1

INTRODUCTION

Literature, in the west originated in the southern Mesopotamia region of Sumer( BC

3200) in the city of Uruk and flourished in Egypt, later in Greece( the written word

having been imported there from the phoenicians) and body of written works. More

restrictively, literature refers to writing considered to be an art from or any single writing

deemed to have artistic or intellectual value, often due to deploying language in ways that

differ from ordinary usage. Its Latin root literature/litteratura derived itself from littera:

letter or handwriting was used to refer to all written accounts( knowledge of books).

The concept has changed meaning over time to include texts that are spoken or

sung and non-written verbal art forms. Literature is classified according to whether it is

fiction or non-fiction, and whether it is poetry or prose. It can be further distinguished

according to major forms such as the novel, short story or drama, and works are often

categorized according to historical periods or their adherence to certain aesthetic features

or expectations( genre).The history of literature follows closely the development of

civilization. Ancient Egyptian literature, along with Sumerian literature are considered

the world’ s oldest literature. The primary genres of the literature of ancient Egypth-

didactic texts, hymns, and prayers, and tales were written almost entirely in verse. Most

Sumerian literature is apparently poetry. There are numerous awards recognizing

achievement and contribution in literature. The Nobel prize in literature was one of the

six Nobel prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895.

 2

British literature is literature from its United Kingdom, Isle of Man, and channel

Islands. This article covers British literature in the English language. Anglo-Saxon(old

English) literature is included, and there is some discussion of Latin and Anglo-Norman

literature, where literature in these languages relates to the early developed to the English

language and literature. Britain was a colonial power the use of English spread through

the world, and from the nineteenth-century n the United States, and later in other former

colonies, major writers in English, including Nobel laureates, began to appear beyond

the boundaries of Britain and Ireland. The English Renaissance and the Renaissance in

Scotland date from the late 15th century to the early 17th century. Italian literary

influences arrived in Britain: the Sonnet form was introduced into English by Thomas

Wyatt in the early 16th century, and developed by Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey(1517-

1547), who also introduced black verse into England, with his translation of Virgil

Aeneid in c.1540.

The spread of printing affected the transmission of literature across Britain and

Ireland. The first book printed in English, William Caxton’ s own translation of Recuyell

of The Historyes of Troye, was printed abroad in 1473, to be followed by the established

of the first printing press in England in 1474. Utopia is a work of fiction and political

philosophy by Thomas More(1478-1535) published in 1516. The book, written in Latin,

is a frame narrative primarily depicting a fictional island society and its religious, social

and political customs.

Sir Edmund Spenser(1555-99) was the author of the Faerie Queen, an epic poem

and fantastical allegory celebrating the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth 1. Poems intended to

be set to music as songs, such as by Thomas Campion, became popular as printed

 3

literature was disseminated more widely in households. During the reign of

Elizabeth(1558-1603) and then James(1603-25) a Londen-centred culture that was both

courtly and popular, produced great poetry and Drama.The English playwrights were

intrigued by Italian model. The Metaphysical poets continued writing in this period. Both

John Donne and George Herbet died after, the second generation of Metaphysical poets,

consisting of Andrew Marvell(1621-1678) , Thomas Traherne, Henry Vaughan.Their

style was characterized by Wit and Metaphysical conceits. Another important group of

poets at this time were the Cavalier poets. They were an important group of writers, who

came from the cases that supported King Charles 1during the wars of the three kingdoms.

The best known of the Cavalier poets are Robert Herrick, Richard Lovelace,

Thomas Carew, and Sir John Suckling. They” were not a formal group, but all were

nfluenced” by Ben Johnson. Most of the Cavalier poets were Courtiers, with notable

exceptions, Robert Herrick was not a Courtier, but his style marks Robert as a Cavalier

poet. John Milton is one of the greatest English poets, who wrote at a time of religious

flux and political upheaval. John is generally seen as the last major poet of the English

Renaissance, though Milton’ s major epic poems were written in the Restoration period,

Geoffrey Chaucer known as the Father of English Literature, is widely considered the

greatest english poet of the middle ages. Chaucer’ s verse is still red and enjoyed today

and often adapted for Theatre performances.

George Eliot was the pen name of Mary Ann Evans, a novelist who produced

some of the major classic novels of the Victorian Era. Samuel Taylor Coleridge was an

English poet, best known in his time as a literary critic and philosopher. Immensely
 4

influential in English literature as one of the founders of the english Romantic movement

and when one talks about the Romantic poets.

There are other great English language writers closely associated with the English

writing scene, and could have been included in this list had they been born in England.

Writers like Irishmen, Jonathan Swift and Oscar Wilde, the American T.S.Eliot. John

Donne must be one of the most interesting writers who ever lived, both as a poet and a

man. His life was a Colourful adventure and his poems are significant feasts of language.

A Jacobean writer, more or less a contemporary of Shakespeare, Fletcher and Webster,

but very distant from those theatre writers, both regarding his social class and his literary

work. Charles Dickens was an extraordinary man. He is best known as a novelist but he

was very much more than that. He was as prominent in his other pursuits but they were

not areas of life where he can still see him today. The author of such classics as Oliver

Twist, Great Expectations, A Tale of Two Cities, Bleak House and many others. All of his

novels are English classics.

There are numerous Awards recognizing achievement and contribution in

literature. Given the diversity of the field, awards are typically limited in scope, usually

on form, genre, language, nationality and output(e.g. for first-time writers or debut

novels).

The Nobel Prize in Literature was one of the six Nobel Prizes established by the

will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, and is awarded to an author on the basis of their body of

work, rather than to, or for, a particular work itself. Other literary prizes for which all
 5

nationalities are eligible include the Neustadt international prize for Literature, the Man

Booker international prize and the Franz Kafka prize.

Terence David John Pratchett, more commonly known as Sir Terry Pratchett, was

born on 28 april 1948 in Buckinghamshire in central England. His first work published

commercially was a short story called The Hades Business. By the time it was published,

Pratchett was only fifteen years old. Two years later he left school and started working as

a journalist for the Bucks Free press. He married Lyn Purves in 1968 and several years

later their daughter Rhianna was born. In 1983 the first of the Discworld novels was

published. By then, Pratchett had been working as a publicity officer for the central

Electricity Generating Board writing had been only his past time activity.

But, after he finished the third Discworld novel in 1987, he turned to a full time

writer, very soon his books became best sellers, this made him the 1990’ s best selling

living author in great Britain. In July 1999, Pratchett received an honorary degree in

literature from the university of Warwick and and university of Portsmouth. In 2003, a

third honorary degree came from university of Bath and another one is from Bristol

university.

At the end of the year 2008 Pratchett’ s name appeared on the New Year’ s

Honours list an annually issued list of British citizens that are chosen to be Honoured by

the Queen of England’ s knighty title. Terry Pratchett was appointed the knighty Bachelor

for services to literature. Pratchett has more than fifty-five millions of his books sold and

his novels translated to over thirty languages. Without a doubt, he is an outstanding

author.
 6

Most popular books of Pratchett are, Good Omens the nice and accurate

prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch. The Color of Magic, Wyrd Sisters, Mort, Small Gods.

Good Omens - The nice and Auccurate prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch is a world

Fantacy award nominated novel, written as a collaboration between the English authors

Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. The book is a comedy about the birth of the son of

satan, the coming of the end times.

Small Gods- is the thirteenth of Terry Pratchett’ s Discworld novels, in 1992. It

tells the origin of the god om, and his relations with his Prophet, the satirises religious

institutions, people and practices and the role of religion in political life.

Terry Pratchett is first and foremost famous for being the author of a series of

more than thirty Fantasy novels called the Discworld novels. The stories take place on the

Discworld, Pratchett fictional world by Pratchett, set on the Discworld, a flat planet

balanced on the backs of four elephants which in turn stand on the back of a giant turtle.

The books frequently Parody or take inspiration from J.R.R.Tolkein, Robert E.Howard,

H.P.Lovecraft, Charles Dickens and William Shakespeare, as well as Mythology,

Folklore and Fairy tales, often using them for satirical parellels with cultural, political

and scientific issues.

Octarine is a color name coined by Terry Pratchett in his discworld novels-

Octarine is said to be the Color of Magic, as it is apparent in the crackling and

shimmering of light. The word refers to the Eight color in a spectrum of black, blue,

green, yellow, purple, orange, and red.

 7

Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction set in a fictional universe, often without any

locations, events, or people referencing the real world. Its roots are in oral traditions,

which then became literature and drama. From the twentieth century it has expanded

further into various media, including film, television, graphic novels and video games.

Fantasy is distinguished from the genres of science fiction and horror by the absence of

scientific or macabre themes respectively, though these genres overlap. In popular

culture, the fantasy genre is predominantly of the medievalist form. In its broadest sense,

however, fantasy consists of works by many writers, artists, filmmakers, and musicians

from ancient myths and legends to many recent and popular works.

Most fantasy uses magic or other supernatural elements as a main plot

element, theme, or setting. Magic and magical creatures are common in many of these

worlds.

An identifying trait of fantasy is the author's reliance on imagination to create narrative

elements that do not have to rely on history or nature to be coherent. This differs from

realistic fiction in that realistic fiction has to attend to the history and natural laws of

reality, where fantasy does not. An author applies his or her imagination to come up with

characters, plots, and settings that are impossible in reality.

Many fantasy authors use real-world folklore and mythology as inspiration and although

another defining characteristic of the fantasy genre is the inclusion of supernatural

elements, such as magic, this does not have to be the case. For instance, a narrative that

takes place in an imagined town in the northeastern United States could be considered
 8

realistic fiction as long as the plot and characters are consistent with the history of a

region and the natural characteristics that someone who has been to the northeastern

United States expects; however, if the narrative takes place in an imagined town, on an

imagined continent, with an imagined history and an imagined ecosystem, the work

becomes fantasy with or without supernatural elements.

Fantasy has often been compared to science fiction and horror because they are the major

categories of speculative fiction. Fantasy is distinguished from science fiction by the

plausibility of the narrative elements. A science fiction narrative is unlikely, though

seemingly possible through logical scientific or technological extrapolation, where

fantasy narratives do not need to be scientifically possible. Authors have to rely on the

readers suspension of disbelief, an acceptance of the unbelievable or impossible for the

sake of enjoyment, in order to write effective fantasies. Despite both genres heavy

reliance on the supernatural, fantasy and horror are distinguishable. Horror primarily

evokes fear through the protagonists' weaknesses or inability to deal with the antagonists.

Elements of the supernatural and the fantastic were a part of literature from its

beginning. Fantasy elements occur throughout the ancient Akkadian Epic of

Gilgamesh. The ancient Babylonian creation epic, the Enuma Elis, in which the

god Marduk slays the goddess Tiamat, contains the theme of a cosmic battle between

good and evil, which is characteristic of the modern fantasy genre. Genres of romantic

and fantasy literature existed in ancient Egypt.

Folk tales with fantastic elements intended for adults were a major genre

of ancient Greek literature. The comedies of Aristophanes are filled with fantastic

elements, particularly his play The Birds, in which an Athenian man builds a city in the
 9

clouds with the birds and challenges Zeus's

authority. Ovid's Metamorphoses and Apuleius's The Golden Ass are both works that

influenced the development of the fantasy genre by taking mythic elements and weaving

them into personal accounts. Both works involve complex narratives in which humans

beings are transformed into animals or inanimate objects.

Comic fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy that is primarily humorous in intent and

tone. Usually set in imaginary worlds, comic fantasy often includes puns on and parodies

of other works of fantasy. It is sometimes known as low fantasy in contrast to high

fantasy, which is primarily serious in intent and tone. The term low fantasy is used to

represent other types of fantasy, however, so while comic fantasies may also correctly be

classified as low fantasy, many examples of low fantasy are not comic in nature.

In more modern times, Terry Pratchett’ s Discworlds books, Piers

Anthony's Xanth books, Robert Asprin’ s MythAdventures of Skeeve and Aahz books,

and Tom Holt' s books provide good examples, as do many of the works by Christopher

Moore.

Beowulf is among the best known of the Nordic tales in the English speaking world, and

has had deep influence on the fantasy genre; several fantasy works have retold the tale,

such as John Gardner’ s Grendel. Norse mythology, as found in the Elder Edda and

the Younger Edda, includes such figures as Odin and his fellow Aesir,

and dwarves, elves, dragons, and giants.

The Color of Magic is a collection of four stories set on Discworld, a

flat planet that is carried by four huge elephants that stand on the back of the

giant turtle Great A’Tuin. The stories pivot on the hapless failed wizard Rincewind. In
 10

the first adventure, Rincewind is required to act as guide and protector to Twoflower, a

wealthy insurance salesman from the Counterweight Continent who has come as the first-

ever tourist to Ankh-Morpork, Discworld’s biggest city. Twoflower’s wealth attracts

thieves and assassins, but Rincewind and Twoflower’s Luggage—an overprotective

traveling trunk with legs, teeth, and the ability to locate its master anywhere—keep him

from harm. Meanwhile, Twoflower sells fire insurance to the owner of the Broken Drum

tavern, and the owner then sets the tavern on fire. The conflagration consumes the city,

but Rincewind and Twoflower escape.

In the second adventure, the pair are the object of a dice game played by the gods of

Discworld. One of the gods plants a troll in their way. Rincewind kills the troll, but their

horses panic, and they are separated. Rincewind is captured by a dryad, while Twoflower

finds his way to the Temple of Bel-Shamharoth, followed by Hrun the Barbarian, who is

intent on robbing him. Rincewind escapes the dryad through a portal into the temple and

warns both Twoflower and Hrun against saying the word eight. Nonetheless, Hrun’ s

talking sword, Kring, says the word, summoning the monster Bel-Shamharoth.

Twoflower tries to photograph the fight, and the light from his camera’ s flash attachment

kills the monster and causes the temple to collapse. Hrun saves Rincewind and

Twoflower.

The travelers come upon the upside-down mountain Wyrmberg in the third story. They

are attacked by dragonriders, and Hrun and Twoflower are captured. At the insistence of

Kring, Rincewind tries to rescue them, and he forces the dragonrider K!sdra to take them

to Wyrmberg. There Rincewind is challenged to mortal combat (conducted while hanging

upside down from a cavern roof) by Lio!rt Dragonlord. In the meantime, Liessa, daughter
 11

of the late ruler, tells Hrun that if he kills her brothers, he can marry her and become ruler

himself, and he accepts her proposal. Twoflower accidentally summons a dragon with his

imagination, and he and the dragon catch the defeated Rincewind as he is falling from the

cavern roof. Hrun vanquishes Liessa’s brothers, but Rincewind and Twoflower, unaware

that he does not need to be rescued, grab him, and they all flee on the dragon, followed

by Liessa. When Twoflower faints, the dragon disappears, and Liessa regains Hrun. The

other two, after a brief appearance in the real world, fall into the Circle Sea, where they

use the Luggage as a raft.

In the final story, Rincewind and Twoflower, now on a ship, are about to be carried by

the current off the edge of the world, but they hit the Circumfence, a giant net along

Discworld’s edge, and are rescued by the sea troll Tethis. They are taken to the capital

city of krull and told that they are to be sacrificed to the god Fate so that he will bless

Krull’s spaceship on its quest to learn whether Great A’Tuin is male or female. Lady

Luck helps them flee, and they hide in the launch room, disguising themselves as

chelonauts. Twoflower boards the spaceship and is launched, but Rincewind falls off the

edge of the world.

 12

NARRATIVE STYLE AND TECHNIQUE.

As any other writer Terry Pratchett’ s writing was influenced by works of other

writers, not only by fantasy or science fiction writers but by humoristic ones too. To be

more specific J.K.Jerome, Mark Twain, Charles Dickens but also J.R.R.Tolkien. His first

piece of writing that was published was the short story called The Hades Business

published in the school magazine technical cygnet in 1960 at the age of thirteen. Later on

this short story was published again but this time commercially in the magazine science

fantasy. The Carpet People, his children’ s story was published in 1971 and Pratchett

illustrated it by himself. It was rewritten published in 1992. He had been continuing in

writing The Discworld novels that became worldwide successful and has been translated

into about thirtysix languages, until(2010) there has been published thirthsix Discworld

novels plus four maps, a cook book, a portfolio and many more about the Discworld.

Pratchett is known for a distinctive writing style that included in The Color Of

Magic. His earliest Discworld novels were written largely to Parody classic sword and

sorcery fiction as the series progressed, Pratchett dispersed with Parody almost entirely,

and the evolved into straightforward through comedic satire.

The novel makes the narrative technique very clear, very early in the novel:
All eyes in the room were watching the stranger—except for a pair

belonging to Rincewind the wizard, who was sitting in the darkest corner

nursing a mug of very small beer.

He was watching the Luggage.

Watch Rincewind. (1.4.21-23)

 13

The narrator is clearly outside the story looking in. He is telling us what's going on,

without being personally involved in any way there's nary an I in sight.

With the third-person part established, now have to determine if it’ s a omniscient or

limited-omniscient narrator. Since the narrator can leap into any character’ s point of

view from Rincewind to Twoflower, the Patrician to the Arch-astronomer of Krull, and

even the Great A'Tuin. He’ s not limited to just one or two characters. No limits equal a

pure omniscient narrator.

So many phrases come to mind when thinking of the tone of The Color of Magic-

funny, hilarious, cheeky, sly, just-wicked-enough, good-natured, and whimsical to name

a few. It’s the tone of every good comedian and satirist, and it's present on every page

from title page to those advertisements nobody reads in the back. Here, take a look

The enormity of this lie was so great that its ripples did in fact spread out

one of the lower astral planes as far as the Magical Quarter across the

river, where it picked up tremendous velocity from the huge standing wave

of power that always hovered there and bounced wildly across the Circle

Sea. A harmonic got as far as Hrun himself, currently fighting a couple of

gnolls on a crumbling ledge high in the Caderack Mountains, and caused

him a moment's unexplained discomfort. (1.8.53)

This passage escapes an uptight style in several ways. First, it uses engaging verbs

with fun adverbs such as bounced wildly. It also keeps a conversational tone with little

additions like in fact, which in a more formal style would be edited out for being

unnecessary. Finally, this passage is completely unnecessary. True, Hrun will appear in
 14

the second and third stories of the novel, but here, there is absolutely no point in his being

mentioned as alive, fighting gnolls, and becoming subconsciously aware of the life. Well,

except for that it's funny.

The symbol behind magic and its non-magic magic counterparts seems to be the

tools people create to survive in their particular universe.

On the Discworld, magic is an actual thing, and it allows people to do things they

couldn't do naturally. They can create dragons, teleport great distances instantaneously,

and create fire without the tedium of having to invent a lighter or go it the old-fashioned

way. On our Roundworld, science and technology are our magic. They allow us to do

things that nature didn't intend for us, such as fly, communicate over long distances, and

observe events from the past and hundreds of miles away. The drawbacks are that

sometimes technology fails, sometimes we can't comprehend the implications of a

scientific discovery, and of course, the creation of tech support.

Sometimes the drawbacks and advantages can be eerily similar. For example, the

Internet allows us to incorporate society into our lives with a greater ease than ever

before, but on the downside, the Internet also allows us to incorporate society into our

lives with a greater ease than ever before.

In both cases, the end result is the same: tools. Magic and science are tools. Both

can make life easier, but neither is going to solve all the problems. Life is life, and it's

going to stay that way because it's been doing pretty well for itself, Fantasizing about a

new set of tools-whether it's magic or science, depending on your reality-won't change

the fact.
 15