SPOILERS Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents Discussion Group
- Thread starter Tonyblack
- Start date
- May 5, 2009
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You just can't argue your way around that with true believers *shrugs*. The man who wrote it was inspired by the god - it's a self-fulfilling fantasy (as defined several times by the prophet Pratchett) and is the fundamental basis of all stories of which the author (often several in religious fields) is the keystone as enabler. 
What made you start writing about Gloobs? We all have 'idols' lurking somewhere or other
What made you start writing about Gloobs? We all have 'idols' lurking somewhere or other
Exactly, the man was inspired by the God, therefore as man is fallible, his interpretation can be flawed. Otherwise, in order to be a true believer, all Christians would have to believe in the creation of everything in 7 days. Of course they don't, but you can truly believe in god without truly believing in the bible as a work of fact.
As I said before, although the bible isn't literally true, man can take lessons from it & live his life by those lessons.
As I said before, although the bible isn't literally true, man can take lessons from it & live his life by those lessons.
We just read this in my 20th C. Children's Fantasy course and I have to say I was impressed. This was the first book by Terry Pratchett that I've ever read and I loved it.
What I found interesting though is that aside from the world it is set in, it was not so much a novel of Discworld, but a beast fable that happened to be set in Discworld.
Those elements of the world that make Pratchett and Discworld what they are, seemed to be pushed to the side in favour of re-writing a common children's tale and creating more of an adventure story for kids to enjoy.
Cheers.
What I found interesting though is that aside from the world it is set in, it was not so much a novel of Discworld, but a beast fable that happened to be set in Discworld.
Those elements of the world that make Pratchett and Discworld what they are, seemed to be pushed to the side in favour of re-writing a common children's tale and creating more of an adventure story for kids to enjoy.
Cheers.
The thing with 'young' adults (formerly known as children) books is that we're all children still in some measure - why else would Harry Potter be so widely read (spare me the theories about reading ages please - I was reading and getting bored stiff by Swift and Longfellow in the original (with great illustrations luckily) at 5.5 years old 
). With fantasies in particular there's such a fine line between what's suitable for sub-teenage reading and what adults'll swallow (including the simplicity or otherwise of language) that it's almost not worth trying to define anymore aside from the sex and violence aspects and that's more a social/regional thing these days with movies and telly blurring the lines the whole time.
With Terry's young adult writing there's hardly any difference at all in his writing style to all intents and purposes - just that the age ratio for the characters are slanted to young more than old. The Feegles for instance, being wee and free, defy age categorisation and the Elf Queen might as well be Angelica in Rag Rats is terms of being a psychopath :twisted:
). With fantasies in particular there's such a fine line between what's suitable for sub-teenage reading and what adults'll swallow (including the simplicity or otherwise of language) that it's almost not worth trying to define anymore aside from the sex and violence aspects and that's more a social/regional thing these days with movies and telly blurring the lines the whole time.With Terry's young adult writing there's hardly any difference at all in his writing style to all intents and purposes - just that the age ratio for the characters are slanted to young more than old. The Feegles for instance, being wee and free, defy age categorisation and the Elf Queen might as well be Angelica in Rag Rats is terms of being a psychopath :twisted:
N1v3n said:
I had the audio book years ago. Think it was Stephen Kirby. He did a great job, one of the rats was Welsh and another sounded like Michael Caine
I've got the abridged audiobook read by Tony Robinson - from a charity shop. I've only played it once as Tony Robinson's characterisation sucks! I really, really hate his voice for Maurice.
Jan Van Quirm said:
The thing with 'young' adults (formerly known as children) books is that we're all children still in some measure - why else would Harry Potter be so widely read (spare me the theories about reading ages please - I was reading and getting bored stiff by Swift and Longfellow in the original (with great illustrations luckily) at 5.5 years old ). With fantasies in particular there's such a fine line between what's suitable for sub-teenage reading and what adults'll swallow (including the simplicity or otherwise of language) that it's almost not worth trying to define anymore aside from the sex and violence aspects and that's more a social/regional thing these days with movies and telly blurring the lines the whole time.
With Terry's young adult writing there's hardly any difference at all in his writing style to all intents and purposes - just that the age ratio for the characters are slanted to young more than old. The Feegles for instance, being wee and free, defy age categorisation and the Elf Queen might as well be Angelica in Rag Rats is terms of being a psychopath :twisted:
). With fantasies in particular there's such a fine line between what's suitable for sub-teenage reading and what adults'll swallow (including the simplicity or otherwise of language) that it's almost not worth trying to define anymore aside from the sex and violence aspects and that's more a social/regional thing these days with movies and telly blurring the lines the whole time.With Terry's young adult writing there's hardly any difference at all in his writing style to all intents and purposes - just that the age ratio for the characters are slanted to young more than old. The Feegles for instance, being wee and free, defy age categorisation and the Elf Queen might as well be Angelica in Rag Rats is terms of being a psychopath :twisted:
I think that's the case with a lot of the later books. It's not usually necessary to the story to know the nature of the Discworld other than it is a fantasy place where strange things happen.
It's not even necessary to know about Unseen University other than it's a magical place which dumps its waste without much thought of the consequences.
All we need to know is that the rats ate this stuff and that made them smarter than they were and that Maurice became smart from eating one of the rats. It's set on Discworld, but that's somewhat beside the point. You could have probably set it on Middle Earth or on dozens of other fantasy worlds where magic is common.
It's not even necessary to know about Unseen University other than it's a magical place which dumps its waste without much thought of the consequences.
All we need to know is that the rats ate this stuff and that made them smarter than they were and that Maurice became smart from eating one of the rats. It's set on Discworld, but that's somewhat beside the point. You could have probably set it on Middle Earth or on dozens of other fantasy worlds where magic is common.
We spoke at length about just this issue. Much of the discussion of our course has centered around what constitutes Children's Fantasy Literature.
The fact that this story happens to be set in a fantastical world was missed by most of the class. The one theme that consistently popped up in discussion was Pratchett's use of mythology and fairy tale.
Specifically with references to The Pied Piper of Hamelin and many other nods. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIHM is also being invoked with this story.
Cheers.
The fact that this story happens to be set in a fantastical world was missed by most of the class. The one theme that consistently popped up in discussion was Pratchett's use of mythology and fairy tale.
Specifically with references to The Pied Piper of Hamelin and many other nods. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIHM is also being invoked with this story.
Cheers.
