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March 2024  Standard Module
A Module in Discovering Terry Pratchett's DiscworldNon-Sequential Series
Discussion-based • High intensity
Like most literary Grim Reapers, Discworld’s Death is a black-robed skeleton (usually - he wears the Dean's "Born to Rune" leather jacket in Soul Music, and overalls in Reaper Man), carrying a scythe or, for royalty, a sword. He is an anthropomorphised personification of a natural process who sometimes has his duties carried out by his apprentice Mort, or his granddaughter Susan, and is occasionally accompanied by the Death of Rats. The Death of Pratchett’s Discworld is a parody of several other personifications of death; unlike many of them, though, he has a personality beyond this. As an immortal outside observer, Death is fascinated by humans, puzzled both by their stupidity and their fortitude despite it. Often out of concern for their well-being, or sometimes simply curiosity, he tries to understand the ways of humans – why and how they do the things they do. Needless to say, this leads to all sorts of disasters (including taking time off from his job reaping souls to become a farmer) but, in the process, Death learns ever more about humans and begins to sympathise with them. Death has many purposes in the narratives; however, in this compelling character, Pratchett has created a figure that makes us laugh but more importantly, he makes us think. In some ways, the Death series is ironically the most human of all.

Access to the listed required texts is desirable and prior knowledge of at least the majority of those texts will be assumed.

We will also be talking about Death’s appearances in other Discworld books, as well as in the short story "Death and What Comes Next" (provided as a pdf).

Required Texts

The following works by Terry Pratchett:
• Mort
• Reaper Man
• Soul Music
• Hogfather
• Thief of Time
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Days and Times

Meeting Mondays & Wednesdays at 11:00 AM Eastern for eight 1-hour sessions on March 4, 6, 11, 13, 18, 20, 25, 27

Signum Time
US/Eastern
Note Your Time
unknown
Mon, Mar 4
11:00 AM
Wed, Mar 6
11:00 AM
Mon, Mar 11
11:00 AM
Wed, Mar 13
11:00 AM
Mon, Mar 18
11:00 AM
Wed, Mar 20
11:00 AM
Mon, Mar 25
11:00 AM
Wed, Mar 27
11:00 AM
If you have any questions along the way, please reach out to info@signumu.org.