Sir Terry Pratchett's "Night Watch" to be released as a Penguin Classic

[Alessandra Kelley]

https://terrypratchett.com/news/terry-pratchett-penguin-classic/

What the title says. Sir Terry Pratchett's touching, hilarious, and moving Discworld novel "Night Watch" is going to be released as a Penguin Classic, with all that implies.

The Penguin Classics series includes the best of world literature, across genres, countries and centuries. Terry Pratchett joins a long and illustrious line of literature’s greats – a hugely welcome acknowledgement of the brilliance of Sir Terry’s literary canon.

Or as the Tumblr post where I first learned of this said:

To me, and to a significant subset of Sir Terry's fans (including most of you who've found this by the tags), his writing is serious commentary on the human condition - politics, prejudice, self-control, revenge vs. justice, religion, idealism, faith in people vs. cynicism, and more - dressed up with fantasy settings and a hefty leavening of humor to make it fun to read. And it is WILDLY fun to read, actual laugh-out-loud or at least a snicker averaging about every page.

But there's this common idea among the "important literature" people that fun and funny books are not also worthwhile or important in the same way.

This is a Discworld book being released WITH ACADEMIC COMMENTARY and AS A PENGUIN CLASSIC. That's a HUGE amount of recognition.

 

[Autumn Leaves]

Great news! Maybe not among my all-around Discworld favorites, but certainly one of the best Discworld books out there! (And, for the readers who are worried that humor can't be important, it's also one of the serious and darker ones, too).

 

[mrsmig]

One of my favorites. So glad to hear this.

 

[Friendly Frog]

Glad to see it recognised! Because it is a master piece if you ask me. Not just because I'm a massive fan, I am, I readily confess!

But certain vivid scenes from Night Watch have stayed with me in a way few books have managed over the years.

Damn, I'm going to have to buy this edition too, aren't I?

 

[Pterofan]

One of my favorite books by one of my favorite authors.