Terry Pratchett

by Craig Cabell

  Indonesia has the world’s third largest tropical forests. Unfortunately these forests are being destroyed at a rate of ten football pitches every minute. A report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) published in 2007 suggested that 98 per cent of Indonesia’s natural rainforest could be destroyed by 2022. With only 54,000 of the Borneo orangutans left (rating them endangered) and just 6,600 Sumatran orangutans (rating them critically endangered), the future looks very bleak for orangutans.

  Is there no hope for the orangutan? Is the world turning a blind eye to their plight? No, not quite. The Orangutan Foundation was founded in 1990* and Terry Pratchett is one of eight trustees dedicated to preserving the orangutan species in its own bio-environment and educating the indigenous people about the importance of the primates.

  In 1995 Pratchett filmed a documentary in Borneo and London entitled Terry Pratchett’s Jungle Quest, which showcased his love of orangutans and his deep understanding of their natural environment. It was a typically humorous Pratchett comment but Jungle Quest highlighted some big issues, which didn’t go unnoticed. By the same token, it was a very heartwarming programme, with Pratchett having his hat removed several times by an inquisitive young orangutan and finding it impossible to get the desired photograph of an orangutan against a white cloth backdrop.

  The Orangutan Foundation is the UK representative of the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Project (SOCP). SOCP is a multifaceted programme tackling all aspects of the conservation of the critically endangered Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abelii). www.orangutan.org.uk

  Pratchett’s admiration for the primate was clear for all to see. As he took off his glasses after his hat was removed, he said: ‘People with big brains and intense curiosity have always liked to poke their fingers into the electric light socket of the universe, play with the switch, and see what happens next.’ He was referring to the orangutan hanging at his shoulder and it was clear that he enjoyed seeing one of his favourite creatures in its natural surroundings, despite the fact that he was plagued by bugs in the night and found himself wanting to destroy every insect known to mankind by morning!

  The Channel 4 documentary was made in association with the Orangutan Foundation and also featured Ian Redmond, OBE, a tropical field biologist, and Dr Biruté Galdikas, who has studied the orangutans of Indonesia for almost 40 years. It did much to focus public attention on the unappreciated orangutan, Sir Alec Guinness writing in his diary ‘the most impressive thing I’ve seen on the box this year’, and many agreed with the great actor.

  Pratchett became curious about orangutans after turning the librarian of the Unseen University in the Discworld series into one. Unfortunately – or fortunately, depending on which way you look at it – the librarian stayed that way. There were advantages in this. As an orangutan, the librarian is three times stronger than a human (some say seven times but Pratchett says three). His hands are bigger and stronger (very useful for handling large magical tomes) and his arms are longer than his body (seven feet when fully grown – what a reach to that book at the far right-hand side of the bookcase!). And, of course, he has a cracking ability to climb to the top shelves of a large bookcase, which has got to be a bonus (ask any student who locks themselves in a library). The downside is that an orangutan lives only half as long as a human and only says ‘ook’, which leaves them with very limited conversation (but does supply Pratchett’s librarian with a bit of a catchphrase).

  The orangutan of the Unseen University library doesn’t have developed cheek pads, which so many female orangutans find attractive, but then again the sight of a female human, let alone a female orangutan, in the Unseen University is a rare thing indeed. Nobody remembers the librarian’s name but it is rumoured that he could have been the quiet and unassuming Dr Horace Worblehat, although this is unconfirmed.

  Pratchett has restored some sympathy for the orangutan in fantastical fiction. Poe had one as the mysterious foe in ‘The Murders in the Rue Morgue’, and then there was Doctor Zaius in Planet of the Apes, who wanted to hush up the past and kill all humans. So with that in mind, Pratchett is really blazing the way for orangutans in literature. He’s breaking down the prejudices of authors past (it’s suddenly equal rights for orangutans).

  Although Pratchett makes light of the orangutan in his novels, in the real world he is deadly serious about them. He truly fears that orangutans will become extinct and that despite the efforts of the Orangutan Foundation, and of his many fans who raise money for it through their Discworld conventions, there will be little help in preserving the two species of orangutan for future generations. In the future, the orange soap-eaters (yes, they are partial to a bit of soap, which strangely doesn’t hurt them) may only be found by our children’s children in fantasy novels, which would be a great shame.

  In mid-2011 Pratchett started to consider returning to Indonesia to catch up on the work of the Orangutan Foundation. In May he opened the SKYShades and Orangutan Foundation garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, which combined his love of orangutans with his love of gardening. But returning to his fiction, the very fact that Pratchett creates a character in his novels (an orangutan in this case) and then pursues the reality behind it afterwards says something about his obsessive behaviour, or, at the very least, his inquisitive mind. He has truly embraced the endangered world of the orangutan and has made many members of the British general public aware of their plight too.

  ‘Not many people get the chance to leave the human race while still alive, and he’d strenuously resisted all efforts since to turn him back. Since he was the only librarian in the universe who could pick up books with his feet, the University hadn’t pressed the point.’

  (Eric)

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  A Character Called Death

  ‘Quantum physics is getting so weird the Angel Gabriel could turn up at any moment.’

  Terry Pratchett

  Everybody who lives dies. That is a fact. Everybody who is created in fiction lives forever. People around the world still write to Sherlock Holmes and he is nearly 125 years old, so there’s the proof of that one.

  Pratchett writes about Death as a character, just as his friend Neil Gaiman does. But while Gaiman goes for a sexy young gothic girl as Death, Pratchett sticks to the black-hooded skeleton. Is he afraid of dying? ‘I’m not afraid of death,’ he says flatly. ‘What’s there to be afraid of?’

  ‘Is it all over, with nothing worse to look forward to now than weak tea, nourishing gruel, short, strengthening walks in the garden and possibly a brief platonic love affair with a ministering angel…’

  (Guards! Guards!)

  Despite an active imagination, Pratchett takes the great inevitable with a pinch of salt. He does say that he wants to go on writing, and you can’t go on writing if you’re dead. His philosophy nowadays – in the knowledge that he has Alzheimer’s disease – is that he wants to stay alive long enough to finish the next book. But life and death have always fascinated Pratchett, especially death. It, or rather he (Death), has been an important character throughout the Discworld series (and even before it, see Strata). Just as in real life, he floats in and out of different characters’ lives, cropping up and changing personal life stories – or ending them – when least expected.

  Wizard Rincewind escaped death many times, but inevitably death comes at the end of everyone’s life story. The only problem is the way in which one goes, a subject people try not to dwell on too much because it’s morbid and you can do nothing about it. Pratchett, like so many people, is dedicated to making a difference while he is still here, entertaining people with tales of the Discworld, but he has vowed never to tie up all the threads of Discworld in one grand finale. He will allow the characters to live on in his books. The Discworld will not be destroyed, as once feared in The Light Fantastic. It will not be ended by a dreadful piece of magic from a renegade from the Unseen University.

  This decision by Pratchett tells us much about his philosophy of life: that l
ife goes on, maybe not your personal life, but the lives of your children and your children’s children – or indeed other people’s children – and you live on in their memories. Cures to terminal illnesses will be found, a greater understanding of the universe and its building blocks will be reached and people will begin to live longer and longer due to medical advances (and the pensionable age will go up as a consequence). ‘We are creatures of science,’ Pratchett says, but qualifies that with: ‘It controls us as much as we control it.’

  ‘And this is the room where the future pours into the past via the pinch of the now.’

  (Reaper Man)

  The Grim Reaper, Death, the time-honoured skeleton with a scythe – although Pratchett has changed the look of everything and everyone else in his stories, good old Death remains the same.

  Some people argue that if there is a Death there should be a God, thus confusing the Devil and Death, but Pratchett adopts an ancient philosophy by creating gods – very interesting for a man who doesn’t believe in God. However, towards the end of Reaper Man, Death states: ‘THERE IS NO HOPE BUT US. THERE IS NO MERCY BUT US. THERE IS NO JUSTICE. THERE IS JUST US.’

  Through Death, Pratchett makes some important statements about life, death, the universe and religion. Like most other issues he touches upon in his books, he doesn’t dwell on them, he highlights them, sometimes not even passing judgement but bringing them to the reader’s mind so they can conjure with them. Again, in Reaper Man we read this: ‘ALL THINGS THAT ARE, ARE OURS. BUT WE MUST CARE. FOR IF WE DO NOT CARE, WE DO NOT EXIST. IF WE DO NOT EXIST, THEN THERE IS NOTHING BUT BLIND OBLIVION.’

  I find the above quote one of the most important in all of Terry Pratchett’s work. It works on so many different levels. You could interpret it as a comment on how the human race harbours dangerous technology, or how it treats the environment. These are not leaps of faith. Don’t forget that Pratchett worked for the nuclear industry and saw things there that surprised him to say the least. He is also concerned about the plight of the orangutan and its natural environment of the rain forest, so thoughts along these lines will pop into his head from time to time, as they do for many people. But another way to look at this, especially when said by the Grim Reaper himself, is: there is nothing but dark ‘oblivion’ after death.

  The British Humanist Association is ‘a national charity working on behalf of non-religious people who seek to live ethical and fulfilling lives on the basis of reason and humanity’. The Association claims that it is made up of atheists and agnostics. Pratchett is not an atheist, but he is a practitioner of ‘the goals of human welfare’, which define his everyday life.

  ‘One Catholic couple with a baby boy… They were getting up early every Sunday morning to go to mass just as usual – but kids will talk. One Mormon family of the new schism – that’s three more, and their kids. The rest are the usual run of Protestants and one atheist… that is, he thought he was an atheist, until Michael made him open his eyes. He came here to scoff; he stayed to learn.’

  Robert A Heinlein (Stranger in a Strange Land)

  In April 2011, the general secretary of the British Humanist Association attended the National Union of Teachers (NUT) conference and was interested in the criticism that was made of faith schools for allegedly failing to promote tolerance and equality. The subject of how faith schools should behave is a complex issue and not one to be dealt with superficially. A faith school is shaped by its religion and therefore brings up children in accordance with the faith practised by its church and the teachers and parents associated with it, i.e. believers. To dilute that with children and teachers not prepared to follow the rules has one of two serious outcomes: a) the non-faith child fails to be stimulated by the doctrine of the school, or b) a sense of alienation and isolation will prevail through that child’s school life because he/she and their parents don’t understand or wish to embrace the faith that is all around them on a daily basis.

  The British Humanist Association discusses and explores large and complex issues, and Pratchett and other celebrities and writers, such as Philip Pullman, very much support its culture. This is not to bring down other faiths and beliefs but to exercise their own thoughts and philosophy.

  ‘I’m responsible, there is a meaning, and it is to make things better and to work for greater good and greater wisdom. That’s my meaning.’

  Philip Pullman

  This very grounded statement was made by Pullman on the British Humanist Association’s website, and in a way it echoes the very core of Pratchett’s determination. His inner strength really does come from an understanding of who he is and ownership of his own destiny. Both writers have much in common: not just their similar thoughts regarding religion but the expression of their thoughts, opinions and humour through the medium of fantasy. They are the perfect partnership for writing a great fantasy novel, with their witches and demons against the background of a form of religious power. Many wish for a revival of the Pratchett/Gaiman partnership, but Pratchett/Pullman would be so much more satirical, flamboyant and provocative. I am not criticising Gaiman: the sleek darkness he captures in his books is masterful, witness Coraline, a book nobody wanted to publish and everybody wanted rewritten. Gaiman stuck to his guns and a wonderfully Grimm-like tale was told, which transferred beautifully to the big screen. As we now enjoy a Pratchett/Gaiman tale in Good Omens, perhaps it’s time to press for a Pratchett/Pullman one, and see how the great humanists collaborate.

  Pullman made his feelings on Christianity known with the book The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ. In 2010 both Pullman and Pratchett added their names to a public letter opposing the honour of a state visit to Britain by Pope Ratzinger. The reasons they – and like-minded people – gave for signing the letter was the Catholic church’s stance on the use of condoms, especially in Third World countries and where HIV is rife, promoting segregated education, and opposing equal rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. Other notable people who signed the letter were Stephen Fry and Professor Richard Dawkins. The letter was published in the Guardian on 15 September 2010 and demonstrates the strength of opinion felt by Pratchett and his peers.

  ‘He knew in the darkness of his heart’s blood that he must not climb down. In the face of peril, in the presence of officialdom, age-old and vile, with its scarlet hands… he must cling to his dizzy crag until, trembling but triumphant… that as a creature of different clay he had not sold his birthright out of terror.’

  Mervyn Peake (Gormenghast)

  Pratchett takes no comfort from God but believes that there is something out there that gives greater meaning to life, but he strongly feels that it will never be fully understood, or indeed ever be found. His early novel Strata suggested this and Death confirmed his resignation that he will never know. Indeed, there are so many mysteries overlooked or taken for granted in this world – and deep down in the darkest recesses of the planet’s oceans – that no one is capable of understanding or piecing together the evolution or human history of the world.

  In 2011 it was announced that NASA was assisting with the archaeological exploration of ancient Egypt. It was speculated that only 1 per cent of ancient Egypt had been discovered and it had been many years since a pyramid had been found. Scans from space showed much potential for new and exciting discoveries, but what would those discoveries prove? Clearly they had the potential to reshape the history books, but would they come any closer to the truth? And would the truth have anything to do with the birth of creation? Unlikely. But one thing is interesting and harks back to an amazing discovery made in Egypt in 1922: the tomb of Tutankhamun. There are top scholars who believe that papyrus was discovered that showed that Tutankhamun’s father was actually Akhenaton (since proven by DNA tests), who was a follower of one God, destroying all other Egyptian gods, only for them to be reinstated after his death. It is then said that some of the events described in the papyrus are close to events detailed in the Old Testament, which led scholars to
believe – or at least speculate – that Akhenaton was actually Moses and that the Bible was based on Egyptian history.

  Unfortunately the papyrus supposedly found by Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon in 1922 was never seen, let alone analysed by any expert of ancient texts, and the only record we have of it ever existing is a throwaway comment made by Carter in anger to a British official. But what is important to understand here is that people such as Terry Pratchett and Philip Pullman are convinced that the common perception of God is incorrect and, ultimately, who is to prove them wrong?

  ‘Why this is hell, nor am I out of it: Thinkest thou that I who saw the face of God, And tasted the eternal joys of heaven, Am I not tormented with ten thousand hells, In being deprived of everlasting bliss?’

  Christopher Marlowe (Doctor Faustus)

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Alzheimer’s Disease

  ‘I will, of course, be dead at some point, as will everybody else. For me, this maybe further off than you think – it’s too soon to tell.’

  Terry Pratchett

  Alzheimer’s disease was first identified by the German neurologist Alois Alzheimer in 1901. It is a disease affecting the brain. During the course of the disease ‘plaques’ and ‘tangles’ develop inside the brain, leading to the destruction of brain cells. Although some drugs can slow its progress, there is no known cure. Approximately 420,000 people suffer from Alzheimer’s in Britain, but only 3.5 per cent of those people are aged under 65. Terry Pratchett was only 59 when he was diagnosed with the disease. ‘I’m lucky in a sense. I have been diagnosed quite early on,’ he says with what could be construed as an air of optimism.