Unseen Academicals
 |
|
| Author | Terry Pratchett |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Series |
Discworld 37th novel – 7th individual story |
| Subject |
association football (soccer)
|
| Genre | Fantasy |
| Publisher | Doubleday |
|
Publication date
|
2009 |
| ISBN | |
association football (soccer)
Unseen Academicals is the 37th novel in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. The novel satirises football (soccer), and features Mustrum Ridcully setting up an Unseen University football (soccer) team, with the Librarian in goal. It includes new details about "below stairs" life at the university. The book introduces several new characters, including Trevor Likely, a street urchin with a wonderful talent for kicking a tin can; Glenda Sugarbean, a maker of "jolly good" pies; Juliet Stollop, a dim but beautiful young woman who might just turn out to be the greatest fashion model there has ever been; and the mysterious Mr Nutt, a cultured, enigmatic, idealistic savant. According to the publisher, Transworld, the "on sale" date for the hardback was October 1, 2009 although the official publication date is October 8, 2009. Bookshop chain Borders included a small set of exclusive Discworld football cards with each book.
The title is a play on the names of rugby and football teams in the UK who have or have had a connection to educational institutions, examples being Hamilton Academical and Edinburgh Academicals.
Unseen Academicals tells the story of the faculty of Unseen University being forced to choose between (only) three meals a day and playing a game of football, as tradition mandates the game in exchange for their large financial endowment by a wealthy family. The wizards soon learn that the local version of football (similar to the actual game of mob football) is very violent and deaths are common. Thus, in collaboration with the city's tyrant Lord Vetinari, they set out to make new 'official' football rules, which includes forbidding the use of hands and mandating the use of official footballs as opposed to the makeshift balls the street games use. The book includes a satirisation of the Mallard ceremony performed at All Souls College, Oxford
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