Comments on: Terry Pratchett is not fantasy.

By: Milly

Milly — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 14:20:16 +0000

I’m not really sure how to phrase what I want to say. I really enjoy reading fantasy books. There are some really amazing ones out there, but mainly there are bad ones. The problem with fantasy is that the genre seems to be defined through Tolkien’s LOTR trilogy so much so that the genre is riddled with unimaginative books filled with clichés and bad characters and plots. There is such a stigma surrounding the genre that authors don’t like to be associated with it. Phillip Pullman for instance said his Dark Materials trilogy was not fantasy. Fantasy is fiction where the rules of our world do not necessarily apply and new ones are put in their place. Goblins, wizards and magic are just the paraphernalia that have come about because of the change of rules (If that makes sense). Pullman’s DM are fantasy whether he likes it or not, and Pratchett’s Discworld books are fantasy too. Comic fantasy to be exact; there are so many subgenres.
I’m not really sure where I’m going here, only that the way you talk about the Discworld books seems at odds with your opinion of fantasy. Not that you must like other genres of fantasy. Personally I’m not that into Discworld as I find the books all a bit samey. It’s just that I find your dismissal of fantasy other than the few books you happen to like a little hypocritical. That’s a bit harsher than I intend, but I can’t think of another way to express it.

By: Suzi

Suzi — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 15:21:48 +0000

Pratchett is GOD!!!! Blessim my thoughts are with him…………thing is when he finally makes it off of the planet he’ll make a lot of medium’s lives a lot more fun!!!!!

By: Daniel

Daniel — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 01:40:56 +0000

I couldn’t understand some parts of this article Pratchett is not fantasy. | A.L. Harper, but I guess I just need to check some more resources regarding this, because it sounds interesting.

By: A.L. Harper

A.L. Harper — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 21:25:21 +0000

Joseph - I think I love you! *smile* Thank you.

By: Joseph Bartlett

Joseph Bartlett — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 15:40:20 +0000

Last night, I tried to describe Pratchett to a speculative-fiction-fan friend who’d never read him. And I found myself saying, “Well, Terry Pratchett is not High Fantasy…” And my friend went quiet, probably realizing I’m insane: how can an imaginary world of dragons, barbarians, wizards, witches, elves, goblins, vampires, zombies, werewolves, anthropomorphic personifications, etc., etc. NOT be “high fantasy”?

At that moment, a pebble got squeezed too hard, went *ping* as it flew out my ear, and my brain-cogs finally began to grind; and I realized that this is what you were saying in your article. You’re not a fantasy fan and you’ve probably never heard the term, so I’ll elaborate:

High fantasy is fantasy set in imaginary worlds with all the above elements; sword and sorcery, good versus evil, supernatural sagas, RPGs, and all that.

Low fantasy, such as Discworld, is best described in contrast: it can take itself less seriously (although, under its comic surface, Discworld is rich with wisdom and morality); protagonists can be every-day, ordinary folk (as you explained quite well); it can be told as stories, not epic sagas (again, as you explained); “good” and “evil” are not character descriptions; the narrator’s voice is plain, not elevated (one of my favorite things about Pratchett is his wonderfully and deceptively simple voice, playful but down-to-earth).

Lots of people will probably take exception to my conclusion, and maybe Discworld straddles the subgenres, but if this article were titled “Terry Pratchett Is Not High Fantasy”, I probably would’ve been nodding along throughout and would never have left three rambling comments on your otherwise probably quite wonderful weblog. Also, you’d probably have lost your intended audience.

Labels are funny things, eh?

By: A.L. Harper

A.L. Harper — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 19:14:32 +0000

*laugh* So it is! I don’t think all fantasy is crap… just the bulk of it. But then the bulk of most fiction writing of any genre is crap. I did however want to try and interest people who would normally be put off by Pratchett’s fantasy tag.

And lets face it he is more satire than fantasy anyway.

By: Joseph Bartlett

Joseph Bartlett — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 19:08:02 +0000

Oi! I object to that! I did read your entire article! Honest! Part of my comment was even a play on the second sentence of your fourth paragraph!

By: A.L. Harper

A.L. Harper — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 18:58:06 +0000

You obviously didn’t read the entire article just the attention grabbing title and the first paragraph.

Next time read it all before you leave a comment like this.

By: Joseph Bartlett

Joseph Bartlett — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 18:31:25 +0000

Caught this at Blog Critics and was instantly reminded of Pratchett’s response to J.K. Rowling’s “Didn’t realize I was writing a fantasy novel” comment: “I would have thought that the wizards, witches, trolls, unicorns, hidden worlds… would have given her a clue.”

Your entire article was written under the assumption that fantasy is an unworthy genre, that “fantasy” and “good” are mutually exclusive, and–with the aforementioned in mind–that Pratchett’s work can’t possibly be fantasy.

“Fantasy” does not mean, “Multi-part meandering sagas”, nor does it mean “Humorless plotless pulp”; and fortunately, many intelligent, good humored, highly literate people realize this and are enjoying Terry Pratchett, Gene Wolfe, Neil Gaiman, Tad Williams, and lots of other brilliant fantasy writers. Thus, their books continue to sell and sellers continue to stock them.

By: christian schorn » Blog Archive » Terry Pratchett: Nicht Fantasy

christian schorn » Blog Archive » Terry Pratchett: Nicht Fantasy — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 22:54:21 +0000

[…] A. L. Harper hat sich entschlossen “Going Postal” von Terry Pratchett zu lesen. Obwohl er gar keine Fantasy-Literatur mag. Moment! Was heisst hier “obwohl”? […]