Abstract:

Terry Pratchett’s Eric is the ninth novel in his Discworld series of 41 novels. In Eric, Pratchett creates a postmodern parody of Faust myth. The novel is about the adventures of Eric Thursley, a 13-year-old boy who, in pursuit of various wishes, summoned Rincewind, a wizard with no skills in wizardry. In parodying Faust myth, Pratchett deconstructs the serious effect of the myth by treating it with humour. Faust myth tells about Dr. Faustus, who, in search of ultimate knowledge and power, sells his soul to the demon Mephistopheles. The myth received a wide range of literary treatments varying from epic poetry to tragedy. Pratchett uses Faust myth in the narration of his fantasy fiction by framing it with a humorous effect, thus, loosens and parodies the myth by inverting and adjusting it to trivial pursuits of the character Eric. With this in mind, the aim of this study is to examine Terry Pratchett’s Eric as a parody of Faust myth embellished with rich intertextual allusions.

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