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Pratchett's City Watch novels and heroic romance tropes

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bananasloth serial tweaker, sorry from Budapest Since: Nov, 2009
serial tweaker, sorry
#1: Mar 1st 2012 at 3:08:38 PM

Hey fellow tropers, I'm thinking about writing my BA thesis paper on how medieval heroic tropes manifest in the City Watch books. I have a pretty good compilation so far, examining straight uses of tropes and also subversions etc, but I don't have an actual argument. I was thinking maybe taking it in the direction of views of kingship. What do you guys think? Is there more to Pratchett's use of romance tropes than sheer humour? I mean yeah it lends itself to the theme pretty well, but maybe there's something more.. uh.. meta there? I know this forum is not here to help me get a degree, so sorry if this is obnoxious of me, but I thought it could make an interesting discussion maybe.

please don't capitalize my handle. I just don't like it.
MrShine Since: Jun, 2011 Relationship Status: Hoping Senpai notices me
#2: Mar 2nd 2012 at 7:36:57 AM

Can you give us some examples of heroic romance tropes in general? To me the city watch novels feature a lot more noir and detective novel tropes than anything else.

MetaFour AXTE INCAL AXTUCE MUN from A Place (Old Master)
AXTE INCAL AXTUCE MUN
#3: Mar 2nd 2012 at 8:10:15 AM

Bananasloth, would you be referring to one of the definitions of "romance" besides "a love story"? Maybe (quoting from CS Lewis here) "stories about dangerous adventure—particularly, dangerous adventure in the past or in remote places". Or maybe "The art of dealing with 'Titanic' characters, emotions strained beyond the common pitch, and high-flown sentiments or codes of honor".

bananasloth serial tweaker, sorry from Budapest Since: Nov, 2009
serial tweaker, sorry
#4: Mar 2nd 2012 at 9:58:55 AM

Right, sorry about not clarifying what kind of romance I meant - I'm just so engrossed in this by now that the only type that I think of when someone says 'romance' is this. I meant Middle English heroic romances: Breton lais and such. You know, tales of chivalric heroes and dragons, magic rings, swords and crown-shaped birthmarks? Tropes relating to these are especially prevalent in the early Watch books, from Guards through Feet of Clay, at least these are the ones I'm concentrating on. A straight example is "the foundling", which is a very common convention in these romances and Carrot fits it to a T: he's found by dwarfs with a very non-magical sword (which here counts as magical), he is brought up far away from the city, not knowing he's a king, and he ends up in Ankh-Morpork. Another example would be the prophecy about the rightful heir to the throne returning to city, bringing with him justice - which is eventually fulfilled but with a twist in that Carrot doesn't actually become king but still serves the city. Then there's the references by characters about how these things should go, like Vetinari giving a daughter (or aunt) to a successful hero, and proving oneself by pulling a sword from a stone.

edited 2nd Mar '12 10:00:52 AM by bananasloth

please don't capitalize my handle. I just don't like it.
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