Thanks particularly for the piece on Pratchett. You nail the multi-faceted nature of the post-Rincewind ones: comic fantasies with great plots, stuffed with literary and cultural allusions and frequently addressing important political or philosophical themes. In Wyrd Sisters there's a description of inspiration striking Hwel - ideas sleeting through his mind - that is a guess at how Shakespeare must have operated but which is also Pratchett describing himself I think. I find it hard to read the later books where the life and energy of the prose is increasingly affected by his illness. Anyway, buoyed by the link you make, maybe I should tackle Richard Osman's books too: always been put off, quite unfairly, by his slightly snippy demeanour on TV. Terry would have said you must separate the artist from their work, of course.
Douglas Adams once wrote that the question he most dreaded was "where do you get your ideas?" Not because he was sick of it (though he was), but because *he had no idea what the answer was*. He used to answer "from a mail-order company in Cleveland."
After the new episode, I went back and listened to the first series of Great Wives, and then lost half an hour to reading up on Pre-Raphaelites and wombats. So thank you for that, I think?
Everything you say about Terry Pratchett is so true. I am yet to find a author who speaks so much about humanity through funnies. His books are even more relevant today and that just goes to show how much far sighted the man was. Feet of Clay is one of my favorites as well, read over and over again. My favorite quote from the book is - Words in the heart cannot be taken.
I had a similar experience trying to sort out shared council tax payments for a student flatshare in Glasgow: "No, my flatmates cannot physically come into your office, they're travelling in Azerbaijan. Yes, that's a real place." They didn't say so out loud, but I bet they were thinking "Isn't that the prison in Harry Potter?"
My favourite Pratchett line is “Ankh-Morpork had dallied with many forms of government and had ended up with that form of democracy known as One Man, One Vote. The Patrician was the Man; he had the Vote.”
Thanks particularly for the piece on Pratchett. You nail the multi-faceted nature of the post-Rincewind ones: comic fantasies with great plots, stuffed with literary and cultural allusions and frequently addressing important political or philosophical themes. In Wyrd Sisters there's a description of inspiration striking Hwel - ideas sleeting through his mind - that is a guess at how Shakespeare must have operated but which is also Pratchett describing himself I think. I find it hard to read the later books where the life and energy of the prose is increasingly affected by his illness. Anyway, buoyed by the link you make, maybe I should tackle Richard Osman's books too: always been put off, quite unfairly, by his slightly snippy demeanour on TV. Terry would have said you must separate the artist from their work, of course.
Douglas Adams once wrote that the question he most dreaded was "where do you get your ideas?" Not because he was sick of it (though he was), but because *he had no idea what the answer was*. He used to answer "from a mail-order company in Cleveland."
Jonathan Swift was an earlier practitioner of Mr Pratchett’s art, or Mr Pritchett’s cart if you are a fan of spellcheck.
After the new episode, I went back and listened to the first series of Great Wives, and then lost half an hour to reading up on Pre-Raphaelites and wombats. So thank you for that, I think?
Everything you say about Terry Pratchett is so true. I am yet to find a author who speaks so much about humanity through funnies. His books are even more relevant today and that just goes to show how much far sighted the man was. Feet of Clay is one of my favorites as well, read over and over again. My favorite quote from the book is - Words in the heart cannot be taken.
I had a similar experience trying to sort out shared council tax payments for a student flatshare in Glasgow: "No, my flatmates cannot physically come into your office, they're travelling in Azerbaijan. Yes, that's a real place." They didn't say so out loud, but I bet they were thinking "Isn't that the prison in Harry Potter?"
My favourite Pratchett line is “Ankh-Morpork had dallied with many forms of government and had ended up with that form of democracy known as One Man, One Vote. The Patrician was the Man; he had the Vote.”