1st Edition

Terry Pratchett Could Save the World

By Rebecca Ann Bach Copyright 2023
    158 Pages
    by Routledge

    158 Pages
    by Routledge

    This monograph contends that attending to Pratchett’s work could help to save our world. It draws attention to the astonishing capacity of Pratchett’s novels to inspire and argues that Pratchett’s fantasy novels directly address many of the most significant challenges people in the world face: the explosion of weapons technology; the myriad issues involved in the envelopment of human life by corporatized information technology; the destructive human inattention to, and interactions with, the Earth and its life forms; and the problem of devalued labor. Paradoxically, it is Pratchett’s choice of fantasy that lets him address the reality of major issues that humanity and the rest of life confront now. Pratchett’s novels show us how to better understand and confront the problems the world is contending with. The book will interest both scholars and fans.

    Preface

    Acknowledgements

    Introduction: Terry Pratchett—Fantasy, Science Fiction, the Human, and the Earth

    Chapter 1: Men at Arms: Terry Pratchett Takes on Gun Control

    Chapter 2: Going Postal: The Internet Arrives

    Chapter 3: The Truth: Journalism, Fake News, and Community

    Chapter 4: Feet of Clay: Work and Workers

    Coda: Terry Pratchett—"Creaturely Life" and the Earth

    Bibliography

    Index

    Biography

    Rebecca Ann Bach is a professor of English, specializing in Shakespeare and Renaissance Drama at the University of Alabama, Birmingham.