Mort

This article is about the Discworld novel. For other uses, see Mort (disambiguation).

Terry Pratchett The Discworld series 4th novel – 1st Death story
Outline
Characters	Death Mort Ysabell Albert
Locations	Death's Domain
Motifs	Anthropomorphic personifications and death
Publication details
Date of release	1987
Original publisher	Victor Gollancz
Hardback ISBN	ISBN 0-575-04171-4
Paperback ISBN	ISBN 0-552-13106-7
Other details
Other notes	Came 65th in the Big Read Adapted as a play by Stephen Briggs.

Mort is a Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett. Published in 1987, it is the fourth Discworld novel and the first to focus on the Death of the Discworld, who only appeared as a side character in the previous novels. The title is the name of its main character and also a play on words: in French, 'mort' means 'death'.

In the BBC's 2003 Big Read contest, viewers voted on the "Nation's Best-loved Book"; Mort was among the Top 100 and chosen as the most popular of Pratchett's novels.^[1]

Plot summary

As a teenager, Mort had a personality and temperament that made him rather unsuited to the family farming business. Mort's father, named Lezek, felt that Mort thought too much, which prevented him from achieving anything practical. Thus, Lezek took him to a local hiring fair, hoping that Mort would land an apprenticeship with some tradesman; not only would this provide a job for his son, but it would also make his son's propensity towards thinking someone else's problem.

At the job fair, Mort at first has no luck attracting the interest of an employer. Then, just before the stroke of midnight, a man concealed in a black cloak arrives on a white horse. He says he is looking for a young man to assist him in his work and selects Mort for the job. The man turns out to be Death, and Mort is given an apprenticeship in ushering souls into the next world (though his father thinks he's been apprenticed to an undertaker).

When it is a princess' time to die (according to a preconceived reality), Mort, instead of ushering her soul, saves her from death, dramatically altering a part of the Discworld's reality. However, the princess, for whom Mort has a developing infatuation, does not have long to live, and he must try to save her, once again, from a seemingly unstoppable death. Both the princess and Mort end up consulting the local wizard, Igneous Cutwell, for various methods of assistance with the crisis.

As Mort begins to do most of Death's "Duty", he loses some of his former character traits, and essentially starts to become more like Death himself. Death, in turn, yearns to relish what being human is truly like and travels to Ankh-Morpork to indulge in new experiences and attempt to feel real human emotion. Conclusively, Mort must duel Death for Mort's freedom. Though Death wins the duel, he spares Mort's life and sends him back to the Disc.

The princess is saved from a second death when the alternate reality Mort created is reduced to a pearl-like state. This pearl is given to Mort for safe-keeping. At the end of the novel, Mort marries Ysabell, Death's adopted daughter.

Adaptations

The novel has been adapted by Robin Brooks for BBC Radio Four. Narrated by Anton Lesser, with Geoffrey Whitehead as Death, Carl Prekopp as Mort, Clare Corbett as Ysabell and Alice Hart as Princess Keli, the programme was first broadcast in four parts in mid-2004 and has been repeated frequently, most recently on BBC7.^[2]

On December 15, 2007 a German language stage musical adaptation premiered in Hamburg, Germany.^[3]

A brand new English musical adaptation of Mort was presented in Guildford, Surrey, UK in August 2008 by Youth Music Theatre: UK. The adaptation is by Jenifer Toksvig, sister of broadcaster and novelist Sandi Toksvig, and composer Dominic Haslam.^[4] A new production was staged at Greenwich Theatre in 2011, directed by Luke Sheppard.

In October 2010, it was reported that Disney was developing a film adaptation with John Musker and Ron Clements as directors; subsequent reports in March 2011 indicated that the project had been abandoned.^[5]

References

1. ^ BBC - The Big Read - Top 100 Books April 2003, Retrieved 2009-05-9
2. ^ Mort at BBC Radio Listings website
3. ^ Mort Musical website of the Hamburg stage adaptation.
4. ^ Toksvig/Haslam Musical website of the UK Aug 2008 adaptation
5. ^ "Mort… C’est Mort?". Progress City, U.S.A.. 2011-03-11. http://progresscityusa.com/2011/03/18/mort-cest-mort/. Retrieved 2011-10-17. 

External links

• Annotations for Mort
• Quotes from Mort
• Synopsis of Mort
• Unofficial short film^{[dead link]} and its web page

Reading order guide
Preceded by Equal Rites	4th Discworld Novel	Succeeded by Sourcery
Preceded by None	1st Death Story Published in 1987	Succeeded by Reaper Man