Kanchura Y. Modeling of textualized world in the fantasy novels by Terry Pratchett

The thesis offers a study of Discworld novel series by contemporary British writer Terry Pratchett. His works are placed into general context of the fantasy genre and historical and literary process of the late 20th - early 21st centuries. The research seeks to identify the common principles of modelling fictional worlds in fantasy novels, as well as the basic features of the genre. Intertextuality of fantasy assumptions, the role of acceptance and escape, and the psychological quest of the characters as the basis of fantasy poetics are emphasized. The thesis explores the model of textualized world created by Terry Pratchett on the basis of postmodern theoretical premises, considers varieties of intertextual links used by the writer and their role in the embodiment of the novels' message. A detailed study of models of the world, where the text operates at all levels as the prominent force of nature, demonstrates the danger of ideological dictates exerted by the fictional narrative. The paper identifies the ways of liberation from the dictates of narrative causality suggested by Terry Pratchett allowing for the restoration of humanitarian paradigms through relativism and irony. Terry Pratchett's fantasy novels are defined as belonging to postmodern fantasy.