#tery pratchett

[neatokeanosocks]

If I had a penny for every time a skeleton replaced santa in a movie, I’d have 2 cents, which isn’t a lot but it’s weird that it happened twice.

[rozpuszczalna]

"Uczeni wyliczyli, że jest tylko jedna szansa na miliard, by zaistniało coś tak całkowicie absurdalnego. Jednak magowie obliczyli, że szanse jedna na miliard sprawdzają się w dziewięciu przypadkach na dziesięć."

- Terry Pratchett

[syntax-forest]

The Colour of Magic

Ahhh so my readings for class have calmed down enough that I can actually start reading The Colour of Magic, which I’ve had in my dorm for a while now!

[elpicaderodeltroll]

Cuidado con el troll. No confiéis en él. Echadlo de vuestra puerta. No es nada, un mero accidente de fuerzas, no escrito, impuro, el eco pálido, celoso y mineral de las criaturas vivas y pensantes. En su cabeza, una roca; en su corazón, una piedra. No construye, no ahonda, no siembra ni recoge. Su nascencia fue un acto de robo y robar es lo que hace allá adonde arrastra su garrote. Cuando no está robando, planea robar. El único propósito de su miserable vida es su fin, que libera a la desdichada roca de la carga, demasiado pesado, del pensamiento. Lo digo con pena. Matar al troll no es un asesinato. En el peor de los casos, es un acto de caridad.

Chafajamones

[fandomsandfeminism]

Empowerment through the dismantlement of gender roles: Equal Rites and Feminism

A dying wizard tries to pass his staff on to the eighth son of an eighth son. When it is revealed that the he is a girl named Esk, the news of the  female wizard sends the citizens of Discworld into a tail-spin.

Equal Rites, by Terry Pratchett, is the 3rd book in the rather famous Discworld Universe. Published in 1987, this early book in the franchise might be tempting to skip over for some of the newer Discworld flare. Certainly the first two books in Discworld (The Colour of Magic and the Light Fantastic) are not among my favorites, but Equal Rites is well worth the read in my opinion. 

Being the 3rd book in the franchise (and the first book to NOT feature Rincewind as the protagonist), Equal Rites did a lot to help establish the broader Discworld universe and how magic functions within it. Here's a broad overview: 

There are two main kinds of magic on the disc: Witch magic and Wizard magic. These two forms of magic are set up as separate and often conflicting forces and are deeply gendered in nature. Wizards, all men, are focused on big grand magic, intellectual and prestigious, focused on study within their Universities and traditional lore. Witches, all women, in stark contrast, tend to live and work in small villages as medics and advisors, growing herbs, tending the sick, and focusing on nature. While a wizard would transform himself into an eagle, a witch would simply borrow the mind of a hawk and go along for the ride. 

Enter our protagonist Esk. When an ailing wizard shows up in town to pass his powers onto the newly born 8th son to an 8th son, no one is able to stop him before they realize that Esk is, in fact, a girl. Gifted with wizard magic despite being a girl, Esk has to find out just how to use this magic she has and what it means to be the first female wizard. 

Now, this is where the book could have taken the easy way out. We could have had an entire book where Esk throws off the oppressive and restrictive expectations of female gender roles and throws herself into the male-dominated wizard world and shows that a girl can do a man's job too. But lets be honest. That's easy, that's lazy, and that's really nothing special. Setting up femininity as weak and boring while masculinity gets to be grand and powerful isn't new or interesting or empowering. Showing that the only way for a girl to be powerful is to take on masculine roles isn't progress. 

And thankfully, the book doesn't do this.  Esk spends the first half of the book learning Witch magic, working with Granny Weatherwax (a kick-ass witch who would go on to star in several of her own books and tutor many other young witches in the Discworld universe.) Esk loves and embraces Witch magic, even if it sometimes it a bit less flashy than she likes. But despite her love of Witch magic, Esk has a calling. She has a natural gift for wizardry that can not simply be ignored. And she goes off to the Unseen University to become a wizard as well. 

What we get in Equal Rites isn't a rejection of feminine gender roles, but a rejection of the entire construct of gender roles. Esk doesn't care that the magical system of the Disc is gendered: she is good a both. She embraces and defends both. She is empowered by embracing both. 

The resolution of Equal Rites shows Wizardry opening up to the idea of female wizards and a new appreciation for the unique knowledge and abilities that witchery has that wizardly has traditionally neglected.  Within this deeply binary system, we begin to see that binary break down. The gender binary itself is shown to be flawed, and by dismantling it and allowing young students to study and learn from both witchery and wizardry, they are expected to be smarter and more powerful than ever before. 

Pretty good for a book written in the 80's. 

[snarksandkisses]

Recommend a good book to me. (Fiction or essay) I like Neil Gaiman, Robin Hobb, Terry Pratchett, David Sedaris, Sloane Crosley, Augusten Burroughs, Barbara Kingsolver, Asimov, Vonnegut, etc., etc. ...?