Women's Regiment (Pratchett)
Weiberregiment (original title: Monstrous Regiment ) is the thirty-first Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett . It was published in 2003 and nominated for the Locus Award in 2004. Andreas Brandhorst translated it into German for Goldmann Verlag 2004 ( ISBN 3-442-54564-1 ). The location of the action is the land of Borograwia. Women's regiment is one of the cultural stories and the protagonists are Private Polly Perks and Sergeant Jackrum. It is up to them to end the nonsensical and already lost war between Borograwia and all its neighbors. The city watch under Samuel Mumm plays a minor role as does William de Worde and his newspaper.
The English title "Monstrous Regiment" is derived from a treatise by the Scottish reformer John Knox , which can be found in his book The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstruous Regiment of Women against the rule of women ( Marie de Guise , Maria Stuart ) in Scotland turned. The cover picture by Paul Kidby parodies Joe Rosenthal's famous photograph Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima .
Weiberregiment is one of the most socially critical disc world novels and deals intensively with questions of patriotism , equality , the meaningfulness of religious regulations , propaganda and war reporting . Possible sources of inspiration for Terry Pratchett were the story of Joan of Arc and George Farquhar's The Recruiting Officer .
action
The backward and impoverished country of Borograwia is at war with practically all of its neighbors. As if that weren't enough, the only major economic power in the Discworld, the distant Ankh-Morpork, are turned against by burning down its clack towers.
In the valley of the Kneck, the eternally controversial border river, the armies face each other. The fortress of Kneck has already been taken from the enemy and it is only a matter of time before the Alliance wins the victory over Borograwia. Ankh-Morpork has sent Samuel Mumm and some members of the guard to Borograwien to end the conflict as quickly and bloodlessly as possible. However, the Borograw military is characterized by an extraordinary lack of a sense of reality. You just don't want to surrender.
A small group emerges unexpectedly from the stage - the country's last recruits. On the way to the front, under the leadership of the inexperienced and clumsy Lieutenant Blouse and the extremely experienced Sergeant Jackrum, they achieved some remarkable surprise successes. After the Gefreite Perks kicked the leader of the opposing troops, Captain Horentz, "the socks", the press, in the form of Wiliam de Worde, noticed them and turned them into heroes. After all, the captain who was kicked was Prince Heinrich von Zlobenien, the commander in chief of the Alliance troops.
When Vimes learns that the recruits are girls, he decides to discreetly support them. Women are of course forbidden in the military, so they dress up. The girls are in the military for different reasons. Polly Perks, the innkeeper’s daughter, is looking for her brother Paul. Maladikta, the caffeine-addicted vampire, feels oppressed by her own kind, just like Jade the troll woman and Igorina. To tell all three of my men what is good for them. “Stecher”, “Toller”, “Knaller” and “Reißer” have fled the “school” where Borograwien usually puts naughty girls. The others only went a little crazy there, but Reisser's soul was so badly damaged that it is easy for the spirit of the dead Duchess Annagowia to communicate with her and even to take over her body at the crucial moment.
Under the spiritual guidance of the Duchess, the group enters the Kneck fortress disguised as washerwomen. They liberate the high command of the Borograw Army imprisoned there and immediately, while they are still in the process of retaking the fortress, the women who liberate them put the trial on them. In a final battle, Sergeant Jackrum penetrates the headquarters and demands to be heard on the matter. After he has shown half of the officers present outside the door, it turns out that the remaining are all women - starting with Major Janet Derbi to Colonel Olga Kumabund to the commander General Mildred Schnitz. Under these circumstances the girls will be acquitted and in future women will be officially allowed in the army.
After that, Duchess Annagovina, in the form of Reisser, orders an end to the fighting and the withdrawal of the troops to their home country. There they should occupy the seat of government, the old Prince-Marmaduk-and-Pjotr-Albert-Hans-Josef-Bernhardt-Wilhelmsberg Castle, and establish a more modern regency. Nuggan, the god who seems to have gone mad, is dead. The people should look for a more indulgent god and, above all, stop worshiping her, the Duchess. Not one of those present doubts that the old Duchess is really speaking to them, and so no one defies her orders.
Corporal Polly Perks delivers the ceasefire request directly to Samuel Mumm, who in return gives her the keys to her brother Paul's cell. The armies disband in an instant. Ankh-Morpork sells Borograwien enough food to survive the approaching winter and peace will return - for a while. Then Polly notices that recruitment is taking place again, with the same chauvinistic arguments as before. She recalls the legacy Sergeant Jackrum left her - two cutlass and an extremely informative address book. She puts on her uniform once more and goes into the field, this time to prevent a war.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ 2004 Award Winners & Nominees . In: Worlds Without End . Retrieved June 22, 2017.