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AP / Press Association Images
AP / Press Association Images / Press Association Images
CELEBRATED AUTHOR TERRY Pratchett passed away earlier this year.
His final book in the Discworld series, The Shepherd’s Crown, was published last week and is already earning wonderful reviews from critics and fans alike.
Finished The Shepherd's Crown. A wonderfully poignant way to send off the remarkable Discworld saga.
Today, however, writer Jonathan Jones has penned an article for The Guardian entitled “Get real. Terry Pratchett is not a literary genius” and criticised the late author.
Jones opens his piece by stating that he has never Pratchett’s work nor does he ever intend to. “Life’s too short,” he writes.
No offence, but Pratchett is so low on my list of books to read before I die that I would have to live a million years before getting round to him. I did flick through a book by him in a shop, to see what the fuss is about, but the prose seemed very ordinary.
He then singles out Pratchett, who sold 85 million books during his lifetime, as being “part of a very disturbing cultural phenomenon”.
In the age of social media and ebooks, our concept of literary greatness is being blurred beyond recognition. A middlebrow cult of the popular is holding literature to ransom.
This afternoon, Pratchett fans have taken to Twitter to defend the late author.
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While others heaped praise on Pratchett and the legacy he left behind.
Tuesday 26 November, 2024
Tuesday 26 November, 2024
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Terry Pratchett fans are defending his honour after The Guardian called him 'mediocre'
CELEBRATED AUTHOR TERRY Pratchett passed away earlier this year.
His final book in the Discworld series, The Shepherd’s Crown, was published last week and is already earning wonderful reviews from critics and fans alike.
Today, however, writer Jonathan Jones has penned an article for The Guardian entitled “Get real. Terry Pratchett is not a literary genius” and criticised the late author.
Jones opens his piece by stating that he has never Pratchett’s work nor does he ever intend to. “Life’s too short,” he writes.
He then singles out Pratchett, who sold 85 million books during his lifetime, as being “part of a very disturbing cultural phenomenon”.
This afternoon, Pratchett fans have taken to Twitter to defend the late author.
Whoops!
We couldn't find this Tweet
Whoops!
We couldn't find this Tweet
Whoops!
We couldn't find this Tweet
While others heaped praise on Pratchett and the legacy he left behind.
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We couldn't find this Tweet
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We couldn't find this Tweet
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We couldn't find this Tweet
And accused Jones of being a ‘literary snob’.
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And other fans? Others have simply employed this wonderfully apt quote from the man himself.
Perfect.
A tweet describing Amal Clooney as ‘actor’s wife’ caused a whole heap of drama >
10 times TV was unbelievably grim >
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Ah here Books Guardian Reading Terry Pratchett