Today is the eleventh anniversary of the death of Sir Terry Pratchett (aka Pterry, STP) (GNU).
I wrote one of my first blog posts about him a year ago. This shares my connection with Pterry’s work and how I met my wife through his work. There’s also a reflection on his death and the death of my dad, both as consequences of dementia.
But the main reason for reading and re-reading his books is the joy they give. I recently quoted from Lords and Ladies when I was writing about fate and destiny and how I don’t believe in them. I’ve read L&L maybe three times, but I flicked through afterwards and found so many funny bits that Mrs S and I started re-quoting bits.
Unconsidered Trifles
The line about being a picker-up of unconsidered trifles came to mind when I was reading Michael Palin’s diaries from 1999-2009. Palin’s quote is in reference to the original line from Shakespeare’s A Winter’s Tale:
My father named me Autolycus; who
being, as I am, littered under Mercury, was likewise
a snapper-up of unconsidered trifles.
Being the ignoramus that I am, I didn’t know the origin of this1, but I was familiar with the expression.
Pratchett introduces this expression early in the book. Death, making a cameo appearance2 to claim the soul of the poacher William Scrope, tells him:
I LIKE TO THINK I AM A PICKER-UP OF UNCONSIDERED TRIFLES
Death grinned hopefully. Scrope’s post-physical brow furrowed.
‘What? Like… sherry, custard, that sort of thing?’
Death sighed. Metaphors were wasted on people.
Much later, we get this scene, where Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg have just left the wedding feast of King Verence (previously the Fool) and Magrat (former witch):
Nanny Ogg produced a wooden spoon from somewhere in her apron. Then she raised her hat and carefully lifted down a bowl of cream, custard and jelly which she had secreted there.
Footnote: Nanny Ogg was also a great picker-up of unconsidered trifles.
Much of the book is a spoof of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, with the Lancre Morris Men performing a play written by Hwel the playsmith3, Casanunda the world’s second-greatest lover4 and Pewsey Ogg, the world’s stickiest child. And, that greatest of all terrors, Nanny Ogg’s bathtime.
This is one of the early golden age Discworld books. I’d consider this to cover from Wyrd Sisters5 (1988) to Thud! in 2005. He wrote ten books after this, but these were very good, rather than magical.
- I studied MacBeth at school, which helped when I was reading Wyrd Sisters. Most of the rest of my knowledge of Shakespeare is through cultural osmosis. ↩︎
- As he did in all the Discworld books except Snuff. ↩︎
- Who’s too good a writer to ever put a donkey in a play. ↩︎
- He tries harder. ↩︎
- Which was my favourite for a long time. ↩︎
