Pratchett for Girls. And boys. And adults.

For decades I have been urging teenage boys to read the late Sir Terry Pratchett’s Disc World novels.   Especially 13 year olds.    These books are funny, and wise.    Funny enough to engage boys in novel length reading, as long as they share Pratchett’s  sense of humour,  apparently light-weight,  gently spoofing fantasy fiction, but  also rather wise as each book has a humane sub-text, smuggling in attitudes that are anti-misogyny, anti-racist, anti-xenophobic, in fact anti anything that smacks of small-minded meanness, prejudice or hate.    

A cast of Wizards, Witches, Trolls, Dwarves, Werewolves, Vampires, Humans and Igors provide plenty of variety and laughter.  Igors, by the way, are Frankensteinian creatures, cobbled together from spare body parts,  who are very skilled in repairing others human’s bodies.    An almost omnipresence is that of Death, usually with his pale horse, Bincky.   Some of the books focus on The Watch, Ankmorporth’s police force,  a force consisting of many different life forms and led by the (eventually) wonderful Commander Sam Vimes.     Other books are about the Wizard’s Unseen University – where a huge library of magic books is overseen by a Librarian who was at some point transformed into an Orangutan when the magic leaking from the books reached critical point.     Some plots involve Rock Music and Opera, racial stereotyping and exploitation,  feminism (including the ordination of women) football, science, the postal service, the banks, Church,  steam trains, the Movies and many other foci.   

And then there are the Witches.     Teenage boys may not be so interested in  the Witches, but girls might well find them engaging.     Pratchett’s publishers list some books for ‘younger’ readers, YAs.   I had never read any of them  until my attention was caught by some later books concerning Tiffany Aching,  a young witch.  I have now read three of them,  Wintersmith (2006), I shall Wear Midnight(2010) and The Shepherd’s Crown(2015) and I recommend them to any girls aged 12 or over.  And  women of any age.   And men. And boys.    

Why? Because they are just as well written, just as funny and just as wise as the rest.   And they address different issues.  Although Tiffany is young, just rising 13 when we first meet her, she has to face issues of domestic violence,  teenage pregnancy (not hers!), emerging sexuality and death, and the consistent YA themes of power and responsibility.     They also bring us Tiffany’s informal guards, the Mac Nac Feegle tribe of diminutive warriors,  otherwise called the  Wee Free Men.

It is good to find books that young people and their parents – or grandparents – can enjoy and talk about together, especially when they touch issues that might be hard to talk about without the focus of a book.   I rank Terry Pratchett’s books alongside the very different offerings of Philip Pullman, Patrick Ness and Malorie Blackman.   I rejoice that Ness’s trilogy ‘Chaos Walking’is finally being filmed by Doug Liman (The Bourne Identityand Edge of Tomorrow)  starring Tom Holland and Daisy Ridley, but will not be released until the spring of 2019.  But you do not have to wit until then to enjoy the discworld.   You will know within a few pages if his style tickles you.   I may take a little longer to see if his satires amuse you, his concerns move you, and your heart warms to his gentle but deep passions.  

The Doctor and the Knight

I was thinking  earlier today that the fictional Doctor Who could be described as jobless, homeless and stateless.   After all, you can’t really describe ‘being The Doctor’ as a job and he has no address, other than ‘Doctor Who, somewhere/anywhere, some time/anytime’, and even if his home state of Gallifray exists, no one – not even The Doctor – knows where or even when it is.    So jobless,  homeless and stateless.   

And then, later this morning, this thought chimed with the announcement that Peter Capaldi, who plays The Doctor, has joined other celebrities including Neil Gaiman, Cate Blanchett, Colin Firth, and Patrick Stewart,  who have come together  to share their message of solidarity towards the refugee crisis, by explaining why there is an important difference between the terms "refugee" and "migrant".    When the media and politicians confuse these words policies and the money to support refugees  suffer.    That means lives are lost.  Worth Googling. 

But where is the synchronicity?  It lies in the latest episodes of Doctor Who, in which Capaldi’s Doctor prizes compassion above all other human virtues.    The evil Davros tells The Doctor that ‘his compassion will kill him’.  ‘I hope it will’ The Doctor replies,  ‘I wouldn’t want to die of anything else.’   

Peter Capaldi is also, as it happens,  a UNHCR Ambassador.    I wonder if he took both roles because of their educational importance.    Doctor Who, especially in its 21st century Steven Moffat form, has provided a highly entertaining moral and ethical education for children (and adults).   So, of course, has Sir Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels.     In both moral education is fun.     

Sir Terry has always smuggled humanistic insights and lessons into his work - and that is why I was/am so delighted that young teenage boys love them so much.     He has subtly undermined sexism (even the opposition to women wizards/priests), racism (one book was bluntly called Jingo), and xenophobia of all kinds.  

As you may know  Ankhmorporth, the largest Discworld city,  has slowly become the place where humans, trolls, dwarves, werewolves, vampires, Igors (the stitched together creations of Frankensteins)  and now even the stinky goblins can live together with equal rights (one book is called Equal Rites).      And he made us laugh while he did it, right from the start with Cohen the geriatric Barbarian  and Luggage in The Colour of Magic).   I shall miss Luggage.     

I am sure Sir Terry has left the world a better place, and 'nothing became him more than the manner of his leaving it' as they say.    His sideways view of language - not to mention luggage (oh I just did) -  and of the world, illuminated us, educated us, and amused us.    Is there any institution he left unvisited and undone?     I will always remember his insight in Small Gods,  that when we put the things we worship (gods or God)  into buildings, they die, and so (this is my insight) we start to worship the buildings instead.      

So Doctor Who and Discworld are two great cultural treasures.   And such fun.      I thank God for them both.