Terry Pratchett

From Tolkien Gateway
Terry Pratchett.jpg
Terence David John Pratchett
Biographical information
Born28 April 1948
Died12 March 2015 (aged 66)
EducationHigh Wycombe Technical High School
Beaconsfield Public Library[1]
OccupationAuthor
LocationEngland
WebsiteSir Terry Pratchett

Sir Terence David John Pratchett, CBE (28 April 1948 - 12 March 2015), more commonly just simply known as Terry Pratchett, was an English author who primarily wrote fantasy fiction. His comic fantasy book series Discworld frequently parodies, or takes inspiration from, J.R.R. Tolkien.

Bibliography, selected[edit | edit source]

Articles and short stories[edit | edit source]

Quotes[edit | edit source]

In an interview with The New York Times, Pratchett was asked “Who are your favorite fantasy novelists?” to which he replied:

O.K., I give in. J. R. R. Tolkien. I wrote a letter to him once and got a very nice reply. Just think how busy he would have been, and yet he took the time out to write to a fan.[2]

In another interview Pratchett was asked: "Why do you feel uncomfortable with being ahead of Tolkien?" and he replied:

I think Tolkien will be around in a hundred years time but I’m not certain that I will.[3]

[W]hen I was young I wrote a letter to J.R.R. Tolkien, just as he was becoming extravagantly famous. I think the book that impressed me was Smith of Wootton Major. Mine must have been among hundreds or thousands of letters he received every week. I got a reply. It might have been dictated. For all I know, it might have been typed to a format. But it was signed. He must have had a sackful of letters from every commune and university in the world, written by people whose children are now grown-up and trying to make a normal life while being named Galadriel or Moonchild. It wasn’t as if I’d said a lot. There were no numbered questions. I just said that I’d enjoyed the book very much. And he said thank you. For a moment, it achieved the most basic and treasured of human communications: you are real, and therefore so am I.[4]

He also talked about how influential Tolkien has been in modern fantasy in his essay 'Magic Kingdoms':

J.R.R. Tolkien has become a sort of mountain, appearing in all subsequent fantasy in the way that Mt. Fuji appears so often in Japanese prints. Sometimes it’s big and up close. Sometimes it’s a shape on the horizon. Sometimes it’s not there at all, which means that the artist either has made a deliberate decision against the mountain, which is interesting in itself, or is in fact standing on Mt. Fuji.[4]

External links[edit | edit source]

References

  1. Smith, Kevin P., "Terry Pratchett" dated 20 September 2002, The Literary Encyclopedia: Exploring literature, history and culture (accessed 19 March 2024)
  2. "Terry Pratchett: By the Book", The New York Times (accessed 12 March 2015)
  3. SFX Magazine, "INTERVIEW Terry Pratchett" dated 9 July 2008, GamesRadar+ (accessed 19 March 2024)
  4. 4.0 4.1 Terry Pratchett, A Slip of the Keyboard: Collected Non-Fiction, "Cult Classic", pp. 73, 86