From the history of the conception of literary palimpsest: Terry Pratchett's theory of “white knowledge” and “L-space”

The article considers the little known but critical to understanding the conception of literary palimpsest the theory of “white knowledge” and “L-space” by the modern English author Terry Pratchett. The model of literary palimpsest originally expressed in G. Genette’s “Palimpsests: Literature in the Second Degree” gave a new perspective on the mechanism of the continuity of literary process. Using the notion of palimpsest in its metaphorical meaning as “a hierarchy of texts superimposed on each other with traces of each still shining through” makes it possible to see earlier texts looming behind the one written. Not only literary scholars have come up with different theories of palimpsest, but also writers among whom the creator of comic fantasy “Discworld” Terry Pratchett is worthy of special attention. Drawing inspiration from J. Tolkien’s idea of “the cauldron of story” as a metaphorically presented folk consciousness T. Pratchett talks about “the white knowledge” as is the case with “the white noise”, and “L-space”. “The white knowledge” represents a general idea of something be it a novel, an author, a character of a book etc. that we have in our heads but whose source you cannot pinpoint with certainty; the slightly comic “L-space” or “library space” implies that all books are interconnected and the content of new books can be inferred from the books already written. The functioning of “the white knowledge” is based on the mechanism of “narrative causality”, when a story once told picks up the “vibrations” of all its recitals. In his theory T. Pratchett emphasizes the receptive side, i.e. the reader. Numerous multilayered associations behind “the white knowledge” allow via “the joy of recognition” to draw attention to seemingly familiar or clear issues and topics, which in the modern age already come across as different.