碟形世界 (1983)

《碟形世界》（英语：Discworld）是英国作家泰瑞·普莱契创作的丛书，故事背景设定在一个由四头大象支撑的扁平星球，而这四头大象又站在一只巨龟的背上。碟形世界从1983年开始写，一直写到2015年。该作品曾获得卡内基写作奖。

Discworld is a collection of fantasy comedy novels, graphic novels, short stories, and associated works conceived and primarily written by the English author Terry Pratchett. They are united by their being set on the Discworld, a flat planet balanced on the backs of four elephants which in turn stand on the back of a giant turtle. The novel series consists of forty-one books, the first being The Colour of Magic, published in 1983, and the last The Shepherd's Crown, published posthumously in 2015. Pratchett also wrote eleven short stories related to the Discworld. The novels often satirise classic fantasy and science fiction, mythology, and folklore, and also include commentary on contemporary cultural, political and scientific issues.

The series has spawned a number of supplementary works, including four books on the science of Discworld, four maps of locations within it, and an encyclopedia. While Pratchett was involved with most of these, he often worked in collaboration with others including Stephen Briggs, Ian Stewart, Jack Cohen, and long-time series illustrators Josh Kirby and Paul Kidby. There is no intention to publish further novels following Pratchett's death, but supplementary works continue to be published and include Tiffany Aching's Guide to Being a Witch, by Pratchett's daughter Rhianna and Gabrielle Kent. In addition, Discworld novels have been adapted into computer games, board games, and for the theatre and television.

The Discworld books contributed significantly to Pratchett being the UK's best-selling author in the 1990s, and they regularly topped the Sunday Times bestsellers list. Discworld novels have also won awards such as the Prometheus Award and the Carnegie Medal. In the BBC's Big Read, four Discworld novels were in the top 100, and a total of fourteen in the top 200. More than 80 million Discworld books have been sold in 37 languages.

Themes and motifs

The Discworld novels contain common themes and motifs that run through the series. Many of the novels parody fantasy tropes and various subgenres of fantasy, like fairy tales (notably Witches Abroad) or vampire tales (Carpe Jugulum). Analogies of real-world issues, such as religion (Small Gods), fundamentalism and inner city tension (Thud), business and politics (Making Money), racial prejudice and exploitation (Snuff) recur, as do aspects of culture and entertainment such as opera (Maskerade), rock music (Soul Music), cinema (Moving Pictures), and football (Unseen Academicals). Parodies of non-Discworld fiction also occur frequently, including Shakespeare, Beatrix Potter, the Dirty Harry films and other movies. Major historical events, especially battles, are sometimes the basis for both trivial and key events (Jingo, Eric, and Pyramids), as are trends in science, technology, pop culture and modern art (Moving Pictures, Men at Arms, Thud). There are also humanist themes in many Discworld novels, and a focus on critical thinking skills in the Witches and Tiffany Aching series.

Storylines

The Discworld novels can be read chronologically, and were originally published as a continuous series. However, they are also grouped into sub-series of related novels which contain the same characters or themes. The editions published by Transworld from 2023 assign 30 of the novels to five sub-series, identified by a subtitle on the cover, which respectively group the novels about the Discworld's witches, its wizards, the Ankh-Morpork City Watch, and the characters Death and Tiffany Aching. The Discworld Emporium organises all of the novels except The Last Hero into seven sub-series, focused respectively on the Discworld's witches, gods, and industrial revolution, the Ankh-Morpork City Watch, the wizards of Unseen University, the character Death, and novels aimed at younger readers.