The Carpet People

The Carpet People is a comic fantasy novel by British writer Terry Pratchett. First published in 1971, it was later re-written by the author when his work became more widespread and well-known. In the Author's Note of the revised edition, published in 1992, Pratchett wrote: "This book had two authors, and they were both the same person."

The Carpet People

First 1971 edition
Author	Terry Pratchett
Original title	The Carpet People
Cover artist	Terry Pratchett
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Genre	Comic Fantasy
Publisher	Colin Smythe
Publication date	1971,1992
Pages	199
ISBN	978-0-919366-14-5

The Carpet People contains much of the humour and some of the concepts which later became a major part of the Discworld series, as well as parodies of everyday objects from our world. Before creating the Discworld, Pratchett wrote about two different flat worlds, first in this novel, and then in the novel Strata.

Themes

The book explores the conflict between traditions and innovation. There is an established civilization, complete with bureaucrats, taxes imposed and collected, and permits; there are people who resent the establishment; there is a need for both groups to find common ground in order to save their collective civilization.

Continuity

Terry Pratchett's novel Eric mentions that the president of the demons has carpets inhabited by tribes of pygmies, possibly suggesting a link between The Carpet People and Discworld universes, or possibly merely one of Pratchett's in-jokes.

References

External links

• The Carpet People at The L-Space Web