Some Liz Thoughts on Discworld

  huge popularisation of the orphan trope. The hero thing seems to be quite a thing. It could be coincidence how closely TP sticks to it, but I'm more or less certain that what with the circles he mixed in and how well read he was, that he'd know of Campbell's work even if he didn't deliberately use it then invert it, subvert it and do his usual Pratchett thing on it. I would beg to differ with him about her as a hero. I think TP is throwing sand in our eyes by making her an annoyingly arrogant teenager whose favourite word is stupid (occurs 26 times in the book, sadly I counted them, though TP's careful to echo it in othe people's voices not just hers) so she doesn't seem like a typical hero, more like an opposite of what anyone would picture. No glamour, though she rather fancies herself in black lace lol I'm glad she doesn't change too much and turn nice. I think TP's subverting anything he can lay his hands on. been thinking about what you s...

  From Mort, some foreshadowing and descriptions "In short, Mort was one of those people who are more dangerous than a bag full of rattlesnakes. He was determined to discover the underlying logic behind the universe." "YES? “Well, I think it was because you were up to your knees in horseshit, to tell you the truth.” Death looked at him for a long time. Mort shifted uneasily from one foot to the other. ABSOLUTELY CORRECT, snapped Death. CLARITY OF THOUGHT. REALISTIC APPROACH. VERY IMPORTANT IN A JOB LIKE OURS." Ysabel : "She had silver hair, and eyes with a pearly sheen to them, and the kind of interesting but impractical long, dress that tends to be worn by tragic heroines who clasp single roses to their bosom while gazing soulfully at the moon. Mort had never heard the phrase “Pre-Raphaelite,” which was a pity because it would have been almost the right description. However, such girls tend to be on the translucent, consumptive side, whereas this one had a sli...

"In a beautiful, incremental sequence of images across a number of passages Terry Pratchett contrasts DEATH, plagued by these memory intrusions, his desperate need to forget, with Susan’s gradual return of memory, from creeping to flooding “feeling…no, she realised…the memory was creeping over her from somewhere that this one was not only real but on her side.” “Images rose from the mud at the bottom of her mind.” “The hippo of recollection stirred in the muddy waters of the mind.” “The hippo of memory wallowed…” “Susan sat while memories woke and yawned and unfolded in her head. “I remember about that bathroom now,” she said. “It’s all coming back to me.” “Nah, it never went away. It just got papered over.” “She stood and stared at it as memory flooded back.” In the bereavement section I mention that severely intrusive memories can be a symptom of PTSD (recalling the bad thing that happened) and in chronic unresolved grief (reliving the good things and hankering). and unresolv...

  Definition of angel.  folk belief, mystic belief version.  Sometimes it 's used like that in the bible, but it' s more complex than that. Well actually simpler.  The Greek word angel means a messenger. It can be a heavenly messanger true but in the ancient world, in fact until recently, messengers were a regular and essential part of life.  In the gospels an 'angel' is sent, ie messenger to take a message in Luke 7v22, Luke 9v52, John 13v16. All translated messenger, but the same Greek word is transliterated elsewhere just as angel. Ho hum. Not good translation practice including the religious biases.  In this I really think they should have let people decide because in fact so called angels could be a paid messanger like they had paid scribes in public places to write or read for people, no phones of course. Letters were expensive and slow. In the armed forces they called it sending a runner. Any big employer would have people waiting around to run erran...

  Motivation of the criminals I think TP deliberately portrays the criminals as each different, each with classic motivations, playing with lists like he likes to do, remember Carpe Jugulum where he works through lots of different types of parenting, and so on. Anyway -  Although it’s impossible to diagnose correctly at a distance and of a fictional character I think TP is trying to portray Teatime (not a Johntom thing to my knowledge, just sounds silly, even worse than rude in children’s eyes maybe) as 2, some of the gang as 1. (see below) The locksmith is portrayed as sane and intelligent, calculating, proud of his skills. The wizard Sideney just needs money to pay his debt.  Banjo and Medium Dave are different again as they care about each other and were brought up in crime. They both have loyalty, MD to Banjo, Banjo to his mum, and a sort of morality that goes with it. Classic Maffia. They would be fun to pseudo psychoanalyse.  I thinkTP intends the distinction t...

 Hogfather, The Tooth Fairy and Sympathetic Magic (Golden Bough) Is There a Witch Bottle in Your House? - JSTOR Daily Use of body parts etc for magic https://daily.jstor.org/is-there-a-witch-bottle-in-your-house/ https://www.quora.com/Why-do-witches-use-hair-blood-and-pictures-to-place-spells-on-people  The exposé of the hypocrisy of capitalist Christmas whilst at the same time believing in Christmas spirit ie Hallmark and Disney is classic English, obviously very Dickens Victoriana. Guilting using sentimental stories like the Little Match girl was still current in my Childhood. In fact there's still this thing about competing major stores Christmas adverts on the telly apparently. Not that I'm really much in touch with that.  I thought TP 's whole debate about poverty and hypocrisy was pretty well put, seeming to go along with the materialism the skewering it in the third section.  I enjoyed the search for the origin of the tooth fairy. I followed it up and agree i...

  Hogfather bathroom scene Another thought from the podcast, the bathroom. I'd wondered about that. I went back to the text a few weeks ago and pondered it through. In conclusion I think TP intended (whether it worked or not is, as usual, another matter of course) it as contributing to 1.Imagery.  Theme of doors, locked ones in particular. Dr Downey has 2 visits in succession without use of the best protected door ever (auditors and Téatimé), and the gold goes into a locked vault. Téatimé appears to enter the "bar" without coming through the door, and he is obsessed about opening the tower door even though he has accomplished his commission of dealing with the HF. Susan inadvertently goes through locked doors at the UU and the YMPA. Death looks out through a locked door at the shack to ask Albert how to open it. The children come through the nursery door, Susan deals with the bogey in the cellar behind a shut door. Inconsequential unless coming and going through doorways ...

Hogswatch  Pig slaughter traditions in Europe