Discworld and Member Articles
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Written by maljonic
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Friday, 08 December 2006 |
I just read this somewhat bizarre approach to reviewing Discworld novels, or books in general actually:
Discovering discworld
HE READ, SHE READ: Winegar and Moore delight in discovering the irreverent and hilarious but often touching works of Britain's prolific Terry Pratchett.
Karin Winegar and Peter Moore, Special to the Star Tribune
Last update: December 08, 2006 – 12:21 PM
Peter Moore: Part of the fun of being a book critic is being secure in the knowledge that you have a finger on the nation's literary pulse, that you are highly aware of authors and titles and that little escapes your keen, bookish eye. Which leads us to the question of the moment:
Karin Winegar: What rock have we been under?
PM: Well, that isn't quite how I was going to phrase it, but well-put nonetheless. Today we want to bring to your attention to British writer Terry Pratchett. He is hands-down one of the most brilliant, funny and original ...
KW: ... not to mention prolific ...
PM: ... social satirists writing today, and while apparently an awful lot of people seem to know about him, an awful lot more "serious" readers such as ourselves had never heard of him, even though he's sold more than 40 million books worldwide.
KW: Clearly we have not been paying attention. I'd not heard of him until this summer.
PM: Part of the reason is that he's shelved in bookstores in the sci-fi section, where "serious" readers tend to turn up their noses. But find your way there and start reading his Discworld series. He's been compared to Dickens, Twain, Chaucer ...
KW: ... oh, he's much funnier than Chaucer ...
PM: ... but he reminds me most of P.G. Wodehouse, with that same kind of perfectly constructed comic prose. To be both funny and a first-rate writer is no mean feat.
KW: Discworld is a flat planet that bears a suspicious resemblance to Earth in medieval times, but with a strangely contemporary sensibility. He uses that culture to reveal our own, and the results are not only hilarious but often very touching.
PM: You don't have to read the books in order. In fact, I like the later ones better than the earlier ones, and a lot of the same characters show up in each: the dogged copper Sam Vimes of the Watch (who in "The Fifth Elephant" jumps out of his sedan chair and takes up the front end, saying, "It's a nice day, I'll drive myself.") ...
KW: ... the ancient but still lethal hero Cohen the Barbarian and his Silver Horde; the shrewd witch, Granny Weatherwax; the 6-foot-4 dwarf, Carrot Ironfoundersson ...
PM: ... he was adopted ...
KW: ... and, of course, Death, who always speaks in capital letters.
PM: Death might be the most interesting character in the series: fond of cats, puzzled by and curious about human behavior, and with a voice no one disobeys. It's a great device.
KW: I should try that. VACUUM THE FRONT HALL.
PM: Not bad, but your accent's a bit off.
KW: I've read nothing but Discworld books since June, and I'm not bored! Ordinarily a cast of trolls, golems, werewolves, dwarves, vampires and wizards would put me off, but Pratchett manages to skewer modern society (as well as adventure stories) so adroitly and be laugh-out-loud funny all at once that I'm utterly hooked.
PM: I like the place names. A city in the Agatean Empire is named Bhangbhangduc. A continent bearing a likeness to Australia has a town called Didjabringabeeralong. And the teeming metropolis of Anhk-Morpork has a red-light district called the Street of Negotiable Affection.
KW: I love the characters, even the minor ones. In "Hogfather," a sendup of Christmas and one of the series' best books, a thug called Medium Dave (Big Dave, Mad Dave and Wee Davey were all taken) is "... considered something of an intellectual in his circles because some of his tattoos were spelled right."
PM: In "Carpe Jugulum," there's a clan of wild, drunken but basically decent blue pictsies [sic] called the Nac Mac Feegle, whose leader is named Rob Anybody.
KW: Don't forget Igor, who is a species as much as a person. And in "Going Postal," there's a description of a well-choreographed bar brawl that will leave you laughing and shaking your head in admiration of the writing.
PM: You also like the fact that Death's horse is named Binky.
KW: I DO INDEED.
PM: OK, knock it off. Binky, by the way, is a real if unusual horse. "Death had tried fiery steeds and skeletal horses in the past, and found them impractical, especially the fiery ones, which tended to set light to their own bedding and stand in the middle of it looking embarrassed" (from "Reaper Man").
KW: It's hard to review these books because you want to mention all your favorite scenes and parodies, and there are simply too many. The satire is multilayered, and even with a careful reading you're going to miss some of the jokes. This kind of wit, rendered with this much insight and substance, is a rare and wonderful thing.
PM: Rock 'n' roll, the newspaper business, the postal system, international relations, the movie business, war, religion, nationalism, race relations, mythology, philosophy, education, class differences ... all of these and almost everything else is fodder for Pratchett. He is a flat-out delight.
KW: GO OUT AT ONCE AND PROCURE SOME OF THESE WONDERFUL BOOKS. You know, I could get used to this.
PM: Yes, but I'm not sure I could.
KW: EAT ORGANIC. SPAY OR NEUTER YOUR PET. VOTE.
PM: Oh, brother.
Karin Winegar is director of public relations for the Animal Humane Society and a freelance journalist. Peter Moore is an actor and director. They live in St. Paul. Obviously, they're married.
http://www.startribune.com
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