The new Artful Dodger

I bless Terry Pratchett - while I wasn't looking, he released another novel this year entitled, "Dodger". Every book that comes new on the market now is ever greater treasure - Prachett's battle with Alsheimer's makes every new book a miracle. And though his books fly off my shelves into the dungeons of my daughters’ bedrooms, I never feel hard-done-by buying and re-buying Prachett’s books. If, by the time I die I have managed to have a full set in my bookshelf for a month, I will consider myself the winner.

Much has been said of Prachett’s skill at satire – and I do love that. But more, I find on his pages life-lessons to grow by. Any teenager that crosses my path instantly gets a grubby copy of a Tiffany Aching novel thrust upon them. And certainly “Equal Rites”, followed by the Wyrd Sisters series. If ever I was to give a course in shamanism, Pratchett is where I would begin.

And “Dodger” is no exception. Drawing from Charles Dickens’ London and grasp of character, as well as Mayhew’s documentation of living conditions there in the time of Victoria’s reign, Pratchett spins a story with his ever-compassionate apologies for human nature. And had I not been reading some Casteneda alongside, I might have missed this: Pratchett’s Dodger carries two shamanic themes with him across the pages. The first is the creation of “fog”. That is, the weaving of a projected image that others, with the help of their habitual expectations, will believe and make real. The second is how habitual behaviour make you easy prey to those who want to find you, and make use of your resources.

In Don Juan terms, this is the skill of the art of “stalking”. Which means, if you avoid slipping into habitual ways of moving through your day, you are likely to find out interesting things about yourself, and others. And by understanding how others see the world and designing a suitable character disguise, you can manoeuvre through their lives projecting an image others will believe.

The important question to answer here is why you would want to do either. And when you see how Dodger, the hero, moves between the world of sparkly chandeliers and high-powered wealth, and the subterranean labyrinth of London sewers, the answer suggests itself.