📚 Review: Terry Pratchett: A Life With Footnotes is a fond portrait of a brilliant, cantankerous writer
Terry Pratchett: A Life With Footnotes by Rob Wilkins, review: An affectionate portrait of a brilliant but cantankerous writer
This is not a critical biography, but nor is it sycophantic – it shows Sir Terry Pratchett as crotchety but generous, with a ruthless sense of the ridiculousa professorship, he shouted down the phone: “A professor? Me? Are you mad?” This from a writer of more than 30 internationally bestselling novels. Similarly, when he found out that publishers were prepared to offer him £750,000 for a collection of his non-fiction writing, Pratchett withdrew the book.
From stories like these, Rob Wilkins builds a picture of a writer not so much humble as happy to accept praise where due, but mistrustful of hyperbole. Sir Terry extended these standards to others. On being asked by a Hollywood studio for his thoughts on the draft script for an adaptation of his children’s novelIt may have been a reaction to years of contempt from literary circles. His achievements eventually included a knighthood and a Carnegie Medal , but in his early career his work was derided – unjustly, given the intricate craftsmanship required to combine funny fantasy with subtle humanism.
Wilkins never says so, but one comes away with the impression that Sir Terry Pratchett was deeply hurt by critical disdain. One remark – that the critic would be “surprised if any women wanted to read these” – stands out for its inaccuracy: Radio 4’s
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