"Terry Pratchett is not a literary genius" - And you are? You fool.

I just need to rant a little after reading one "Jonathan Jones'" blog...

He states:

... I have never read a single one of his books and I never plan to. Life’s too short.

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.
...
Because life really is too short to waste on ordinary potboilers. I am not saying this as a complacent book snob who claims to have read everything. On the contrary, I am crushed by how many books I have not read.
...
But Terry Pratchett? Get real. It’s time we stopped this pretence that mediocrity is equal to genius.
Source - TheGuardian.com

As a huge fan of Sir Terry I've never been insulted so much in my life...

Really? Perhaps before you start criticizing shouldn't you actually have some experience or insight into the matter? Wouldn't you need more than a quick flick through a book before you dare say anything about him/it? What happened to "don't judge a book by its cover"?

A Discworld novel contains just as much literary value - if not more - than any "classic". Does Monstrous Regiment not address the same issues as Little Women? I can draw dozens of parallels between Pratchett's books and "classics"... Does a book really have to be difficult to read in order to convey its message?

Jonathon, I say to you: "Susan hated Literature. She'd much prefer to read a good book." (Soul Music - Terry Pratchett)

Dear Jonathon. Your life must be empty and hollow and meaningless and humorless without Gaspode, Moist, Granny Weatherwax or DEATH. Life is too short not to have read a single Terry Pratchett book.

“It would seem that you have no useful skill or talent whatsoever," he said. "Have you thought of going into teaching?”
― Terry Pratchett, Mort

[/rant]

a reply to: Gemwolf

Says it all that, typical Guardian wimpy nonsense.

The prose seemed very ordinary...

Of course, because that's how to judge a book, by a quick glance at the style of prose. Then you can easily see how the plot grows, characters come to life and weave in and out of their little sub-plots. Nonsense.

This guy is up there with the other Guardian plonkers like Theroux, Will Self and Jon Ronson.

Like the others I mention above, he's probably so desperate for attention he'll write/do anything for it.

a reply to: Gemwolf

Pratchett writes contemporary pulp fiction like Stephen King does. Neither are classic writers. They are commercial writers. His prose style reflects that. He writes for common people and keeps his prose simple. Yes, he has a talent, but it is certainly not high brow literature is it and to suggest that it is shows a lack of literary understanding of genres and what a classic is.

I have tried reading him, but it is like reading baby writing to me. I need the intellectual stimulus. I like to be challenged mentally. Pratchett does not do this. Imaginative, yes, but please don't try and make him out to be some classic genius. That shows an uncultured mind.

a reply to: Revolution9

You are showing an unhealthy amount of arrogance, dear sir/miss.

In fact, TPs messages about morality, equality and freedom are more profound than you might find in works of Günther Grass (I read them), who is a literature noble price winner.

But noo, it's "for the mass-market, therefore pulp". Better start reading them.

You judge a successful book by the number of people who read it. Pratchett is well read because he tells good stories. That's the gauge of whether he is good, or not.

One pompous blogger does not distract from that fact. He mentions Günter Grass, a Nobel winning novelist. Günter Grass was undoubtedly good, but by God his books require concentration!

I did English Literature and therefore was "forced" to read ten books from a set of accomplished authors. All very good, but also very painful. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens, or Dubliners by James Joyce were nightmares to me!

Give me a good storyteller anytime, who writes in a way which is pleasing!

a reply to: Gemwolf

John Jones' article reads like an ignorant art critic that has a personal beef with Mr Pratchett's works because Johnny is jealous about something. [that's what I got from his poor excuse for an article - reads like a 15-year olds facebook rant]

"Picked up his book, flicked through it - meh"

I don’t mean to pick on this particular author, except that the huge fuss attending and following his death this year is part of a very disturbing cultural phenomenon

Jonesie, don't lie - it shows your ignorance - your whole article is about your butt-hurtness about an author who cannot provide a retort - why don't you just stick to blogging crap no-one will ever read.

"Build Jonathan Jones a fire and he's warm for a night. Set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life."

- Terry Pratchett

a reply to: Gemwolf

He reminds me of the guests you see that come onto cooking shows like Hell's Kitchen and they ask them what they think of the food.

And these people who sound like they've never seen a Risotto, much less tasted one, all of a sudden turn into a Michelin star chef and start talking to you about mouth feel and how the flavors balance.

Terry Pratchett could write a mountain around this little pile of dirt.

What a joke of an article.

~Tenth

a reply to: Gemwolf

I have all the Disc World books and have loved reading them. `He is an author I simply don't dare read out in public because I can't control the laughing - similar to Ton Sharpe.

Its a matter of taste and also perhaps perhaps jealousy. Jones according to Wiki - (not that I usually use Wiki but on his crass comments I thought it appropriate) apparently doesn't seem to have managed to finish his degree in history and certainly hasn't have the career success that Pratchett has achieved. I would take issue with him over the writing skills, imagination, humour and sheer delight that Pratchett imparts to all his books.

Being a professional critic doesn't make your opinion on something necessarily right or in tune with a large majority of people who have appreciated and enjoyed something you don't care for. Bearing in mind Pratchett is dead it seems also somewhat disingenuous to do this. I doubt it will do the credibility of his paper much good either.

To me a good writer is someone who:

1) Has published more than once or twice.
2) Has sold many copies of the books they have published.
3) Has a lot of fans of their work, enough so that their books get republished again and again.
4) Is able to tell a good story.

If the blogger has never read any of his books, then he has not business judging them.

a reply to: Gemwolf

Any moron can assemble a complicated sentence, comprised of words which by their very nature reduce the sentence to nothing more than an arcane mess, only readable by a tiny number of over educated and under talented critics. Even my vocabulary is up to such a challenge.

But few authors have the ability to communicate as directly, vibrantly, and in such a way as to inspire imagination, as the late, and the great Sir Terry Pratchett. He was able to paint pictures in the mind, which while different for every reader, had a depth and scope and colour to them unmatched in both his genre, and indeed in works of fiction generally.

Skim reading his work is like reading one or two of the Ten Commandments, or looking at only one axis of a graph, or only one slice of a pie chart. No wonder the critic whose ill informed prattle formed the origin of your OP, is under such a complete misapprehension about the work of Sir Terry.

a reply to: Gemwolf

Jonathan Jones is not a critic, he is an idiot, a moronic excuse for a human being.

How can anyone with even half a brain, not like something he has never tried.

The principal role of any author in this genre is to entertain. Pratchett always managed to do that and his fan base is the absolute and only proof one needs. That his writing is quoted time and time again all over the internet shows clearly that he was a great author.

Even if you did not like his books, you would just put it down to a difference in your own reading preferences.

The 'I don't like it ... therefore ... it is no good' crowd are a mob of self deluded idiots with no self talent.

JJ needs to go and play in the litter box, that is where he will find his peers.

P

The unmitigated gall that it takes to talk that much smack about something you read a sentence or two out of amazes me. Just one more armchair quarterback that has it all figured out...

Anyone who would take his "mediocre review" seriously is seriously giving this guy 5 more seconds than he ever needed.

I remember readong the colour of magic on the bus home every night and crying with laughter on a full bus with everyone giving me funny looks.
I don't care what this prat thinks he is wrong Terry is and always will be a genius.
Also he has not read any books but can form an opinion on them? He should get fired.

These are debates that will never be concluded satisfactorily for either "side." The "quality" of art is subjective. I've had this debate more times than I count (for some reason, especially online.) One side will say there are clearly defined criteria for establishing the quality of a given work. The other will point out that those very criteria are subjective to the individual or society selecting them for use in their appraisal. The former will insist that it is not a choice, but a concrete reality. The latter will persist in arguing that this is not the case. Ad nauseum.

I gave up trying to ever change anyone's mind on the internet a long, long time ago. I say if you love and are moved or inspired or made to think by a work of art, be it literature or otherwise, just say so defiantly irrespective of anyone else's assessment and leave it at that.

Since I don't believe in or acknowledge genres, refuse to embrace any semblance of the concept of quality as an objective reality outside of subjective opinion, and can find value in everything from classic poetry to young adult fare, it's all moot to me anyway. There aren't "levels" of art in my mind. There's just art. Good luck ever changing my mind about that, and I certainly won't waste any energy trying to change anyone else's.

Peace.

Jones never got his book published then?

Sounds like sour grapes.

Pratchett is a genius!

I'm no big critic.

For me, a good author writes a book, that when I read it, I cannot put it down. And when I am done with the book, I am bummed, only because the ride is over and I immediately have to find another of that authors books.

To me, that is a great author. And that is how I feel about Mr. Pratchett's books. He has created such an amazing and vivid world.

And I love DEATH.

a reply to: beezzer

It takes one to know one.
We are geniuses all who agree that tel is one.

a reply to: Ridhya

I think the fire for the night would end up keeping his living body warm for a longer time. Funny though.

Hear Hear!!

I greatly admire the high art of satire and parody that Terry Pratchett, Master Wielder of Wit, produced with every novel. And "novel" they are!

Bah! This author/reader sounds like a sour puss. I have never regretted reading a Pratchett novel, and if its meat he wants with his pudding, well try on Small Gods for starters! THAT was a bold take!

Article on Internet Outrage over Critic of Terry Pratchett

We are not alone. It's one thing to do an actual critique of something one has seen/experienced, but to go off full-cocked and attempt to blow away an author's work without so much as doing him the dignity of READING it first, is about as low as you can get. He has gone from 'critic' to 'jerk' in a meteoric display of ignorance.

An Article Critiquing the Critic of Terry Pratchett

But here is my favorite quote from Twitter:

Pratchett needs defending against Jonathan Jones in much the same way an aircraft carrier needs defending against a crazy man with a stick. - Martin Robins

And, okay, from the man himself...

"Stories of imagination tend to upset those without one" - Terry Pratchett


- AB