Katie Grubbs, Jay Eldred, and Ilia Danner Grubbs celebrate Episode 100 with a discussion of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novel, Monstrous Regiment.

-Welcome

-Introductions

-Why we are doing this book for episode 100?

Knowing

-Katie: Terry Pratchett bio, the publication history of Monstrous Regiment, and how it fits into the Discworld canon

-Ilia: Short plot summary of the novel

-Jay: Knox text as the origin of the book’s title and as context for the story; military history; folk songs; soldiers’ language

Reading

-Discussion of these and other questions:

Given that none of these women initially sets out to blaze the trail of female military service, in what ways can this text be considered feminist?

What is Pratchett trying to say about religion via the Duchess and Nuggan?

Does the whole Joan of Arc thing with Wazzer work?

How successful is this text as a portrayal of the realities of war?

Does the ending undercut some of what the rest of the book is trying to do?

Who is your favorite character?

How does this compare to other Pratchett novels?

Passing On

Katie: Pratchett’s Carpe Jugulum

Ilia: Pratchett’s Jingo and an account of a 1990’s interview with Pratchett about the value of fantasy literature: https://blog.patrickrothfuss.com/2015/08/thoughts-on-pratchett/

Jay: Pratchett’s Tiffany Aching series, which begins with The Wee Free Men; Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman

Additional resource for listeners, from Jay- Here is a link to annotations for Monstrous Regiment, including texts for the various folk songs alluded to: https://www.lspace.org/books/apf/monstrous-regiment.html