Discworld Re-read 2021 - Introduction

The Discworld books are a series by Terry Pratchett that, at their core, consist of 41 novels published between 1983 and 2015, a few months after his death from early-onset Alzheimer's disease. I began reading the series as a teenager in the mid-90s following the recommendation of a friend, and quickly became hooked. I caught up with the back-catalogue and followed the rapidly-expanding series through the release of the new paperbacks. Once I reached adulthood (and realised just how much re-reading the books would have to withstand!) I switched to hardbacks and now have a mixed collection of all the novels, as well as a few of the associated works.

 

The series started as a parody of fantasy novels, but quickly evolved into something far more substantial. The Discworld is, as its name suggests, a flat world, disc-shaped. It sits on top of four elephants which themselves stand on the back of a giant space turtle called A'Tuin. The world is inhabited by all sorts of creatures alongside humans, including Trolls, Dwarfs, Gnomes, vampires and werewolves. Witches and Wizards are prominent characters. If that all sounds like something you'd absolutely hate, then I don't blame you, it's not normally my cup of tea either. The books quickly begin to cover a vast range of deeper subjects including equal rights, religion, racism and the futility of war. And if that sounds far too heavy then again, I really don't blame you. What makes it all bearable is that the books are very, very funny. Pratchett was the master of the ellipsis, the words not said. He had an incredible wealth of random trivia that he slipped in at every opportunity, making re-reads so rewarding. Above all he had a great humanity and his characters, despite the very outlandish situations they regularly found themselves in, always felt real, and human, and recognisable. It is this that made the books so popular, and let them escape the ghetto of their fantasy genre.

I'm not writing this series to convert people. I don't even know if I'm going to press publish on any of the posts I write. The books aren't for everyone and I know some people find Pratchett's style irritating - a perfectly acceptable position that I see no reason to counter. It's not like he needs more fans anyway! I know some Discworld fans who can be a little "evangelical" in their enthusiasm and there's nothing worse than an overly-enthusiastic fan trying to convince you to read something you know you don't like. So I won't.

So why am I writing this series? For a couple of reasons I guess. The first is because I want to get into the habit of writing more regularly and this seemed a great way to do that without having to search too hard for inspiration. The other is that, despite having read the books, repeatedly, over the last 25 years or so, I've never actually read them from start to finish, in order. And I decided that this year I'd correct that. The series is complete - there are no posthumous books to be published. Terry made sure of that by having his hard-drive containing unfinished books ceremonially crushed by a steamroller - so it's a task that can be completed. I've read almost all the books multiple times already. A couple of the later books are less familiar to me. Terry's Alzheimer's affected his writing in noticeable ways towards the end and while it pains me to say it, there is a widely acknowledged decline in their quality. I don't know if it's my own sentimentality or because of some superhuman strength he found but his very last book, The Shepherd's Crown, seemed to buck this trend. That said, it's the only book in the series I've only read once, and a couple of chapters were read through floods of tears, so it's the one I'm least objective about and the one I'm most curious about re-reading. 

 

I want to try and read them with a critical eye for once. I want to see how the books evolve over time, how the world-building is achieved, how the tone shifts as they discuss more substantial issues and have greater aims than just to entertain readers and make them laugh. I want to see what little bits of round-world trivia he manages to sneak in that I've missed on my previous re-reads. Above all I want to enjoy immersing myself in the Discworld at a level I've never done before. Will it stand up to such scrutiny? I guess we'll find out...