''Nation'' is a
novel
A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...
by
Terry Pratchett
Sir Terence David John Pratchett (28 April 1948 – 12 March 2015) was an English humourist, satirist, and author of fantasy novels, especially comical works. He is best known for his ''Discworld'' series of 41 novels.
Pratchett's first nov ...
, published in the UK on 11 September 2008 and in the US on 6 October 2009.
It was the first non-
Discworld
''Discworld'' is a comic fantasy"Humorous Fantasy" in David Pringle, ed., ''The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Fantasy'' (pp.31-33). London, Carlton,2006. book series written by the English author Terry Pratchett, set on the Discworld, a flat pla ...
Pratchett novel since ''
Johnny and the Bomb
''Johnny and the Bomb'' is a 1996 novel by Terry Pratchett. It is the third novel to feature Johnny Maxwell and his friends, and deals with the rules and consequences of time travel. The first two novels in the ''Johnny Maxwell Trilogy'' are ' ...
'' (1996). ''Nation'' is a
low fantasy set in an
alternative history
Alternate history (also alternative history, althist, AH) is a genre of speculative fiction of stories in which one or more historical events occur and are resolved differently than in real life. As conjecture based upon historical fact, alter ...
of our world in the 1860s. The book received recognition as a
Michael L. Printz Honor Book for 2009.
Development
Pratchett took his editors by surprise by writing it before the previously scheduled
Tiffany Aching
Tiffany Aching is a fictional character in Terry Pratchett's satirical ''Discworld'' series of fantasy novels. Her name in Nac Mac Feegle is Tir-far-thóinn or "Land Under Wave".
Tiffany is a trainee witches (Discworld), witch whose growth into ...
conclusion. He has said "I want to write this one so much I can taste it", and that he's been ready to do it for four years.
Pratchett said in February 2007, "At the moment I'm just writing. If it needs to be Discworld it will be Discworld. It could be set in this world 150 years ago while still more or less being a fantasy. The codename for it is Nation."
Synopsis
Context
Written loosely in a
third-person perspective
Narration is the use of a written or spoken commentary to convey a story to an audience. Narration is conveyed by a narrator: a specific person, or unspecified literary voice, developed by the creator of the story to deliver information to the a ...
, the novel is
set
Set, The Set, SET or SETS may refer to:
Science, technology, and mathematics Mathematics
*Set (mathematics), a collection of elements
*Category of sets, the category whose objects and morphisms are sets and total functions, respectively
Electro ...
in an
alternative history
Alternate history (also alternative history, althist, AH) is a genre of speculative fiction of stories in which one or more historical events occur and are resolved differently than in real life. As conjecture based upon historical fact, alter ...
of our world, shortly after
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended fr ...
has published ''
On the Origin of Species
''On the Origin of Species'' (or, more completely, ''On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life''),The book's full original title was ''On the Origin of Species by Me ...
''. A recent
Russian influenza pandemic
A pandemic () is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has spread across a large region, for instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of individuals. A widespread endemic (epidemiology), endemic disease wi ...
has just killed the British king and his next 137 heirs. Except for the opening chapter, the novel's action entirely occurs in the Great Southern Pelagic Ocean (the fictionalised
South Pacific Ocean
South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west.
Etymology
The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz ...
) on a particular island known by its
indigenous
Indigenous may refer to:
*Indigenous peoples
*Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention
*Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band
*Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...
inhabitants as "the Nation".
The first chapter involves a
subplot
In fiction, a subplot is a secondary strand of the plot that is a supporting side story for any story or for the main plot. Subplots may connect to main plots, in either time and place or thematic significance. Subplots often involve supporting cha ...
in which the Gentlemen of Last Resort, a
secret society
A secret society is a club or an organization whose activities, events, inner functioning, or membership are concealed. The society may or may not attempt to conceal its existence. The term usually excludes covert groups, such as intelligence a ...
serving
the Crown
The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...
, urgently set out for Port Mercia in the Great Southern Pelagic Ocean to seek the next man in the British
line of succession
An order of succession or right of succession is the line of individuals necessitated to hold a high office when it becomes vacated such as head of state or an honour such as a title of nobility.[protagonist
A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...]
s. The other protagonist, Mau, is an
aboriginal native of the Nation who is first depicted alone at neighbouring Boys' Island, where he has hand-built a canoe to complete his
initiation rite
Initiation is a rite of passage marking entrance or acceptance into a group or society. It could also be a formal admission to adulthood in a community or one of its formal components. In an extended sense, it can also signify a transformation ...
from boyhood into manhood. Ermintrude, meanwhile, is travelling in a leisurely manner aboard a British
schooner
A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoon ...
, the ''Sweet Judy'', when
mutineers
Mutiny is a revolt among a group of people (typically of a military, of a crew or of a crew of pirates) to oppose, change, or overthrow an organization to which they were previously loyal. The term is commonly used for a rebellion among memb ...
, led by the ruthless First Mate Cox, are subdued and set adrift at sea, returning to the plot at a later time.
Plot summary
The main plot begins when an enormous
tsunami
A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater explo ...
carries the two central characters, Ermintrude and Mau, to the shores of Mau's home island: the Nation. Mau survives the tsunami in his canoe, while Ermintrude is the lone survivor of the ''Sweet Judy'', which is run aground. The tsunami has killed all the indigenous villagers of the Nation, except Mau, who now angrily rejects the gods and believes that his interrupted
rite of passage
A rite of passage is a ceremony or ritual of the passage which occurs when an individual leaves one group to enter another. It involves a significant change of status in society. In cultural anthropology the term is the Anglicisation of ''rite ...
has left him soulless. Devastated, Mau carries all his people's corpses into the ocean, based on their religious belief that humans
buried at sea
Burial at sea is the disposal of human remains in the ocean, normally from a ship or boat. It is regularly performed by navies, and is done by private citizens in many countries.
Burial-at-sea services are conducted at many different location ...
become
dolphin
A dolphin is an aquatic mammal within the infraorder Cetacea. Dolphin species belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontoporiidae (the ...
s. Ermintrude timidly and sometimes recklessly interacts with Mau, but, eventually, the two start cooperating for mutual survival and establish some basic level of communication, though they are ignorant of each other's culture and language. Ermintrude introduces herself as "Daphne" and never reveals her given name, which she has always hated.
Three survivors from neighbouring islands arrive, including a cynical old priest named Ataba, who constantly derides Mau for his loss of faith. More survivors soon appear, including two brothers who can speak English moderately well with Daphne, speeding along the language-learning process for all. One of these men gratefully employs the reluctant Daphne as a makeshift
midwife
A midwife is a health professional who cares for mothers and newborns around childbirth, a specialization known as midwifery.
The education and training for a midwife concentrates extensively on the care of women throughout their lifespan; co ...
for his pregnant wife, Cahle. Meanwhile, Mau sleeplessly keeps vigil, obsessively looking out for local
cannibal
Cannibalism is the act of consuming another individual of the same species as food. Cannibalism is a common ecological interaction in the animal kingdom and has been recorded in more than 1,500 species. Human cannibalism is well documented, bo ...
s who are known to strike without warning. At the same time, he frequently hears the pestering, disembodied voices of the Grandfathers:
ancestral spirits
The veneration of the dead, including one's ancestors, is based on love and respect for the deceased. In some cultures, it is related to beliefs that the dead have a continued existence, and may possess the ability to influence the fortune of t ...
who make angry (and often incoherent) demands. They insist that Mau replace the "god anchors", carved white stones traditionally said to have "anchored" the gods before the tsunami displaced them. Mau discovers the anchors in the Nation's
lagoon
A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') a ...
alongside an additional, previously unknown stone, but Ataba attempts to destroy it, purportedly because it is heretical. Mau then rescues Ataba from the lagoon, but his resulting
hypothermia
Hypothermia is defined as a body core temperature below in humans. Symptoms depend on the temperature. In mild hypothermia, there is shivering and mental confusion. In moderate hypothermia, shivering stops and confusion increases. In severe h ...
and exhaustion lead to a
coma
A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal wake-sleep cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. Coma patients exhi ...
; Daphne accepts a lump of poison from Mrs. Gurgle, a
shaman
Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiritu ...
who is one of the refugees, that successfully lets her travel in her mind to the land of the dead in order to rescue Mau's consciousness.
Even more survivors have now arrived at the Nation, and Daphne begins hearing the voices of the Grandmothers, who claim to be the neglected but more sensible counterparts to the Grandfathers. They suggest that Daphne explore an ancient, closed-off
crypt
A crypt (from Latin ''crypta'' "vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, sarcophagi, or religious relics.
Originally, crypts were typically found below the main apse of a chur ...
called the Grandfathers' cave. Mau, Daphne, Ataba, and their companions enter this cave and discover that the Nation is probably the oldest civilization on Earth, whose citizens once made astounding scientific progress with such creations as telescopes, eyeglasses, and even accurate
star charts
A star chart is a celestial map of the night sky with astronomical objects laid out on a grid system. They are used to identify and locate constellations, stars, nebulae, galaxies, and planets. They have been used for human navigation since tim ...
.
After exiting the cave, the group is confronted by two of ''Sweet Judys villainous mutineers, who abruptly kill a spear-wielding Ataba and briefly abduct Daphne before she devises a cunning escape. In the meantime, the mutineers' leader, Cox, has since joined the cannibals, becoming their self-proclaimed chief and planning to raid the Nation. The new inhabitants of the Nation convince the arriving Cox and the cannibals to follow tradition by having the leaders of each side fight in hand-to-hand mortal combat, so as to avoid large-scale bloodshed. Mau accepts his role as leader of the Nation, and then cleverly outwits and kills Cox in the lagoon, causing the cannibals to flee.
A few days later, Henry Fanshaw arrives in search of his daughter. As a man of scientific curiosity, he, like Daphne, is fascinated with the re-opened cave. The Gentlemen of Last Resort appear two weeks later, telling Fanshaw that he is the next heir to the British throne and immediately crowning him king. Mau, wary of England's politics, is reluctant for the Nation to join the British Empire and instead requests that his homeland become a member of the scientific
Royal Society
The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
. Ultimately, Daphne feels a duty to leave with her father, and Mau remains behind on the island with his new people.
Many years later, in the present day, an old scientist concludes this story to two children of the modern-day Nation. He explains that Daphne returned to England to marry a Dutch prince (later becoming Queen) and that Mau died of old age. When Daphne died, two months after Mau, her body was sent to the Nation to be buried at sea so that she could become a dolphin. He tells the children that from those days onward, thousands of scientists have visited the island, including
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended fr ...
,
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...
,
Carl Sagan
Carl Edward Sagan (; ; November 9, 1934December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer, planetary scientist, cosmologist, astrophysicist, astrobiologist, author, and science communicator. His best known scientific contribution is research on ext ...
, and
Richard Feynman
Richard Phillips Feynman (; May 11, 1918 – February 15, 1988) was an American theoretical physicist, known for his work in the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics, the theory of quantum electrodynamics, the physics of the superflu ...
. The book ends with the elder of the two children, a girl, standing guard on the beach, protecting the Nation as Mau had done so many years before: this is stated to be the Nation's new rite of passage into adulthood. In the lagoon, a dolphin leaps from the sea and the scientist smiles.
Reception
The novel was well received, with ''
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'' calling ''Nation'' 'one of his finest books yet', the ''
Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' 'a thrilling story', and ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' printing "''Nation'' has profound, subtle and original things to say about the interplay between tradition and knowledge, faith and questioning." ''
Times Online
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'' called the novel "Thought-provoking as well as fun, this is Terry Pratchett at his most philosophical, with characters and situations sprung from ideas and games with language. And it celebrates the joy of the moment."
''Nation'' has also received many accolades:
* 2008, Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Young Adult Literature winner
* 2008, Sidewise Award for Best Long-Form Alternate History nominee
* 2009,
American Library Association
The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with 49,727 members a ...
, Top Ten
Best Books for Young Adults
The American Library Association's Best Fiction for Young Adults, previously known as Best Books for Young Adults (1966–2010), is a recommendation list of books presented yearly by the YALSA division (Young Adult Library Services Association
Th ...
*2009, Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Fiction and Poetry winner
* 2009, Locus Award for Best Young Adult Book nominee
* 2009,
Michael L. Printz Award
The Michael L. Printz Award is an American Library Association literary award that annually recognizes the "best book written for teens, based entirely on its literary merit". It is sponsored by ''Booklist'' magazine; administered by the ALA's y ...
for Excellence in Young Adult Literature Honor Book
* 2009,
Mythopoeic Fantasy Award
The Mythopoeic Awards for literature and literary studies are given annually for outstanding works in the fields of myth, fantasy, and the scholarly study of these areas.
Established by the Mythopoeic Society in 1971, the Mythopoeic Fantasy Awar ...
for Children's Literature nominee
* 2009,
Odyssey Award
The Odyssey Award for Excellence in Audiobook Production is an annual award conferred by the American Library Association upon the publisher of "the best audiobook produced for children and/or young adults, available in English in the United State ...
nominee
* 2010, July 15, Brit Writer's Award Published Writer winner
* 2010
Carnegie Medal nominee
* Guardian Children's Fiction Prize nominee
Adaptation
The
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London, commonly known as the National Theatre (NT), is one of the United Kingdom's three most prominent publicly funded performing arts venues, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Opera House. I ...
performed a theatrical adaptation of the book by
Mark Ravenhill
Mark Ravenhill (born 7 June 1966) is an English playwright, actor and journalist.
Ravenhill is one of the most widely performed playwrights in British theatre of the late-twentieth and twenty-first centuries. His major plays include ''Shoppin ...
. Previews started on November 11 and the show opened on November 23, 2009.
Readings from the novel began on BBC Radio 7 on Saturday 30 January 2010 at 1800 and 2400.
Pratchett noted: "I believe that ''Nation'' is the best book I have ever written, or will write."
See also
*
Nan Madol
Nan Madol is an archaeological site adjacent to the eastern shore of the island of Pohnpei, now part of the Madolenihmw district of Pohnpei state in the Federated States of Micronesia in the western Pacific Ocean. Nan Madol was the capital of t ...
- a remaining archipelago of islands of a once larger island
References
External links
*
! colspan="3" , Novels by
Terry Pratchett
Sir Terence David John Pratchett (28 April 1948 – 12 March 2015) was an English humourist, satirist, and author of fantasy novels, especially comical works. He is best known for his ''Discworld'' series of 41 novels.
Pratchett's first nov ...
{{Authority control
2008 British novels
Novels by Terry Pratchett
British alternative history novels
Fiction set in the 1860s
Doubleday (publisher) books
Fiction about dolphins
Novels about religion
Novels set on islands