10 Unfinished Works by Terry Pratchett - Crushed!?!
@s0u1 shares the news that a hard drive containing ten unfinished novels by the late, great Sir Terry Pratchett was just crushed with a steamroller, per the author's instructions. And when the steamroller didn't get the job done, they finished the drive off with a rock-crusher.
These instructions are common among many writers I admire. Burn the papers! Smash the computer! Tear the bloody house down!
I understand that the executors of his estate had no choice but to comply and did the right thing. Probably. Then again, Max Brod was supposed to burn Kafka's papers. If he'd followed orders, we'd have lost one of the literary greats of the 20th century.
As a writer, I have a hard time understanding this impulse. Sure, there might be stuff on my hard drives I don't want executors stumbling across. But the words I've labeled so hard over, finished or not - if they can bring someone pleasure, why not let them have them?
Not to speak ill of one of my favorite writers, but these instructions seem...petty and selfish, somehow. Why not stipulate that the work could not be published under his own name? Or that it could only be used for academic purposes, stored in a library, kept under glass. I don't know. Anything but destroyed.
There's enough entropy in the universe already. A writer of Pratchett's power does much to combat that encroaching darkness. But now we've returned his data to chaos. It's a one-way transformation.
Of course, the steamroller could have said "job done" and left the drive intact. Or the executors could have made a backup copy before they destroyed the drive. I mean, even Lord Vetinari and Sam Vimes were known to resort to technicalities on occasion.
Maybe this is what happened. Maybe there's still a thumb drive or a floppy disc out there with the files still intact. I'd like to think that Sir Terry could see the humor in that.
Okay. I won't lie, I had to Google Terry Pratchett after reading this post. Can you give a title suggestion for a first-time reader?
Sorry to barge in on your conversation, but I feel you should start with the first book in the series - The colour of Magic - why miss all the fun when Sir Terry explains what Discworld is! You know, like get a feeling of this place!
Anyway, have fun!
Good call - I forgot that was the first!
Excellent, thank you for the 'barge-in'! I'm 100% new to his work. Fans are the best people to ask where to start. Wikipedia can be a real overload sometimes.
Oh - he's so much fun. Fantasy + humor + social commentary and one of the wisest minds to guide you through it all...
Let's see. I'd point you to this chart but I wouldn't want to you get overwhelmed... hmm... And to be honest I still haven't read many of them...
Equal Rites is a good tale about lovable witches. Or The Colour of Magic for more of a "young-adult" approach. Then there's Mort to start a more philosophical story-line, if you want a more "adult" (but still humorous) take on Discworld.
Wikipedia has a good overview of his fictional universe as well.
But here's how we found him: The wife and I picked up an audiobook of Monstrous Regiment at the public library quite at random, and listened to it on a road trip. The narration and the voices were fantastic, and it threw a ton of great characters at us in a way we found delightful, even though we'd never read anything else by Pratchett before then. We were hooked.
Really, most of his books are pretty good as stand-alones anyway, so you really can't go wrong.
You are a wealth of information - thanks for pointing me in the right direction. I enjoy discovering new reading material of all kinds. (Right now @jschindler and I are reading Atlas Shrugged together.)
I have only one reservation: once I dive in to Terry Pratchett's work, I might be just as disappointed as you are by the posthumous crushing of his unfinished work!
Well, he has over 40 books to enjoy and most of them are worth reading twice.
I have my mixed emotions about destroying that work, but even so, he certainly left the world much richer in stories than her found it.
You've got lots to look forward to. (It'll be a big change from Atlas Shrugged to be sure.
The Discworld books are what made him famous, exposing people to his other works, which then gained popularity as well.
Keep reading!
Be well.
It is understandably disappointing to lose these works. Indeed, many of the great authors in history wallowed in obscurity until after their deaths. Some of them, like Pratchett, even requested that their works be destroyed after their deaths (like Franz Kafka, one of my favorite authors). Thankfully, in Kafka's case, and in the case of others, their works weren't destroyed and went on to inspire millions of people. It is, however, worthy of recognizing the wishes of the author. One need look no farther than the "Dune" series. Many (myself included) think that Frank Herbert's son took his unfinished works and did him an injustice.
Its a difficult question to address.
Well, the wrong literary executor could do a lot of damage to an author's legacy. Unfortunately, that could be a child, as in the case of Dune. And I know JRR Tolkein's son Christopher has made it his life's work to release bits and pieces of his father's archives over the years, usually in unedited, fragmented state. (Being an author's kid doesn't seem to make you the best choice of literary executor, but who else are you gonna pick at the end of your life?)
You're right, it's complicated. But in the case of truly great writers, I'd rather have a mess to discuss and analyze, than a pile of ashes to mourn and regret.
As a fan of great writing, I agree I'd rather that potential writings be saved. As a writer, however, I can understand the idea of wanting to be in control of your own legacy, rather than having it blurred by others who posthumously collaborate without your consent or input. In this case, I both applaud the effort of Pratchett's friends to fulfill his promise and a bit sad that Pratchett's unfinished works are now forever lost (or at least until they can figure out how to extract them from the shards of that drive).
It's very sad news. The thought that there's never going to be another Terry Pratchett book still hurts, but maybe it was mostly works from his later years when he was battling Alzheimer and he wasn't sure of the quality of those writings.
That might be true, and if so, I can see why he wouldn't want them released. On the other hand, it could make the books valuable to Alzheimer's researchers, who could use then to analyze the effects of the disease on language processing in such an amazing mind.
I think that could only work if they were able to study the original, unedited manuscripts of his published works. Even then, as a writer, he would have gained competence as he practiced and therefore, the project wouldn't be a viable or reliable study.
It's all such a shame that we keep losing people to this horrible disease. First their family loses their loved one - in mind if not in body - and then the loved-one loses their life in a world of confusion and doubt, they believe themselves abandoned because they cannot recognise their grieving loved ones.
I think a lot of writers leave rough drafts, letters, and other papers to universities for future study. In this age of word processing, though, "rough drafts" might be a thing of the past.
Alzheimer's is a nightmare. We lost my mother in law to it several years ago.
It's a horrible disease, that's for sure. The sooner we can eradicate it, the better. I'm so sorry for your loss.
I have hard drives littering the place, my icloud is filling up too...
If any of it would do anyone any good once I'm gone, I do hope it would be put to good use... I'm of the opinion, if you can't be a good example, at least be the horrible warning :)
That's very well-put!
Have you actually published any work?
Just curious, I see you saying you are an author(writer of stories); of what?
Please don't take this the wrong way, I am not being negative, I am always looking for new authors to follow. So, if you have something in print, please share, so we can read it.
Be well.
Yes, I have published a few pieces.
My Amazon page.
My second novel, Cruel and Unusual, was entered in the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2012.
I have four full novels in hardback, paperback and ebook. I have a seven-story set of short stories and an anthology out as e-books.
I have written a story which was adapted for film. Plus had my hand in numerous other projects IMDB page.
I appreciate that anyone can be anything they want on the internet (I'd prefer to be a dragon or perhaps a unicorn if I had a choice) and because of one stalker who believed the internet was protection for him in that anonymity, I set a legal precedent in law in 2000 and now the victim can be protected by that anonymity too.
I'm not just a writer, I'm just about anything I set my mind to.
My second novel is being serialised here on Steemit. Please feel free to take a look :)
The links to the three series I'm posting at the moment can be found here.
Links
That should keep you going for a while ;)
Thank you. I appreciate that you took the time to respond.
You can be sure I will follow the links and read what you have.
As an avid reader, I usually discover a new author I like, and then read everything they have written. In this fashion, I have managed to read about nine thousand books (not counting re-reads), but it leaves me always searching for something new and interesting to read. I hope I like what you have written.
Be well.
Good writing Winston. I enjoyed the post and also the discussion in the comments.
Thanks, Matthew!
I have to say that I disagree.
An author's wishes should always be honored where his/ her work is concerned.
Regardless of what you thought of Pratchett and his writings, the final decision should be his.
If he wanted his writing carreer to die with him, who are we to disagree?
As I mentioned in the original post by @s0u1, where does it end?
Do we have modern painters "finishing" the sketches and doodles of the past masters?
A man (or woman) should have the final say as to the disposition of their legacy.
Just my thoughts.
Be well.