting Times
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Rincewind
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Paperback: ISBN 0552142352
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The Orient
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Maskerade
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The Witches
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Paperback: ISBN 0552142360
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Opera; The Phantom of the Opera
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Feet of Clay
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The City Watch
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Paperback: ISBN 0552142379
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Cop Novels; Robots
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Hogfather
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Death
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Paperback: ISBN 0552145424
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Christmas; Children's stories
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Jingo
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The City Watch
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Hardback: ISBN 0575065400
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War, Diplomacy
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The Last Continent
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Rincewind
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Hardback: ISBN 0385409893
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Action/Adventure; Australia
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Carpe Jugulum
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The Witches
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Hardback: ISBN 0385409923
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Vampire novels
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The Fifth Elephant
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The City Watch
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Hardback: ISBN 0385409958
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Diplomacy
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The Truth
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Miscellaneous
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Hardback: ISBN 0385601026
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Watergate, Newspapers
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Thief of Time
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Death
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Hardback: ISBN 0385601883
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Wuxia and Martial arts films
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The Last Hero
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Miscellaneous
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Published in a larger format, fully illustrated by Paul Kidby.
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Legends
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The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents
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Miscellaneous
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A children's Discworld book.
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Beatrix Potter, The Pied Piper of Hamelin, The Rats of NIMH
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Night Watch
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The City Watch
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Hardback: ISBN 0385602642
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Cop Novels; Historical novels; time travel
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The Wee Free Men
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Tiffany Aching
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Hardback: ISBN 0385605331
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Another children's Discworld book.
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Folklore, Mythic Scotland, as seen in Braveheart and Highlander
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Monstrous Regiment
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Miscellaneous
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Folk song (especially Sweet Polly Oliver), Women who disgused themselves as men to join the army (eg Colonel Gauntlett Bligh Barker),The Napoleonic Wars, possibly as interpreted through Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe novels.
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A Hat Full of Sky
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Tiffany Aching
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???
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There are also three short stories by Pratchett based in the Discworld: Troll Bridge, Theatre of Cruelty, and The Sea and Little Fishes. The first two are available online. The third was published in Legends, edited by Robert Silverberg.
Thus far, there are also two Discworld Quizbooks:
Furthermore, there are four Mapps:
Pratchett has also collaborated with Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen on two books using the Discworld to illuminate popular science topics:
Other Discworldesque publications include:
In addition Terry Pratchett co-authored with Phil Masters two role-playing game supplements for Discworld:
Available Discworld computer games are:
Stage adaptations of nine Discworld novels have been published, with proceeds from the rights going to charity. The adaptations are by Stephen Briggs, and were first produced by the Studio Theatre Club in Abingdon, Oxfordshire.
They include adaptations of The Truth, Maskerade, Mort, Wyrd Sisters, and Guards! Guards!.
Most years there is also a Discworld Diary and Calendar out, as well. The Diaries particularly are themed.
It is even possible to get a character in one of the future Discworld books named after yourself. Usually people appear in the books by bidding for the privilege in charity auctions.
Animated adaptations of Soul Music and Wyrd Sisters were produced by Cosgrove-Hall Productions for Channel 4 in 1996. These are available on DVD and VHS in the US from Acorn Media.
Related topics
External link
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