So I like this Terry Pratchett guy. I’ve covered about 90% of his Discworld books and enjoyed every moment of it. It’s truly a shame that we are losing the man to Alzheimers.
The books about Ankh Morpork, the city most of the stories revolve around, are REALLY stories about the Patrician, Havelock Vetinari, and his efforts, through benign tyranny and subtle but ruthless machinations, to make an ungovernable process ‘work’. Think about it. He set’s up guilds for everything, even the town thieves and murderers, to self-regulate, he makes the City Watch function again for general order and stuff that’s beyond the perview of the guilds, then a telegraphy system, then a post office, then a mint. Uusally via cat’s paws and puppets that he puts in place. He’s then lets the individual self-interests of the city’s populace make these schemes work by fulfilling needs. It’s like a tyrannical/libertarian utopia, Ankh Morpork. An intriguing duality there. Good thing Ventinari is likeable, in a Machiavellian sort of way.
Well, I just got through reading a book I must have skipped over, and it’s GUN related.
For those that aren’t familiar with the Discworld series, it’s hilarious, and quasi medieval fantasy. The soliders use bows and swords, and there are wizards and dragons. That sort of thing.
And it seems that quite a few fantasy genres will touch upon the whole ‘first gun ever invented’ theme. This series is no exception. And when there is the ‘first gun ever’ it always pops up fully formed. There is no primitive bamboo tube stage, no wheellock stage, no smooth bore stage… the first gun is always a multi-shot breech loader and is rifled. And the first rifleman is as deadly as a Marine Sniper with no practice on targets 400 yards away.
Men At Arms is no exception. The rifle is called a “Gonne” to make it seem Olde Tymey.
Oh, and one more annoying thing about the Gonne. It’s sentient. And evil. It just wants to kill and will go off on its own to achieve this dastardly end. It takes a force of will to resist its deadly influence if you are the wielder.
Yeah yeah, it’s disappointing. But Pratchett IS an Englishman. It would be more surprising if he wasn’t a hoplophobe. And this book was written in 1993. I think he’s matured, even, since then, in the series. Even here, despite this one example, the themes in his books are not leftist by any means. The themes lean more toward self-reliance with classically heroic protagonists. And told in a hilarious fashion. I mean it. HILARIOUS. These books make me laugh out loud in rooms by myself.
The books about Ankh Morpork, the city most of the stories revolve around, are REALLY stories about the Patrician, Havelock Vetinari, and his efforts, through benign tyranny and subtle but ruthless machinations, to make an ungovernable process ‘work’. Think about it. He set’s up guilds for everything, even the town thieves and murderers, to self-regulate, he makes the City Watch function again for general order and stuff that’s beyond the perview of the guilds, then a telegraphy system, then a post office, then a mint. Uusally via cat’s paws and puppets that he puts in place. He’s then lets the individual self-interests of the city’s populace make these schemes work by fulfilling needs. It’s like a tyrannical/libertarian utopia, Ankh Morpork. An intriguing duality there. Good thing Ventinari is likeable, in a Machiavellian sort of way.
Well, I just got through reading a book I must have skipped over, and it’s GUN related.
For those that aren’t familiar with the Discworld series, it’s hilarious, and quasi medieval fantasy. The soliders use bows and swords, and there are wizards and dragons. That sort of thing.
And it seems that quite a few fantasy genres will touch upon the whole ‘first gun ever invented’ theme. This series is no exception. And when there is the ‘first gun ever’ it always pops up fully formed. There is no primitive bamboo tube stage, no wheellock stage, no smooth bore stage… the first gun is always a multi-shot breech loader and is rifled. And the first rifleman is as deadly as a Marine Sniper with no practice on targets 400 yards away.
Men At Arms is no exception. The rifle is called a “Gonne” to make it seem Olde Tymey.
Oh, and one more annoying thing about the Gonne. It’s sentient. And evil. It just wants to kill and will go off on its own to achieve this dastardly end. It takes a force of will to resist its deadly influence if you are the wielder.
Yeah yeah, it’s disappointing. But Pratchett IS an Englishman. It would be more surprising if he wasn’t a hoplophobe. And this book was written in 1993. I think he’s matured, even, since then, in the series. Even here, despite this one example, the themes in his books are not leftist by any means. The themes lean more toward self-reliance with classically heroic protagonists. And told in a hilarious fashion. I mean it. HILARIOUS. These books make me laugh out loud in rooms by myself.
5 comments:
I read Men At Arms more as a satirical take on the seeming mindset of the gun control crowd.
In Night Watch he wrote:
"Confiscate all weapons, and crime would go down. It made sense. The flaw though...was this: criminals don't obey the law. It's more or less a requirement for the job."
I don't think he's a hoplophobe, I think he's satirizing them.
Yeah, I knew he matured a bit from the 90s. But maybe you are right and he was there all along. It was just me that couldn't pick up on the subtle nuance. I AM a slow-head, I'll grant.
Heh. I *just* finished re-re-reading "Men at Arms". I agree with Scott_K; I suspect Pratchett was having fun with the "ZOMG GUNS 'R' EVIL AND WILL KILL YOU ON THEIR OWN" crowd.
Haven't come across a bad Discworld book yet...
The "gonne" is special *because* it is sentient, evil, and capable of controlling the mind of the unwary - and it's not unique in being able to do so (there's at least one wizard's staff that does the same, and I think the witches have to deal with a couple, but my mind is hazy). Ahnk-morpork is awash in weaponry, up to and including spring-powered bolt-throwers (that the Assassins and thieves guilds have banned, with minimal success).
Vetinari did more or less ban the thing on the grounds of being disruptive tech, along with the printing press, but he has recently changed his mind on the printing press...
I guess now that you've pointed it out, the gonne stands out a bit as far as villains go, but I wouldn't expect it to have been a concious choice
Scott is correct, and it's a satire on the english confiscation of weapons...
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