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Discworld

Fantasy book series by Terry Pratchett

  • 21 min read
  • 11 chapters

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The series has spawned a number of supplementary works, including four books on the science of Discworld, four maps of locations within it, and an encyclopedia. While Pratchett was involved with most of these, he often worked in collaboration with others including Stephen Briggs, Ian Stewart, Jack Cohen, and long-time series illustrators Josh Kirby and Paul Kidby. There is no intention to publish further novels following Pratchett's death, but supplementary works continue to be published and include Tiffany Aching's Guide to Being a Witch, by Pratchett's daughter Rhianna and Gabrielle Kent. In addition, Discworld novels have been adapted into computer games, board games, and for the theatre and television.

The Discworld books contributed significantly to Pratchett being the UK's best-selling author in the 1990s, and they regularly topped the Sunday Times bestsellers list. Discworld novels have also won awards such as the Prometheus Award and the Carnegie Medal. In the BBC's Big Read, four Discworld novels were in the top 100, and a total of fourteen in the top 200. More than 80 million Discworld books have been sold in 37 languages.

Themes and motifs

The Discworld novels contain common themes and motifs that run through the series. Many of the novels parody fantasy tropes and various subgenres of fantasy, like fairy tales (notably Witches Abroad) or vampire tales (Carpe Jugulum). Analogies of real-world issues, such as religion (Small Gods), fundamentalism and inner city tension (Thud), business and politics (Making Money), racial prejudice and exploitation (Snuff) recur, as do aspects of culture and entertainment such as opera (Maskerade), rock music (Soul Music), cinema (Moving Pictures), and football (Unseen Academicals). Parodies of non-Discworld fiction also occur frequently, including Shakespeare, Beatrix Potter, the Dirty Harry films and other movies. Major historical events, especially battles, are sometimes the basis for both trivial and key events (Jingo, Eric, and Pyramids), as are trends in science, technology, pop culture and modern art (Moving Pictures, Men at Arms, Thud). There are also humanist themes in many Discworld novels, and a focus on critical thinking skills in the Witches and Tiffany Aching series.

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