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/lit/ - Literature

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837422 No.837422 [Reply] [Original]

Just read this for the first time. Not one of Pratchett's more subtle satires, is it?

>> No.837428

Pratchett is subtle? Since when?

>> No.837430

I didn't really get it as a satire. I liked it for the story in and of itself but when someone tried to explain how it satirised the church it just didn't click.

Maybe I shouldn't have done a theology degree.

>> No.837437

>>837430

...how would you need this explained to you? Even the most passing knowledge of history and Christian Dogma should make this book's satire blatantly obvious.

>> No.837458

>>837437
It was too exaggerated to make sense. I wrote a thesis on russian orthodoxy. Pratchett threw in the inquisition and schisms with none of the grounding.

>> No.837479

>>837458

I think it's more that he's amalgamating, creating a patchwork church out of elements from all over the history of Abrahamic religion.

>> No.837485

Point of the matter is, this is the best discworld book yet

>> No.837502

>>837479

No it was a parody not a satire. He was playing it for humour, not to make a point.

>> No.837504

I don't think it works as a satire of religion as such

maybe of institutionalized religion, or certain tendencies in religion, but I don't think it's an anti-religious book

>> No.837512

>>837504

I'd say it's a satire of Christianity and the Abrahamic tradition more then religion in general.

>> No.837524

>Not one of Pratchett's more subtle satires, is it?

It's a feather duster to the atrocious sledgehammer that was monstrous regiment. The part of his brain that wrote good stuff must have died off for that one.

>> No.837539

>>837524

Oh, I dunno. Monstrous Regiment was at least nuanced in the sense that it portrayed soldiers as both good and bad at the same time without demonizing or glorifying them.

>> No.837561

What about Going Postal? That's the one I just finished myself.

>> No.837789

>>837561

I've heard it argued that the way the Grand Trunk was taken over by Gilt and his pals was a metaphor for some of the more mercenary tactics used in the early days of software corporations.

Really, only some Discworld books are specific satires. Most are general satires, parodying the world in general as they go along

>> No.837792

>>837502
>He was playing it for humour, not to make a point.

I disagree with that. Every Discworld book has a point, even if it's just that "Humans are weird"