[R] Drowning in a sea full of annotations
Bean Counter
he is able to maintain while unraveling a seriously good story before
our very eyes. The humour we find in his books is very much one of
association. We find it so funny because we are able to associate the
characters, situations, places, gods, religions, etc. with things that
happen in real life or have been written about or produced on film
before.
Since Pterry is very good at what he does, most of his references are
intentional. Also, since each person is different, each might have a
different, but valid personal association with any given gag in any
one of his books.
And there be the rub.
IMO, Pterry's brilliance is a double edged sword. He is so good at
what he does that that ability seems to have encouraged the more
enthusiastic and unbridled of his fans to scour his books for hidden
references in every sentence.
I am personally against annotations of any kind, because it's a bit
like explaining a joke to someone who didn't get it the first time. I
am especially against annotations that refer to some other recent
serious work of fiction that is itself fraught with clichés and stock
plots (cf. the whole Star Trek annotations saga). You can rest
assured, that if there is a reference it will be to a more classical
source (as anyone who has read the "Annotated Pratchett File" will
attest to).
Lastly, I am not sure why the whole issue of plagiarism arises when
speaking of annotations to Pterry's books. I haven't seen anyone
actually accuse Pterry of said crime in as many words. The very nature
of parody and satire is to mimic something or someone else in a
humorous way, so anyone who doesn't have a sense of humour might be
excused for mentioning the "P" word. But this is afp and a sense of
humour is surely mandatory here. Pterry is far too good at what he
does to have the "P" word (except if the word happens to be "Pterry")
bandied around or even implied in a usenet group dedicated to *him*.
Bean Counter
(Been counting for a while, which allows for authoritative first-time
posting.)
Richard Eney
Bean Counter <whiz...@post.com> wrote:
>What I most enjoy about Pterry's books is the mix of satire and parody
>he is able to maintain while unraveling a seriously good story before
>our very eyes. The humour we find in his books is very much one of
>association. We find it so funny because we are able to associate the
>characters, situations, places, gods, religions, etc. with things that
>happen in real life or have been written about or produced on film
>before.
Partly, yes. For me, most of it is the humor of the characters and
the situations, more specifically the particular character in that
particular situation.
>Since Pterry is very good at what he does, most of his references are
>intentional. Also, since each person is different, each might have a
>different, but valid personal association with any given gag in any
>one of his books.
>
>And there be the rub.
<snip>
>Lastly, I am not sure why the whole issue of plagiarism arises when
>speaking of annotations to Pterry's books. I haven't seen anyone
>actually accuse Pterry of said crime in as many words.
<snip>
Alas, we have seen people make exactly that sort of accusation,
usually when claiming something came from a record album cover
which itself alluded to a major world culture element that the dingbat
was ignorant of. It was all too common back around <thinks> 1996-1997,
if I recall correctly.
=Tamar
MikeXXXX
>
.. <SNIP>
> usually when claiming something came from a record album cover
> which itself alluded to a major world culture element that the dingbat
> was ignorant of. It was all too common back around <thinks> 1996-1997,
> if I recall correctly.
I hope you will forgive me. I have no idea what you are actually writing of.
What did occur, with your words, was the image of the Double White album.
:)
I remember the remarks where people said the movie referred to was Pulp
Fiction. I was more reminded of a movie with Tom Selleck where he's a
diamond thief and I didn't think pTerry *got* it from there. I thought
rather that pTerry was using a character ensemble in the book which
reminded *me* of a character ensemble in a movie. The reason I
remembered that particular movie when reading the book was that
I loved the presentation of the 'duo' above all others I had seen.
It happens that the duo in that case was the police inspector and
his sidekick (just a sec) http://us.imdb.com/Title?0087589
Lassiter - Bob Hoskins & Edward Peel - short and tall, threatening
and foiled; that's the charlies. :)
We[1] are all, perhaps, victims of our own background and it takes
a while to realize and learn that the tongue in cheek and parody which
pTerry uses is far more likely to be drawn from a host of works which
we haven't read/seen/heard.
pTerry is particularly victim of our ignorance and enthusiasm.
Do you think it is reasonable suggest something for the FAQ
as an acceptable style to begin an annotation.
"As a courtesy to TOFiaH proposed annotations should begin in
the following form :-
Reading %book% on page %X% made me think of
%startrek%[2]"
anyrate
Happy Christmas
regards
Mike
[1] I am we and you might be too,
but you don't have to be.
I'll leave it up to you.
[2] just kidding
--
Can we slow down on the afp tendency to assume that my research
extends only to comic books in print and movies of the last 15 years?
Terry Pratchett abp Sun, 12 Nov 2000 13:13:33 +0000
<news://LCuN$BA9dp...@unseen.demon.co.uk>
James the Cat
> Richard Eney wrote:
> Do you think it is reasonable suggest something for the FAQ
> as an acceptable style to begin an annotation.
>
> "As a courtesy to TOFiaH proposed annotations should begin in
> the following form :-
>
> Reading %book% on page %X% made me think of
> %startrek%[2]"
Good idea. Another suggested guideline could be that it's generally ok
to suggest that a particular line (eg "I've got to get one of these"
in TLH, which the amazing Pterry himself has confirmed was a reference
to Independence Day) was a reference to something, but saying that a
character or the plot of an entire book was taken from something else
is generally going too far and could be taken as an an accusatioin of
plagiarism (there are exceptions, eg Qu was fairly obviously a
reference to James Bond's Q).
Just my 2 units of whatever currency happens to be in vogue.
>
> anyrate
> Happy Christmas
And a Merry New Year.
>
> regards
> Mike
--
james the cat
ripped off from Star Trek
Richard Eney
>.. <SNIP>
>> usually when claiming something came from a record album cover
>> which itself alluded to a major world culture element that the dingbat
>> was ignorant of. It was all too common back around <thinks> 1996-1997,
>> if I recall correctly.
>
>I hope you will forgive me. I have no idea what you are actually writing of.
>
>What did occur, with your words, was the image of the Double White album.
>
>:)
I was referring to the Santana album cover with a picture of the Hindu
myth of the flat world carried on the back of four elephants on the back
of a turtle. There were either several dingbats or one persistent troll
who posted repeatedly and at length, accusing Terry of having 'stolen' the
image from the Santana album cover, despite being told (repeatedly, both
shortly and at length) by the rest of us that the myth existed previously.
=Tamar