Carpe Jugulum
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| Terry Pratchett The Discworld series 23rd novel – 6th Witches story  |
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| Outline | |
| Characters: | Granny Weatherwax Nanny Ogg Agnes Nitt |
| Locations: | Lancre |
| Motifs: | Vampire novels, Youth culture |
| Publication details | |
| Year of release: | 1998 |
| Original publisher: | Doubleday, London |
| Hardback ISBN: | ISBN 0-385-40992-3 |
| Paperback ISBN: | ISBN 0-06-102039-7 |
| Other details | |
| Awards: | |
| Notes: | Adapted as a play by Stephen Briggs. |
Carpe Jugulum is a comic fantasy novel by Terry Pratchett, the twenty third in the Discworld series. It was first published in 1998.
In Carpe Jugulum, Terry Pratchett pastiches the traditions of vampire literature, playing with the mythic archetypes and featuring a tongue-in-cheek reversal of 'vampyre' subculture with young vampires who wear bright clothes, drink wine, and stay up until noon. The title is a play on the Latin phrase carpe diem ('seize [literally, "pluck"] the day') and the author considers it to mean 'Go for the throat'.
[edit] Plot summary
Count Magpyr and family are invited to the naming of Magrat and King Verence's daughter, to be conducted by the Omnian priest, Mightily Oats. For some reason, the Magpyrs are not keen to go home to Überwald, and, once again, the witches, Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg and Agnes Nitt (aka Perdita) have to save the mountain realm of Lancre.
The Magpyr family have made themselves much more formidable enemies by building up tolerance to the normal methods used to defeat vampires, such as garlic, bright light, and religious symbols. They exert a hypnotic charm over normal people which prevents them from realising that the vampires are taking over Lancre. Only the youngest witch, Agnes, and the Omnian priest, Mightily Oats, seem able to resist this charm, due to their dual personalities. The Magpyr son, Vlad, is attracted to Agnes because she is able to resist him.
There is an Igor who is the servant of the Magpyrs. He is a traditionalist who spends his spare time breeding and distributing spiders for the dark corners of the castle. The Magpyr's are very rude to him, and eventually he rebels.
The vampires identify Granny Weatherwax as one of their more significant foes, and decide to deal with the problem by converting her to one of them.
Other characters from earlier Discworld books who appear in this novel are Death, Hodgesaargh and Nanny Ogg's cat, Greebo.
It should also be noted that this novel bears significant plot similarities to Lords and Ladies, like a celebration (Magrat and Verence's wedding in Lords and Ladies, their daughter's christening in Carpe Jugulum), the intrusion of outsiders with mind-affecting abilities (elves in Lords and Ladies, vampires in Carpe Jugulum), and part of the solution to the conflict being a forgotten member of the outsider faction (the King of the elves in Lords and Ladies, the old Count in Carpe Jugulum).
[edit] Translations
- Захапи за врата (Bulgarian)
- Pluk de strot (Dutch)
- Carpe Jugulum (Czech, Estonian, French, Polish)
- Ruhig Blut! (German)
