Misplaced Pages

#796203

33-515: Equal Rites is a comic fantasy novel by Terry Pratchett . Published in 1987, it is the third novel in the Discworld series and the first in which the main character is not Rincewind . The title is a play on words related to the phrase " Equal Rights ". The novel introduces the character of Granny Weatherwax , who reappears in several later Discworld novels. The protagonist Eskarina Smith does not return until I Shall Wear Midnight , which

66-580: A boarding house in central London. Her only other boarder is a scholarly Egyptologist who has filled his bedsit with ancient artefacts. During the course of the book, the children get to know the "poor learned gentleman" and befriend him and call him Jimmy. Nurse's house is in Fitzrovia , the district of London near the British Museum , which Nesbit accurately conveys as having bookstalls and shops filled with unusual merchandise. In one of these shops

99-529: A hole to be opened into the Dungeon Dimensions while he is in Esk's presence. The staff, acting to protect Esk, strikes Simon on the head, closing the hole but trapping his mind in the Dungeon Dimensions. Esk throws the staff away, believing that it attacked Simon. While attempting to rescue him, Esk ends up in the Dungeon Dimensions. The extreme cold there causes the staff, now washed out to sea, to create

132-558: A huge ice sheet, causing a storm that floods the university as well as the surrounding city. Esk and Simon discover the weakness of the creatures from the Dungeon Dimensions—if you can use magic, but don't , they become scared and weakened. With the help of Granny Weatherwax and Archchancellor Cutangle, who have retrieved the staff, they both manage to transport themselves back into the Discworld. Esk and Simon go on to develop

165-507: A new kind of magic, based on the notion that the greatest power is the ability not to use all the others. Dave Langford reviewed Equal Rites for White Dwarf #87, and called it "screwy and dotty" and concluded that the book was "Good fun." J. Michael Caparula reviewed Equal Rites in Space Gamer/Fantasy Gamer No. 85. Caparula commented that "While not a terribly original concept, it comes alive here amidst

198-456: Is not worth invading. Jane's childish prattling about the glories of England persuades Caesar to invade after all. In each of their time-jaunts, the children are magically able to speak and comprehend the contemporary language. Nesbit acknowledges this in her narration, without offering any explanation. The children eventually bring "Jimmy" (the "Learned Gentleman") along with them on some of their time trips. For some reason, Jimmy does not share

231-464: Is rendered in an exaggerated dialect of Yiddish -inflected English. They are depicted as shuddering at the thought of poor people eating good food, and then they are massacred by the queen's guards. Another character in the book, the shopkeeper Jacob Absalom, is hinted at being Jewish and is depicted negatively. The chapter "The Queen in London" satirises contemporary occult belief. A journalist mistakes

264-525: Is something completely unheard of on the Discworld. Esk is unsuccessful in her first, direct, attempt to gain entry to the University, but Granny Weatherwax finds another way in; as a servant. While there, Esk witnesses the progress of an apprentice wizard named Simon, whom she had met earlier, on her way to Ankh-Morpork. Simon is a natural talent who invents a whole new way of looking at the universe that reduces it to component numbers. Simon's magic causes

297-471: The Amulet is essentially different from all the other trips in the narrative: whereas all the other adventures in this novel contain scrupulously detailed accounts of past civilisations, the children's trip into the future represents Nesbit's vision of Utopia. This episode can be compared to many other visions of utopian socialist futures published in that era; Nesbit's is notable in that it concentrates on how

330-513: The Amulet were borrowed by C. S. Lewis for his Narnia series , particularly The Horse and His Boy (1954) and The Magician's Nephew (1955). The Calormene god Tash closely resembles the deity Nisroch, whose name may also have influenced the title of the Calormene king, the Tisroc . Lewis's Tisroc, like Nesbit's King of Babylon, must have his name followed by "may he live forever", and

363-601: The Children's Charter.) The Story of the Amulet profits greatly from Nesbit's deep research into ancient civilisations in general and that of ancient Egypt in particular. The book is dedicated to Sir E. A. Wallis Budge , the translator of the Egyptian Book of the Dead and Keeper of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities of the British Museum , with whom she met to discuss the history of the ancient Near East while writing

SECTION 10

#1732787879797

396-623: The Psammead to times and places where the Amulet has previously existed, in the hope that – at some point in time – the children can find the Amulet's missing half. Among the ancient realms they visit are Babylon , Egypt , the Phoenician city of Tyre , a ship to "the Tin Islands " (ancient Cornwall ), and Atlantis just before the flood. In one chapter, they meet Julius Caesar on the shores of Gaul , just as he has decided that Britain

429-906: The Queen of Babylon for the Theosophist Annie Besant (like Nesbit, a socialist and social reformer) and mentions Theosophy in reference to (to him) inexplicable events taking place in the British Museum ). "Thought-transference" ( telepathy ) also gets a mention as part of an elaborate and mistaken rationalisation by the Learned Gentleman of Anthea's stories of the Queen and ancient Babylon. The eponymously named ninth chapter, which takes place in Atlantis , though primarily inspired by Plato 's dialogue Critias , also borrows such details from C. J. Cutcliffe Hyne 's novel The Lost Continent: The Story of Atlantis (1899), such as

462-493: The appearance of Jadis , Queen of Charn , in London in The Magician's Nephew , and the havoc she causes there, closely parallel the Queen of Babylon's eventful journey to London. In the third canto of his poem "Villon" (written 1925, published 1930), British modernist poet Basil Bunting stated he took the image of two drops of quicksilver (mercury) merging from Nesbit's The Story of the Amulet and described her work as

495-464: The book. The Amulet is sentient and is named Ur Hekau Setcheh; this is a genuine Ancient Egyptian name. The hieroglyphics written on the back of the Amulet are also authentic. Amulet coincidentally appeared the same year as the first instalment of another story involving children viewing different periods of history, Rudyard Kipling 's Puck of Pook's Hill . During their adventure in Babylon,

528-815: The case of Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and its 2019 sequel . The Story of the Amulet The Story of the Amulet is a novel for children , written in 1906 by the English author Edith Nesbit . It is the final part of a trilogy of novels that also includes Five Children and It (1902) and The Phoenix and the Carpet (1904). In it the children re-encounter the Psammead—the "it" in Five Children and It . As it no longer grants wishes to

561-523: The children are able to visit the past or future. ... a story of considerable beauty." At the beginning of this book, the journalist father of Robert, Anthea, Cyril, and Jane has gone overseas to cover the war in Manchuria . Their mother has gone to Madeira to recuperate from an illness, taking with her their younger brother, the Lamb. The children are living with an old Nurse (Mrs Green) who has set up

594-587: The children attempt to summon a Babylonian deity named Nisroch but are temporarily unable to recall his name: Cyril, in an obvious in-joke , refers to the god as "Nesbit". Author E. Nesbit was a member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn , and was knowledgeable about ancient religions; she may well have been aware that there was indeed an ancient deity named Nesbit: this was the Egyptian god of

627-470: The children find the Psammead. It had been captured by a trapper, who failed to recognise it as a magical being. The terrified creature cannot escape, for it can only grant wishes to others, not to itself. Using a ruse, the children persuade the shopkeeper to sell them the "mangy old monkey", and they free their old friend. Guided by the Psammead, the children purchase an ancient amulet in the shape of an Egyptian Tyet (a small amulet of very similar shape to

660-507: The children's magical gift of fluency in the local language: he can only understand (for example) Latin based on his own studies. In one chapter the children also come to the future, visiting a British utopia in which H. G. Wells is venerated as a reformer. Wells and Nesbit were both members of the Fabian political movement, as was George Bernard Shaw , and this chapter in The Story of

693-475: The children, however, its capacity is mainly advisory in relation to the children's other discovery, the Amulet, thus following a formula successfully established in The Phoenix and the Carpet . Gore Vidal writes, "It is a time machine story, only the device is not a machine but an Egyptian amulet whose other half is lost in the past. By saying certain powerful words, the amulet becomes a gate through which

SECTION 20

#1732787879797

726-408: The fanciful farce and is treated with a sense of wonder. A think-while-you-laugh treat." Comic fantasy The subgenre rose in the nineteenth century. Elements of fantasy comedy can be found in such nineteenth century works as some of Hans Christian Andersen 's fairy tales, Charles Dickens ' "Christmas Books", and Lewis Carroll 's Alice books. The first writer to specialize in the subgenre

759-529: The fifth hour of the day. In F. Gwynplaine MacIntyre 's novel The Woman Between the Worlds (1994, taking place in 1898), E. Nesbit briefly appears in the narrative, dressed in costume as the Egyptian god Nesbit. The chapter The Queen in London contains broadly negative stereotypes of stockbrokers clearly intended to be Jewish : they are described as having "curved noses"; they have Jewish names such as Levinstein, Rosenbaum, Hirsh and Cohen; and their dialogue

792-462: The life of children at school would be radically different, with economic changes only appearing briefly in the background. (It seems somewhat akin to William Morris 's News from Nowhere .) It also mentions a pressing danger of Edwardian England: the number of children wounded, burned, and killed each year. (This concern was addressed in the Children Act 1908 ( 8 Edw. 7 . c. 67), and later in

825-472: The newborn child is actually a girl, Esk (full name Eskarina Smith). Since Billet notices his mistake too late, the staff passes on to her. As Esk grows up, it becomes apparent that she has uncontrollable powers, and the local witch Granny Weatherwax decides to travel with her to Unseen University in Ankh-Morpork to help her gain the knowledge required to properly manage her powers. But a female wizard

858-468: The picture can be seen in the British Museum today) which should be able to grant them their hearts' desire: the safe return of their parents and baby brother. But this amulet is only half of an original whole. By itself, it cannot grant their hearts' desire. Yet it can serve as a portal, enabling time travel to find the other half. In the course of the novel the Amulet transports the children and

891-451: The presence of mammoths , dinosaurs , and a volcanic mountain on the island. The final chapter in which the lonely Learned Gentleman and the quixotic ancient Egyptian priest fuse into a single being, with the ritual being overseen by Anthea, is one of the most stirring and unusual moments in the book. It almost appears to represent a marriage, not just of intellect and ancient knowledge, but also of love. Several elements in The Story of

924-573: The television series I Dream of Jeannie , Kröd Mändoon . Examples on radio are the BBC 's Hordes of the Things and ElvenQuest . Fantasy comedy films can either be parodies ( Monty Python and the Holy Grail ), comedies with fantastical elements ( Being John Malkovich , Barbie ) or animated ( Shrek ). It has also been used with fantasy as the primary genre and comedy as the secondary, as in

957-577: The works by Christopher Moore . There are also comic-strips/graphic novels in the humorous fantasy genre, including Chuck Whelon 's Pewfell series and the webcomics 8-Bit Theater and The Order of the Stick . Other authors of the genre in modern times include C.K. McDonnell , Jasper Fforde , Neil Gaiman , Robert Rankin , John Brosnan , Craig Shaw Gardner , David Lee Stone and Esther Freisner , as well as countless independent authors. The subgenre has also been represented in television , such as in

990-477: Was " F. Anstey " in novels such as Vice Versa (1882), where magic disrupts Victorian society with humorous results. Anstey's work was popular enough to inspire several imitations, including E. Nesbit 's light-hearted children's fantasies, The Phoenix and the Carpet (1904) and The Story of the Amulet (1906). The United States had several writers of fantasy comedy, including James Branch Cabell , whose satirical fantasy Jurgen, A Comedy of Justice (1919)

1023-664: Was comic. Pratt and de Camp were among several contributors to Unknown Worlds , a pulp magazine which emphasized fantasy with a comedic element. The work of Fritz Leiber also appeared in Unknown Worlds , including his Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories, a jocose take on the sword and sorcery subgenre. In more modern times, Terry Pratchett 's Discworld books, Piers Anthony 's Xanth books, Robert Asprin 's MythAdventures of Skeeve and Aahz books, and Tom Holt 's books provide good examples, as do many of

Equal Rites - Misplaced Pages Continue

1056-563: Was published 23 years later. Pratchett based the character Esk on his daughter Rhianna Pratchett . The wizard Drum Billet knows that he will soon die and travels to a place where an eighth son of an eighth son is about to be born. This signifies that the child is destined to become a wizard ; on the Discworld , the number eight has many of the magical properties that are sometimes ascribed to seven in other mythologies. Billet wants to pass his wizard's staff on to his successor. However,

1089-875: Was the subject of an unsuccessful prosecution for obscenity. Another American writer in a similar vein was Thorne Smith , whose works (such as Topper and The Night Life of the Gods ) were popular and influential, and often adapted for film and television. Humorous fantasies narrated in a "gentleman's club" setting are common; they include John Kendrick Bangs ' A Houseboat on the Styx (1895), Lord Dunsany 's " Jorkens " stories, and Maurice Richardson 's The Exploits of Englebrecht (1950). According to Lin Carter , T. H. White 's works exemplify fantasy comedy, L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt 's Harold Shea stories are early exemplars. The overwhelming bulk of de Camp's fantasy

#796203