Elephants and Light Fantasy: Humour in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series

Abstract

The Discworld is a world shaped like a disc, travelling through space on the backs of four elephants, themselves astride the shell of the great turtle A’Tuin. Sir Terry Pratchett, the most famous representative of the light (or comic) fantasy subgenre, pays tribute to J.R.R. Tolkien, Robert E. Howard, William Shakespeare, Jerome K. Jerome, P.G. Wodehouse, the Monty Pythons and so many others, yet the whimsical, borderline absurd universe he has developed during thirty-two years and over the course of forty-one main novels resembles no other. His humour, though given to slapstick, satire and almost maniacal repetition, always elevates where it could demean, holding his universe together and enlightening his readers. It is this power of humour, and how it relates to the Discworld’s generic hybridity, which we will explore in the course of this article. Contrary to Bergson’s theory, the Disc’s laughter is inclusive and even affectionate, not limited to the happy few. Unabashedly juxtaposing toilet humour with jokes about quantum physics, Pratchett embraces postmodern parody with the unique levity and good cheer of light fantasy.

Keywords

• Terry Pratchett
• fantasy humoristique
• postmodernisme
• métafiction
• parodie
• ludisme