Age and rage in Terry Pratchett's "witches' novels

Focusing on Terry Pratchett's two witches' series, the Lancre Coven novels and the Tiffany Aching series for young adults, this article analyses how Pratchett counters the traditional vision of the witch as an old and evil hag and presents an image of old femininity as valuable, admirable and even heroic. However, there is more to Pratchett's works than just exposure and subversion of negative stereotypes. He also weaves an ethics into his novels and presents anger and responsible action as essential in order to react against situations of injustice or neglect affecting the elderly. Situating Pratchett's works within the framework of cultural gerontology and gender studies, this article will demonstrate that his witches' novels both subvert given beliefs about old age and articulate a call for individual and communal responsibility towards the elderly.