Pratchett's Countries

[Tonyblack]

Oh, yes. Sorry, I skim read all the above. Eric does have a link to America, but that's the only one that does (in my opinion). There's a place in Italy called Genua, I think that's what Pratchett based it on.

I think you are thinking of Genoa rather than Genua. The Genua in Witches Abroad is (I think) clearly based on parts of America. The Mississippi-type riverboat complete with poker players, the Cajun-style food cooked in the old quarter of the city and the voodoo are clearly reminiscent of Louisiana.

[rockershovel]

I'd agree that Genua is clearly a reference to New Orleans, including the "Fat Tuesday" ( = Mardi Gras ) and Baron Saturday ( = Baron Samedi ) elements.

Brindisi is clearly Italy, given the various opera and pasta jokes in Maskerade

I'm not going to offer any opinion regarding the home of the fisherman in Small Gods, who worships a giant newt who can't count past 50.

Leshp is sort-of Atlantis

Uberwald also has elements of Tolkein's Moria - dwarf mines with magic doors, especially. Come to that, doesn't Saruman have a tower at his stronghold, like the Tower of Art at UU - which is said to have survived a now-forgotten war between wizards.

[captainmeme]

Perhaps you're right... I don't know much about New Orleans. Any other countries?

[Doughnut Jimmy]

The place the witches pass through with "the thing with the bulls" is clearly a reference to Pamplona (?sp) in Spain


I think people have already said Lancre has elements of both rural England and alpine areas, eg: Switzerland with the "Lancre knife"

[rockershovel]

The place the witches pass through with "the thing with the bulls" is clearly a reference to Pamplona (?sp) in Spain


I think people have already said Lancre has elements of both rural England and alpine areas, eg: Switzerland with the "Lancre knife"

also Appalachia, in some ways. There is also an area referred to as the Octarine Grass Country, which is a passing pun on the "Blue Grass" area of Kentucky


what about Hersheba? Apart from being a pun which only works for Americans ( Hershey Bar ), just as the "djelibeybi" one doesn't work for them, is anything known about it?

Genua as ruled by Lilith Tempscire bears a distinct resemblance to Disneyland

Istanzia is mentioned in Fifth Elephant, and it seems to have an army, and an ambassador in Uberwald.

Borogravia appears to be bordered by Mouldavia, which is mentioned briefly in Night Watch

Pseudopolis, or Psephopolis is apparently the nearest city-state to Ankh-Morpork and seems to be similar in many ways. It has a University ( Braseneck College ) and Nobby Nobbs seems to have been in the army there at some earlier time.

Krull has no obvious counterpart, being a mysterious country which actually overhangs the rim at some point and also has a magical university and a theocratic system of government

[Doughnut Jimmy]

The place the witches pass through with "the thing with the bulls" is clearly a reference to Pamplona (?sp) in Spain


I think people have already said Lancre has elements of both rural England and alpine areas, eg: Switzerland with the "Lancre knife"

also Appalachia, in some ways

I've never heard of that as a distinctive region until this thread - what exactly are the parrallels to Lancre?

[Tonyblack]

The place the witches pass through with "the thing with the bulls" is clearly a reference to Pamplona (?sp) in Spain


I think people have already said Lancre has elements of both rural England and alpine areas, eg: Switzerland with the "Lancre knife"

also Appalachia, in some ways

I've never heard of that as a distinctive region until this thread - what exactly are the parrallels to Lancre?

It's a very mountainous area that was settled (amongst others) by Scots and Irish). Because of its geography, vast areas were undeveloped and 'timeless'.

Interestingly, loads of British folk songs, that had completely disappeared in Britain, were discovered to still be 'alive' in this area.

I don't know if you ever saw Cold Mountain? That was set there.

[rockershovel]

Appalachia is a mountain range and surrounding area in the US, best summed up as hillbilly country and particularly associated with banjo-playing albinos in another well-known film ....

[Sjoerd3000]

I thought Cold Mountain was filmed in Romania

[captainmeme]

Hmmm... Krull.... Could there be a country resembling it? It would have to be one that liked astronomy....

Also, Mouldavia is probably meant to be part of the Balkans as well. There's a load of minature countries near Uberwald; if you watch the Sky version of 'Going Postal' when Reacher Gilt brings out the poster displaying the new Mobile Clacks, you can see a load more names of countries around that area on the poster (most of which, I think, are not mentioned in the book).

[Doughnut Jimmy]

Suspicious similarity in the name to Moldova as well

[Antiq]

I have just finished reading The Last Continent So beyond awesome!
I would really love to see him write something with an Irish connection, although I believe he did mention somewhere that Ankh-Morpork was somewhat based on Dublin.

[captainmeme]

Ankh Morpork seems to be based on everywhere!

[The Mad Collector]

It is

[rockershovel]

personally, I'm not that keen on Last Continent. Some of the parody countries work better than others, and some overly distort the story for the sake of the joke.. Carpe Jugulum is like that, to me. Thief of Time seems to become increasingly tangled up in its own ramifications. Each to his own.


You have to bear in mind that a lot of TP's jokes are just that, jokes. There are quite a lot of things which have been changed over time, simply for the sake of the joke - the Four Horsemen are like this, especially War. Death in CoM is quite different from his later incarnation, as is what actually happens to the souls of the dead - this last is particularly variable for the sake of the plot. Some walk the desert, some don't; some are reincarnated, some aren't; some simply fade away while the "ghost ship" certainly doesn't.


Hrun and The Weasel are basically parodies of established characters, while Cohen ( apart from the name ) is a distinct new character with a rather good, and quite original joke of his own about " a lifetime in his own legend"

The Nac Mac Feegle are a one-joke idea, with their Rab C Nesbitt accents, kilts and tattoos ( = Pictsies )

and so on, and so on.