From Ethnos to Mythos. The Dynamics of Realism and the Fantastic in Terry Pratchett’s Tiffany Aching Pentalogy

Abstract

The aim of this article is to analyse how both realist and fantastic elements coexist and interweave in a secondary world fantasy novel, as well as to show potential functions and effects of such coexistence in Terry Pratchett’s Tiffany Aching pentalogy. The community of shepherds of the Chalk as well as their daily life are presented in a realist manner, therefore introducing mimetic mode in the novels. The introduction of marvellous elements and the fantastic mode permits to achieve a far deeper complexity of Pratchett’s subcreation. Such coexistence of the two modes seems to result in the opening of the Discworld universe to mythical dimensions. The main mythic elements resulting from the dynamics of realism and the fantastic on which this article focuses include the world as language, human being as inseparable part of the world of nature and female initiation.