Dammit, man !
A hard drive containing unfinished works by Terry Pratchett has been crushed by a steamroller, as per instructions left by the fantasy novelist. It is thought up to 10 incomplete novels were flattened at the Great Dorset Steam Fair. The six-and-a-half tonne Lord Jericho was used to roll over the hard drive several times before a concrete crusher finished off the remains.
Pratchett died aged 66 in March 2015. The creator of the Discworld series had been battling Alzheimer's disease. Before vanquishing the hard drive, Rob Wilkins, the writer's long-serving assistant, tweeted that he was "about to fulfil my obligation to Terry".
Richard Henry, curator of Salisbury Museum, said: "The steamroller totally annihilated the stone blocks underneath but the hard drive survived better than expected so we put it in a stone crusher afterwards which I think probably finally did it in". He said Pratchett did not want his unpublished works to be completed by someone else and released.
He added: "It's something you've got to follow, and it's really nice that they have followed his requests so specifically. It's surprisingly difficult to find somebody to run over a hard drive with a steamroller. I think a few people thought we were kidding when I first started putting out feelers to see if it was possible or not."
The pieces of the hard drive will go on display in the Terry Pratchett: His World Exhibition at the museum on 16 September.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-dorset-41093066
Nooooooooooo!!!
ReplyDeleteWell, I can understand his sentiment.
ReplyDeleteUp until now I had the greatest respect for him. Not any more
ReplyDeleteIt's a memorable request, but a rather selfish one, too.
ReplyDeleteHe didn't want his literary corpse whored about by publishers.
ReplyDeleteI don't see a problem.
And here I'm just thinking that's hardly a good way to properly destroy a hard drive.
ReplyDeleteThe author should have control of the work created, or not created.
ReplyDeleteRonald Stepp If you had respect for Pratchet because he wrote well, producing works you enjoyed, then you should have respect for him saying "it's not complete or good enough". There will still be room for fan fiction, and maybe even other books officially written in the world (depending on the conditions of his estate). I do hope he's opened the world for additional works (vetted by a group he's chosen), but again that is his choice.
Franz Kafka made a similar request, asking his friend Max Brod to burn his books after his death. Brod ignored this and thereby preserved Kafkas literary legacy. That must have been as much a difficult decision as this one. Of course I respect the authors decision, but I also find it sad that his ideas for future stories are now lost.
ReplyDeleteAlan Peery you see it how you want and I'll see it how I want, and leave it there.
ReplyDeleteUlrich Pennig Kafka's case is quite different, AFAIK. His death was much quicker (sudden turn for the worse of TBC) and if it weren't for Brod, he'd be practically unknown to this day.
ReplyDeleteSir Pterry had much more time to arrange his affairs and reading his polemics about death (not "Death") from his last years, I think he had quite a clear idea about what he wanted to preserve of his work.
With respect to his work, I think his disease has started to show in the last years (basically from Unseen Academicals on). It must have been quite a struggle to finish even those.
Under those circumstances, personally I wouldn't like to argue against his decision...
When I die, my internet history dies with me. Just sayin'...
ReplyDeleteAnother thing entirely, was the HDD verified by a notary to be the real thing, before going under treatment?
ReplyDelete#paranoia
Rhys Taylor cough wayback machine cough... this reality will neverrrrr let you go.
ReplyDeleteRonald Stepp Oh, people are welcome to see what sites I've contributed to. Just not the ones I've visited anonymously. :)
ReplyDeleteThe nsa keeps all that stuff safe... with data mining they prob have all our anonymous stuff tagged with our names
ReplyDeleteI also regularly make hardcopy of the NSA registrations of all the pople in my circles, and the people in their circles.
ReplyDeleteDoesn't everybody?
Ohhhhh my dang! What a mix of emotions I just had!! I don't know whether to laugh or cry!
ReplyDelete