Book:The Folklore of Discworld
| The Folklore of Discworld | |
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| Co-author(s) | Jacqueline Simpson |
| Illustrator(s) | Paul Kidby |
| Publisher | Doubleday |
| Publication date | 4 Sep 2008 |
| ISBN | 9780385611008 |
| Pages | 386 |
| RRP | |
| Main characters | |
| Series | [[:Category:|]] |
| Annotations | View |
| Notes | |
| All data relates to the first UK edition. | |
Synopsis
Most of us grow up having always known to touch wood or cross our fingers, and what happens when a princess kisses a frog or a boy pulls a sword from a stone, yet sadly, some of these things are now beginning to be forgotten. Legends, myths, fairytales: our world is made up of the stories we told ourselves about where we came from and how we got there. It is the same on Discworld, except that beings that on Earth are creatures of the imagination, like vampires, trolls, witches and, possibly, gods are real, alive and in some cases kicking on the Disc.
In The Folklore of Discworld, Terry Pratchett teams up with leading British folklorist Jacqueline Simpson to give an irreverent yet illuminating look at the living myths and folklore that are reflected, celebrated and affectionately libelled in the uniquely imaginative universe of Discworld.
Chapters
It is divided into sixteen chapters, each of which covers a particular area of Discworld and searches out the Roundworld referents for selected Disc phenomena.
- The Cosmos, Gods, Demons and Things
- Dwarfs
- The Elves
- The Nac mac Feegle
- Trolls
- Other Significant Races
- Beasties
- The Witches of Lancre
- The Land of Lancre
- The Witches of the Chalk
- The Chalk
- Heroes!
- Lore, Legends and Truth
- More Customs, Nautical Lore and Military Matters
- Kids Stuff... You know, about 'Orrid Murder and Blood
- Death
With introductions by both Pratchett and Simpson, a bibliography and index.
The book was updated in 2009 adding a chapter after the index: 'Notes on the folklore of Unseen Academicals.' In 2013 the book was updated again, up to Raising Steam, this extra chapter was integrated into the books initial chapters along with new information.
New Discworld characters and concepts introduced
There aren't as many of those as might be expected, as the discussions tend to revolve around settings, characters and concepts already well established in the canon. Here and there, however, brand new, or at least unfamiliar, characters and ideas, emerge from TP's "stack" as illustrations for Dr. Simpson's discourses.
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