The aim of this dissertation was to critically analyse Terry Pratchett’s Johnny
Maxwell trilogy in terms of three areas, namely Pratchett’s use of various fantasy techniques;
how comedy and satire function as distancing mechanisms; and how fantasy and comedy
function in accordance with Erikson’s and Bettelheim’s theories concerning identity
formation in adolescent and child readers. The primary aim of this dissertation was therefore
to provide a literary reading of Pratchett’s trilogy, Only You Can Save Mankind (1992),
Johnny and the Dead (1993) and Johnny and the Bomb (1996). However, it also
acknowledges the possible didactic and developmental benefits of the books. The trilogy is entertaining, exciting, witty and child-friendly (Baldry cited in Butler,
James and Mendlesohn, 2004:41), but it is also clear that Pratchett endeavours to challenge
his child readers by presenting everyday situations from foreign and unusual perspectives.
This dissertation argues that, as Baldry states, Pratchett ‘expands the thinking of his young
readers with new ideas or unconventional ways of looking at familiar ideas’ which will
ultimately help them consider their own lives in alternative and perhaps even more
meaningful ways (quoted in Butler, James and Mendlesohn, 2004:41).
The idea of ‘distancing techniques’ is vital for this study, because it proposes that
readers can be transported from their Primary Realities (in which they live and function on a
daily basis) into Secondary Realities or worlds which are unlike the Primary Reality in form
and composition, but not unlike them in the way they function. Once this removal has taken
place, bibliotherapists argue that readers are able to look back upon their primary world with new insight into their sense of industry and identity and also into the way their primary reality
functions and the way they function within it. J.R.R. Tolkien (1985:35) explains that ‘…fact
becomes that which is manipulated by the fantasy writer to produce a keener perception of
the primary world and a greater ability to survive in it’.
Owing to Pratchett’s specific comic brand of fantasy, a discussion of his comic and
satiric techniques is also presented. Part of this discussion again concentrates on the ability of
comedy to act as a distancing mechanism, while another discusses how Pratchett uses
comedy to satirise certain aspects of society. As Bergson (1911:17) states in his book,
Laughter: An Essay on the Meaning of the Comic, laughter is a way of ‘correcting men’s
manners’. Pratchett thus makes use of various comic techniques to mock and ridicule certain
features of society, such as its obsession with television, its materialism, or its obsession with
computer games.
This research is important as the fantasy genre is often considered to be mere popular
fiction, to which parents and school teachers are frequently averse. However, with the
increase in sales of fantasy works over the past decade, especially in adolescent and
children’s fantasy, study of the genre and its possible influence on readers is becoming
increasingly necessary. This dissertation undertakes to show that fantasy works can be both
complex and satisfying literary works while they also have a positive influence on child
readers. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / English / unrestricted
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:up/oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/33362 |
| Date | January 2013 |
| Creators | Joubert, Michelle Anne |
| Contributors | Brown, Molly |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation |
| Rights | © 2013 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. |
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