- This is an article on a series of books by Terry Pratchett. For a mythical view of the Earth, see Flat Earth . On the fictional 2D world, see Flatland .
"Flat World" ( Eng. Discworld - letters. "World-disk") - a series of books by Terry Pratchett , written in the genre of humorous fantasy . The series contains more than 40 books and is focused mainly on adults, although four books were released to the market as books for children or teenagers [1] . The first books of the series are parodies of the generally accepted fantasy genre, but in later books the writer considers the problems of the real world [1] . Thanks to the "Flat world" Pratchett is one of the most popular authors in the UK.
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Content
Subject
Pratchett began to mimic the generally accepted fantasy genre, but gradually switched to comprehensive criticism of the modern world [1] . In his fantastical, surrealistic world, he explores the real-world issues with humor [1] . Pratchett’s fantasy is distinguished by its proprietary wit, based on intertextuality and metaprose methods [1] . Also in his books, “ stealth philosophy ” is used, that is, philosophical ideas subtly hidden in the text [1] .
The Flat World series, which Pratchett himself called “the world and the mirror of the worlds,” has changed significantly since his first books in 1983. The initial books did contain quite a bit of fantasy parody and were aimed at fantasy fans: for example, the first book, “The Color of Magic ”, contains references to the heroic duet Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser Fritz Leiber (in Pratchett - Bravd and Khorok) and their town Lankmar (Ank -Morpork), to the complete tentacles of the horrors of Howard Lovecraft (the god Bel-Shamgarot), to the not quite realistic dragons Anne McCaffrey (for Pratchett, they are magical projections of the psyche and depend on faith in them) [2] . However, already in the initial books of the series there are references to the real world: for example, the second book, “ Mad Star ”, contains very characteristic descriptions of magic pollution and the difficulties of disposing of magic-emitting books of spells hinting at the problem of real radioactive waste (Pratchett worked in the PR department ), and the eighth, “ Guard! Guardian! “, In scenes with vox-pop, the credulity of people refers to a similar UFO situation [2] .
Subcycles
Unofficially, "Flat World" consists of four subcycles and several separate books.
- Rincewind
- Lankra Witches
- Death
- City Guard Ankh-Morporka
Popularity
Pratchett was called the most popular author of Great Britain, he has a large community of fans both among adult readers and among children [1] . Critics generally believe that Pratchett novels are suitable for different age categories, but some noted that positioning his novels as children’s would prevent him from achieving popularity among an adult audience — the one that is most interesting for Pratchett’s humor [3] . Books of the “Flat World” series, positioned as adults and as children, are poorly distinguished and have a similar readership in practice [3] . Pratchett himself did not distinguish between writing children's and adult novels, the Flat World series was not aimed at a children's audience, although several children's novels allowed him to reach new horizons [3] .
The novels, released in 2000, regularly hit the Sunday Times bestseller list [1] . Although it was later surpassed by Joanne Rowling with a series of books about Harry Potter , Pratchett remained the best-selling author of Great Britain throughout the 1990s [1] . Four books of the Flat World series were in the first 100 and fourteen - in the first 200 best books on the BBC version . Although the Flat World in other countries is less popular, in 2009 it sold more than 50 million books worldwide [1] .
Criticism
Books "Flat world" won awards for both adult and children's books [3] . Thus, the Pyramids won the in 1989, " Amazing Maurice and his scientists rodents " received the Carnegie Medal in 2001, " Night Watch " won the " Prometheus " prize of the Libertarian Futuristic Society in 2003.
At the same time, influential literary circles have long ignored Pratchett as the author of frivolous literature [1] . The first collection of critical articles was "Terry Pratchett: Guilty of Literature" ( eng. Terry Pratchett. Guilty of literature ).
Bibliography
Books
| No | Title in Russian | original name | Subcycle | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| one | "The Color of Magic " | The color of magic | Rincewind | 1983 |
| 2 | " Mad Star " | The light fantasy | Rincewind | 1986 |
| 3 | " Spell Creators " | Equal rites | Witches | 1987 |
| four | " Mor, the disciple of Death " | Mort | Death | 1987 |
| five | "The staff and the hat " | Sourcery | Rincewind | 1988 |
| 6 | " Prophetic sisters " | Wyrd sisters | Witches | 1988 |
| 7 | " Pyramids " | Pyramids | Gods of the Flat World | 1989 |
| eight | “ Guardian! Guardian! " | Guards! Guards! | City Guard | 1989 |
| 9 | " Eric, as well as the Night Watch, Witches and Cohen-Barbarian " | Eric | Rincewind | 1990 |
| ten | " Moving Pictures " | Moving pictures | City Services | 1990 |
| eleven | " Grim Reaper " | Reaper man | Death | 1991 |
| 12 | " Witches abroad " | Witches abroad | Witches | 1991 |
| 13 | " Little Gods " | Small gods | Gods of the Flat World, Monks of History | 1992 |
| 14 | " Ladies and gentlemen " | Lords and ladies | Witches | 1992 |
| 15 | “ To arms! To arms! " | Men at arms | City Guard | 1993 |
| sixteen | " Fateful music " | Soul music | Death | 1994 |
| 17 | " Interesting times " | Interesting Times | Rincewind | 1995 |
| 18 | " Masquerade " | Maskerade | Witches | 1995 |
| nineteen | " Legs from clay " | Feet of Clay | City Guard | 1996 |
| 20 | " Santa Hryakus " | Hogfather | Death | 1996 |
| 21 | " Patriot " | Jingo | City Guard | 1997 |
| 22 | " Last Continent " | Last Continent | Rincewind | 1998 |
| 23 | “ Carpe Jugulum. Grab the throat | Carpe jugulum | Witches | 1998 |
| 24 | " The Fifth Elephant " | The fifth elephant | City Guard | 1999 |
| 25 | " Truth " | The truth | City Services | 2000 |
| 26 | " Thief of time " | Thief of time | Death | 2001 |
| 27 | " The Last Hero " | The last hero | Rincewind | 2001 |
| 28 | " Amazing Maurice and his scientists rodents " | The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents | 2001 | |
| 29 | " Night Watch " | Night watch | City Guard | 2002 |
| thirty | " Little free folk " | The wee free men | Tiffany sick | 2003 |
| 31 | " Infantry Ballad " | Monstrous regiment | 2003 | |
| 32 | "A hat full of heaven " | A Hat Full of Sky | Tiffany Bohlen | 2004 |
| 33 | “ Hold the mark! " | Going Postal | Moist Von Lipwig | 2004 |
| 34 | “ Shmyak! " | Thud! | City Guard | 2005 |
| 35 | " Mr. Winter " | Wintersmith | Tiffany Bohlen | 2006 |
| 36 | " Make Money " | Making money | Moist Von Lipwig | 2007 |
| 37 | " Invisible Academicians " | Unseen Academicals | Rincewind | 2009 |
| 38 | “ Midnight Dress ” | I Shall Wear Midnight | Tiffany sick | 2010 |
| 39 | " Tobacco case " | Snuff | City Guard | 2011 |
| 40 | “ Give in to a couple! " | Raising Steam | Moist Von Lipwig | 2013 |
| 41 | " Shepherd's Crown " | The shepherd's crown | Tiffany sick | 2015 |
Stories
- Troll Bridge ( Eng. Troll Bridge ), Cohen-Barbarian 1992 subsection , nominated for the World Fantasy Prize '94
- "Theater of Cruelty" ( Eng. Theater of Cruelty ), subdivision City Guard, 1993
- “Sea and Fish” ( eng. The Sea and Little Fishes ), witch's subcycle, 1998
- “Death and What Happens After” ( English Death and What Comes Next ), subcategory Death , 2002
- “Academic Exorcism in a Single University” ( English A Collegiate Casting-Out of Devilish Devices ), 2005
Flat World Maps
- Ankh-Morpork Streets ( The Streets of Ankh-Morpork ), 1993
- " Map of the Flat World " ( English The Discworld Mapp ), 1995
- Lancru Guide ( Eng. A Tourist Guide to Lancre ), 1998
- " Resident of Death " ( born Death's Domain ), 1999
Science of the Flat World
- "Science of the Flat World" ( eng. The Science of Discworld ), 1999
- “The Science of the Flat World. Book 2. Globus "( eng. The Science of Discworld II: The Globe ), 2002
- “The Science of the Flat World. Book 3. Darwin's Watch ”( Eng. The Science of Discworld III: Darwin's Watch ), 2005
- “The Science of the Flat World. Book 4. Day of the Last Judgment ”( Eng. The Science Of Discworld IV: Judgment Day ), 2013
Other Works on the Flat World
- The Discworld Companion , 1994
- The Discworld Portfolio , 1996
- Nanny Ogg's Cookbook , 1999
- The Art of Discworld , 2004
- The Discworld Almanak , 2004
- “ Where is my cow? ( English Where's My Cow? ), 2005
- The Unseen University Cut Out Book , 2006
- Wit and Wisdom of Discworld , 2007
- The Folklore of Discworld , 2008
Derivative Works
There is an esoteric programming language Ook! , named after the librarian - an orangutan , who says "Wow!", where the operators are the word Ook with various punctuation marks. The parent of this language can be called Brainfuck .
Screenshots
According to the "Prophetic Sisters" ( eng. Wyrd Sisters ) and "Fateful Music" ( eng. Soul Music ), the studio Cosgrove Hall created cartoons for Channel 4 .
In 2006, before Christmas, the British television channel Sky One showed a two-part TV version of the book “ Santa Hryakus ”, and in the spring of 2008 a two-part TV version of the books The Color of Magic and The Mad Star .
In May 2010, Sky One showed a two-part TV version of the book Keep a Brand! ".
Computer games
The first computer game - “ The Color of Magic ” based on the novel of the same name was created in the UK by a small firm Delta 4 , specializing in text-based adventure games with a humorous bias. It was written for the popular Sinclair ZX Spectrum home computer at the time and received the Sinclair User Classic Award .
Later, created the humorous cartoon quests Discworld (1995) and Discworld 2: Missing, presumed ...!? (1996). The first of them is based on the plot of The Guardian! Guards! ”(Guards! Guards) - Ankh-Morpork is threatened with a fire-breathing dragon, but it’s not the night-guard who is to deal with this scourge, but the cowardly wizard Rinswind. In “Discworld 2: Missing, presumed ...!?”, Rincewind also plays the main role, but this time his problems are connected with Death. Terry Pratchett was directly involved in the creation of this game, editing the plot, texts and advising the writers. Both of these games are typical representatives of the generation of point-and-click hand-drawn adventure games.
The fourth game based on the works of Terry Pratchett - “ Discworld Noir ” - was created in 1999 by Perfect Entertainment. It tells of a private detective named Lewton, the former night guard of Ankh-Morpork. Made in 3D , the game differs sharply from the previous two quests in the manner of execution - the word “ noir ” in the title is far from random. The game is beautifully drawn, well voiced and has a serious detective storyline.
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Beckett, 2009 , p. 146.
- ↑ 1 2 Langford, 2003 , p. 259.
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 Beckett, 2009 , p. 147.
Literature
- Books
- Andrew M. Butler . Terry Pratchett: The Pocket Essential Guide. - Harpenden: Pocket Essentials, 2001. - 96 p. - ISBN 1-903047-39-0 .
- Creig Cabell. Terry Pratchett . - John Blake Publishing, 2011. - 300 p.
- Marion Rana. Terry Pratchett's Narrative Worlds: From Giant Turtles to Small Gods . - Springer, 2018. - 254 s. - ISBN 3319672983 .
- Reviews
- David Buchbinder. The Orangutan in the Territory of the Strangeness of the Territory of the Discount of Discount Trains Novels / / Youth Cultures: Texts, Images, and Edited by Kerry Mallan, Sharyn Pearce. - Greenwood Publishing Group , 2003. - p. 169-182. - ISBN ISBN 0-275-97409-X .
- Peter Hunt. Chapter 3. Terry Pratchett // Alternative Worlds in Fantasy Fiction . - A & C Black, 2005. - pp. 86-121. - 184 s. - ISBN 0826477607 .
- David Langford . Introduction to Terry Pratchett: Guilty of Literature // Up Through An Empty House of Stars. - 2003. - pp . 256-262 . (see also retelling )
- Boris Nevsky. The most flat of worlds // World fiction: the magazine. - Moscow: TechnoMir, 2004. - Vol. 1 . - pp . 52-55 .
- Jadwiga Tarsa. "Flat World" Terry Pratchett - global village of fairy tales, myths, quotes and allusions . - p . 313-316 .
- Mentions
- Sandra L. Beckett. Chapter Four All Ages Fantasy // Crossover Fiction: Global and Historical Perspectives. - Routledge, 2009. - p. 146-147. - ISBN 9780415879361 .
- Graham Harvey. Discworld and the Otherworld: The World's Most Popularity // Popular Spiritualities: The Politics, The Edge, and the Editors of the United States of America. Edited by Lynne Hume, Kathleen McPhillips. - Ashgate Publishing, 2006. - P. 43-45. - ISBN 9780754639992 .
- Specific topics
- Gideon Haberkorn, Verena Reinhardt. Magic Adolescence and Terry Pratchetts Discworld . - Lexington Books, 2011. - p . 43-64 .
- Kristin Noone. Shakespeare in Discworld: Witches, Fantasy, and Desire. - 2010. - № 21 . - p . 26-40 .
- Bibliography
- Anne Hiebert Alton, William C. Spruiell. Discworld and the Disciplines: Critical Approaches to the Terry Pratchett Works . - McFarland, 2014. - 231 p. - ISBN 0786474645 .
- Aleksander Rzyman. The Intertextuality of Terra Pratchett's Discworld as a Major Challenge for the Translator . - Cambridge Scholars Publishing. - 197 s.
Links
- LSpace (English) - the main site of fans of the "Flat World".
- Pratchett.org is a Russian-language site for Flat World fans.
- Recommendation in order of reading .