Ever heard of the motif, “made a pact
with the devil?” Exemplified by the German legend, Faust,
this motif is ingrained into the western culture. Today, we use this
motif in our everyday conversations. Especially when we are
describing a person who gained quick gratifications at the expense of
suffering negative consequences. In Eric, the 4th
tale featuring the inept wizard Rincewind, Terry Pratchett parodied
the legend of Faust; and with a flare from Dante's Inferno,
he weaved a short and magical Discworld adventure that also
comes with a touch of wisdom.
Synopsis:
Eric Thursley, 13 years old, a resident
of Ankh Morkpork and a demonologist, dreams of 3 things: 1) Become
the ruler of the world, 2) Meet the most beautiful woman who ever
lived, and 3) To live for ever.
This ambitious young man will stop at
nothing to turn his dreams into a reality, even if it means summoning
a demon to do his bidding. With a sword in the hand and the chanting
of spells, Eric summoned a demon in a puff of smoke. Seconds later,
on the floor of his mother's house lays a man-looking demon clothed
in a red robe and wearing a pointy hat. The “demon” woke up and
told Eric that he is not a demon, that his name is Rincewind, the wizard of precarious magical ability from The Unseen University.
“The demon is lying”, thought Eric.
As a proof that the demon is being deceitful, Eric demanded Rincewind
to snap his fingers and make things happen. To Rincewind's horror,
however, he discovered that snapping his fingers really does work
magic. How? Eric's parrot explained, because Rincewind is summoned as
a demon, so he is bound to the conditions of being a demon. This
supernatural job's package, the parrot said, comes with the power to
wield magic and the terms to fulfilling his summoner's wishes.
Eric is ecstatic beyond himself. With
Rincewind's aid, Eric's dream can finally come true! But what did
they say? Be careful what you wish for. This is especially true if
you are relying on Rincewind to granting you wishes.
My thoughts on this book:
Eric breaks into the massive
Discworld library with its texts accompanied by beautiful
illustrations, painted by artist Josh Kirby. Some readers may feel
that the illustrations are distracting, but I like the illustrations
in this book, because it fully captures the colorful, vibrant, and
eccentric tone of Discworld. In other words, Josh Kirby's
illustrations added much luster to Eric.
The next item on my table of
discussion, is the story itself. Counting to 160 pages, Eric
is probably the shortest novel in the series. This novel feels like
an epilogue to the cliffhanger that ended Sourcery. This book
is funny, Terry Pratchett packed a fistful of jokes on its pages that
will make a reader smiles a toothy grin. Furthermore, fans of
classics will appreciate the numerous references to The Divine
Comedy and Odyssey.
However, when I was reading this book,
I couldn't help but feel that Eric is perhaps the weakest
Discworld novel in the series. Why? As I have mentioned in my
previous reviews for Discworld books, such as The Color of
Magic and The Light Fantastic, randomness is a DNA of
Discworld stories (especially the earlier installments). I
consider myself a person who normally appreciates the use of
randomness and its humorous effects. However, overusing this type of
storytelling device can make a story very difficult to follow. In the
case of Eric, too many pieces and threads are flying around in
this book, and one struggles to make sense of the story. When I was
reading this book, I often revisited the previous pages because the
story confused me. Yes, Eric is funny, and its story moved at
a fast pace; but Rincewind's 4th adventure, the shortest
in Discworld, is also the hardest to follow.
I am no longer religious (and from what I know, neither
was Sir Terry), but a theme from Eric jumped
out and grabbed my interest, and that was the theme
about hell. In Eric, Sir Terry poked fun at the traditional
conception, borrowed from the Greeks, that hell is a place of fire
and brimstone. But how can you suffer and feel the pains from fire
and torture, if you are dead and no longer have flesh and nerve
endings? Look, I don't think Sir Terry meant to pursue this line of
inquiry seriously, it was more just for humor. Because obviously,
those who believe in hell will come up with their own interpretations
about what hell is like, to make the existence of hell seem more
plausible. For an example, in C.S. Lewis' book, The Great Divorce, he
suggested that hell is the seeking of loneliness, where one resents the Christian god and is horrified at the fact that he can see heaven, but he is not worthy to go there.
The question to Lewis' interpretation of hell, then, is what if you
actually PREFER to be left alone? If Lewis is correct, then for those
who prefer solitude, hell is not hell but an amazing paradise! Ok, one might counter argue, and say that such a person is not aware the loneliness of hell is causing him
great suffering. Sure, but the same can be said about a person in
heaven, that he/she is unaware that the amazing delights (whatever it may be) that he/she
is experiencing in heaven are in fact, great sufferings, when
viewed from the perspective of a person in "hell". This way, we arrive
at a most mind-blowing conclusion, that no one in the afterlife (if there
is one), be it in heaven or in hell, will ever know, for sure, if
his/her eternal experience is joy or suffering! It is subjective to personal preferences! This also means, you
might think you have arrived in heaven because you find the
experience of the place delightful and it matches what your religion taught you about heaven, but you can never sure you
are in heaven, because another person with a different religious belief and personal preference, at the opposite realm,
might look upon your self-perceived, joyful experience and see it as being nothing short of indescribable suffering of hell and you are just not aware of it!
At this point, those who believe in
hell will obviously come up with further explanations, which in my
experience, provides a response but in the process usually leads to
two more questions. It is an never ending Q&A, where the
questions always grow exponentially upon the delivery of every
attempted answer! Ok wait, how did I get here? My intention, is not to open up a theological can of worm on the subject of hell. No, I
am reviewing a book so let me get back to it. Either way, I just want
to mention, that in Eric, Terry Pratchett suggested, what
makes hell insufferable is boredom (haven't you heard the saying, bored as hell?). Now, that is a very interesting
suggestion, even though I think Sir Terry was aiming more at creating
humor than providing a serious, theological thought about hell. And here I will close my review after this detour into a
discussion about hell.
I do like Eric. I love Josh
Kirby's beautiful illustrations, and I appreciated the numerous
references to Dante's Inferno and Odyssey. Eric's
story is funny, and it has an interesting theme. Yet, I think Eric
is the weakest novel in Discworld's magical achieve. Too many
pieces are floating around in the story, making Eric's
adventure quite difficult to follow. Having said this, a true fan of
Discworld will probably gobble up this book as another
delightful installment in the series, as I have done.
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