Worldbuilding in Terry Pratchett's Discworld Series
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Worldbuilding in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld Series Natalie Hiillos Master’s Thesis Master’s Programme in English Studies Faculty of Arts University of Helsinki November 2020 Tiedekunta – Fakultet – Faculty Koulutusohjelma – Utbildningsprogram – Degree Programme Humanistinen tiedekunta Englannin kielen ja kirjallisuuden maisteriohjelma Opintosuunta – Studieinriktning – Study Track Tekijä – Författare – Author Hiillos, Natalie Työn nimi – Arbetets titel – Title Worldbuilding in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series Työn laji – Arbetets art – Level Aika – Datum – Month and year Sivumäärä– Sidoantal – Number of pages Maisterintutkielma Marraskuu 2020 80 sivua Tiivistelmä – Referat – Abstract Tutkielmassani tarkastelen miten Terry Pratchettin satiirinen fantasiasarja Discworld (suom. Kiekkomaailma) rakentaa fiktiivisen maailmaansa kuvailun, kerronnan ja genren avulla, ja miten nämä eri ominaisuudet toimivat yhdessä. Käyn läpi maailman eri osia, esimerkiksi taian ja teknologian käyttö ja kehitys sekä hahmojen suhteet toisiinsa ja maailmaan. Lisäksi käsittelen fiktiivisen maailman politiikkaa ja historiaa sekä fantasian ja satiirin vaikutukset kerrontaan ja maailman ontologiseen perustaan. Keskityn ensisijaisesti neljään romaaniin. Nämä ovat sarjan 13. romaani Small Gods (suom. Pienet jumalat), 23. romaani Carpe Jugulum, 25. romaani The Truth (suom. Totuuden torvi), sekä 34. romaani, Thud! (suom. Muks!). Käsittelen kuitenkin myös lyhyesti sitä, miten sarja toimii kokonaisuutena. Terry Pratchett luo maailmanrakentamisen keinoin uskottavan tarinamaailman, joka perustuu lukijoille tuttuihin fantasian ja todellisen maailman ominaisuuksiin. Romaanit rakentavat maailmaa tarkastelemalla kerronnoissaan eri maita, kulttuureja ja maailmankuvia. Vaikka sarjan maailma on sinänsä absurdi, johdonmukaiset yksityiskohdat ja kertomukset tekevät siitä ymmärrettävän ja kiinnostavan. Lukijat pystyvät näin ollen päättelemään maailmasta enemmän kuin romaanit siitä kertovat, joka puolestaan saa tarinamaailman tuntumaan yhtenäiseltä ja itsenäiseltä kokonaisuudelta. Tutkielmassani osoitan, ettei kerronta välttämättä ole maailmanrakentamisesta irrallinen prosessi, toisin kuin jotkut maailmanrakentamisen teoreetikot ovat esittäneet. Kerronta, kuvaus ja lajityypin eri keinot vaikuttavat vahvasti toisiinsa ja muodostavat yhdessä maailmanrakentamisen prosessin. Avainsanat – Nyckelord – Keywords Terry Pratchett, Kiekkomaailma, fantasia, maailmanrakentaminen Säilytyspaikka – Förvaringställe – Where deposited Keskustakampuksen kirjasto Muita tietoja – Övriga uppgifter – Additional information Table of Contents 1. Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Small Gods .................................................................................................................................... 2 1.2 Carpe Jugulum .............................................................................................................................. 3 1.3 The Truth ....................................................................................................................................... 3 1.4 Thud! ............................................................................................................................................. 4 2. Descriptions ........................................................................................................................................ 6 2.1 Theoretical Background ................................................................................................................ 6 2.2 Environments and Societies ........................................................................................................ 10 2.3 Magic, Science, and Technology................................................................................................. 15 2.4 Characters and Focalization ........................................................................................................ 21 2.5 Typography and Images .............................................................................................................. 25 2.6 Dialogue ...................................................................................................................................... 28 2.7 Concluding Remarks ................................................................................................................... 31 3. Narrative .......................................................................................................................................... 32 3.1 Theoretical Background .............................................................................................................. 32 3.2 Plot .............................................................................................................................................. 33 3.3 The Narrative Imperative and In-Universe Narratives ................................................................ 39 3.4 Characterization and Character Development ............................................................................. 44 3.5 Concluding Remarks ................................................................................................................... 50 4. Genre ................................................................................................................................................ 52 4.1. Theoretical Background ............................................................................................................. 53 4.2 Fantasy ........................................................................................................................................ 55 4.3 Satire ............................................................................................................................................ 63 4.4 Concluding Remarks ................................................................................................................... 74 5. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................ 76 6. Works Cited ..................................................................................................................................... 78 1 1. Introduction Storyworlds have long been a fixture of fiction, whether they are near identical recreations of the real world or entirely fantastical imaginings of what the world could be. Fantasy and science fiction, in particular, feature imaginary worlds which are designed to make readers learn their rules and become immersed in their stories. Well-realized storyworlds capture the imaginations of readers far beyond the narratives that take place in them. For instance, Tolkien’s Middle Earth, Lewis’ Narnia, and Carroll’s Wonderland, among many others, have remained ever popular. Naturally, the interest in storyworlds has led to an interest in how they are built, and worldbuilding has recently become a focus of a fair amount of research. Authors take many different approaches in building their storyworlds, ranging from using them as barely mentioned backdrops to extremely detailed descriptions combined with supplementary materials such as maps, glossaries, and mythologies, beyond the narratives set therein. Indeed, there are arguably as many approaches as there are creators. That said, they have many techniques in common. In this thesis, I explore such worldbuilding techniques, separating them into the levels of descriptions, narratives, and genres, as well as how each of these are used individually and how they work in tandem. For this study, I have chosen one of modern fantasy’s most famous storyworlds – Discworld. Sir Terry Pratchett (1948–2015) was a prolific British author, best-known for his fantasy series Discworld, featuring a storyworld of the same name. The first Discworld novel, The Colour of Magic, was published in 1983. In it, Pratchett introduced a flat world, carried on the backs of four elephants, which in turn stand on the back of a giant turtle called the Great A’Tuin, all gliding through space. Discworld (often shortened simply as the Disc) is inhabited by fantasy’s most common creatures: regular humans share the planet with dwarfs, trolls, elves, fae, witches, and wizards, and the world only grew from there. After the first novel was published, Pratchett wrote on average one or two Discworld novels per year until his death in 2015. The final Discworld novel, The Shepherd’s Crown, was published posthumously later that same year (Smythe). At a total of forty-one novels, the Disc has had a great deal of room to develop into a full-fledged fictional world, and as Pratchett’s approach to the series encompasses all levels of worldbuilding, it is ideal for this analysis. Due to its length, it is impossible to study the series in its entirety here. Hence, I have chosen to analyze four works: Small Gods, Carpe Jugulum, The Truth, and Thud!. I selected 2 these specific novels in an attempt to provide as broad an overview of the series’ various locations, characters, and events as possible within the scope of this thesis. Furthermore, they exemplify the internal structure of Discworld: Small Gods (henceforth abbreviated as SG) and The Truth (TT) are “one-offs” while Carpe Jugulum (CJ) and Thud! (T) belong to two different sub-series featuring recurring characters – the witches and the City Watch, respectively. Below,