Wyrd Genius (Wyrd Sisters - Terry Pratchett)

Member Name: Pingu

Product:	Wyrd Sisters - Terry Pratchett
Date:	21/11/01 (130 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Brilliant

Disadvantages: None

Just occasionally, as a creative individual, there comes along a work of such genius that I can't help being jealous, and wishing I'd created it. The Rite of Spring, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Planets Suite, War of the Worlds etc, etc....

...And now Wyrd Sisters. This is where Pratchett's writing started to become really powerful, as well as rip-roaringly funny. This is where his incredible insight into human nature started coming out. This is where he started manipulating literary cliche in a totally new way, and commenting on it at the same time. In short, this is his first literary classic. He has written much better books since, but this was the watershed, where he created a new art form. Since then he's just been working within his new art, refining it, exploiting it.

The book is a lampoon of Macbeth and Hamlet, all rolled into one. The King of Lancre is killed by his brother, Duke Felmet, who is actually a bit of a wet, but has a wife behind him who could bully whole nations into action. That’s the Macbeth bit. At the same time the king has a son, who is delivered into the hands of the three witches. The king hangs around as a ghost, and tries to encourage his son to avenge his death, although without much success. So it’s Hamlet too. I don’t want to ruin too much of the plot, which is simply superb, so I’ll stop there.

There is a huge jump in writing style from Sourcery to Wyrd Sisters. The flexibility with which Pratchett uses the English language is quite staggering. One innovation is a kind of stream-of-consciousness writing which portrays the mental state of the duke. He slips from considering problems, of his new kingdom, into lunatic ramblings about blood and daggers without pause. In essence he gets a number of soliloquoys, although there is no need for him to speak out loud, since it isn’t actually a play. The style is highly appropriate to a lampoon of Shakespeare.


The language we use to discuss the use of language is called meta-language. Thoughts about the thought process are called meta-cognition. Wyrd Sisters must therefore be called Meta-Literature; Literature which is used to discuss literature, and how it works. Pratchett recognises that there are only so many stories in the world, the background forms behind the detail, and these plots set up certain expectations in us.

Usually good literature is that which manages to hide the fact that the basic skeleton of the plot is tired and overused, whilst still allowing the expectations of the background form to be fulfilled, thus achieving the right emotional effect. Star Wars, for instance, is a basic ‘orphan discovers background and achieves greatness’ plot. From the instant we see Luke Skywalker we are expecting a triumphant ending, because the basic form of the plot is programmed into us. And we experience happiness when it is fulfilled properly. But the surface detail of Star Wars is just a little special, and hides the fact that the story has been used eight gazillion times.

Pratchett goes entirely the other way. He deliberately points out the background forms of the plot, does everything to make you believe their proper fulfillment is inevitable, and then twists things to avoid the cliché. One plot, for instance, is that of Tomjon, the king’s son, who is smuggled away by a theatre company, grows up outside the kingdom, and then returns to stage a play. Pratchett goes to great lengths to point out how this should go. ‘Fate has brought back the son to avenge his father.’ He even gets all the surface details right – making sure it’s the duke who has unknowingly invited Tomjon back, thus heightening the irony; making sure Tomjon finds the real crown amongst those meant for the play. Then he totally derails the plot, avoiding the inevitable fulfillment. The result is a book which isn’t emotionally f
ulfilling in a simplistic way, but absolutely hilarious.

Finally the characterisation. Pratchett has a phenomenal gift for choosing just the right scenes to sketch out a character in a very short time. Not only that, but he has some very complex characters. Granny Weatherwax, the most respected of the leaders that witches don’t have, is hard as nails, but also compassionate; has incredible insight into humans, but can’t be taught to grasp the concept of acting; consistently grumpy, and disapproving of everything, proud as a peacock, stubborn as a mule. When you read a Discworld novel you really feel you are living with real people. In fact characters get priority over plot. You never get the feeling that someone has done something out of character just because the plot required it. Instead the plot develops in whatever way the characters’ natural motivations take it.

As I said, this is not the best Discworld novel ever (although still easily a five star book, with room to spare), but it was something of a watershed – the turning point from funny stories to powerful literature. Read it.

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