Terry Pratchett (was: Smell of Cabbage)

[abigailnus]

As promised, the description of Hugglestones from Terry Pratchett's The Truth (p. 35 
in the British paperback edition):

"Hugglestones was a granite building on a rain-soaked moor, and its stated purpose 
was to make men from boys.  The policy employed involved a certain amount of 
wastage, and consisted in William's recollection at least of very simple and violent 
games in the healthy outdoor sleet.  The small, slow, fat or merely unpopular were 
mown down, as nature intended, but natural selection operates in many ways and 
William found that he had a certain capacity for survival.  A good way to survive on 
the playing fields of Hugglestones was to run very fast and shout a lot while 
inexplicably always being a long way from the ball.  This had earned him, oddly 
enough, a reputation for being keen, and keenness was highly prized at 
Hugglestones, if only because actual achievment was so rare.  The staff at 
Hugglestones believed that in sufficient quantities 'being keen' could take the place of 
lesser attributes like intelligence, foresight and training."

Not, upon reflection, particularly reflective of Hogwarts, even if we accept that it is a 
parody.  But then, Hogwarts is a parody of British private schools (which Pratchett 
already lampooned in Pyramids, Soul Music and Thief of Time).  I suspect the recent 
resurgence of upper-class private schools in Discworld novels is at least party 
influenced by Harry Potter.

Abigail