But from a ‘Watsonian’ (or in-universe) perspective, this cosmology is explored and understood scientifically (as in The Color of Magic). To use a popular fan formulation: from a ‘Doylist’ (or out-of-universe) perspective the Discworld clearly draws on the mytheme of the world turtle. A tiny sun and moon spin around them, on a complicated orbit to induce seasons, so probably nowhere else in the multiverse is it sometimes necessary for an elephant to cock a leg to allow the sun to go past. Through the fathomless deeps of space swims the star turtle Great A’Tuin, bearing on its back the four giant elephants who carry on their shoulders the mass of the Discworld. In the case of the Discworld series, much can be said about the Discworld as creation myth:
In fact it is the stories-the literature, fantasy, folk stories, and histories-of our world, of the so-called ‘Round World,’ which quite literally power the Disc. Pratchett’s use, deconstruction, and reconstruction of these stories have all been the topic of study before, but one discourse which Pratchett drew on quite a bit has been somewhat absent from Pratchett Studies thus far: science.Įarly in his career Pratchett was a press officer for a nuclear power station his interest in and fondness for new forms of technology has been well documented he collaborated with the scientists Jack Cohen and Ian Stewart on four ‘Science of Discworld’ books and, although he is perhaps best known for the broadly ‘fantasy’ series of the Discworld, Pratchett was also an accomplished science fiction author ( The Dark Side of the Sun, Strata, the Long Earth series with Stephen Baxter)-a genre which has both incorporated and inspired scientific advancements. His life-long interest in science is reflected in his fantasy works as well. He borrows-or steals, as all the best artists do-from the greats of the cultural canon. Terry Pratchett is known for the incredible intertextuality of his work, especially in his famous Discworld series. Paul Kidby, ‘The Faculty’ / Joseph Wright, ‘An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump’
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