Wow, two rather obscure references in such a short space. In my last entry about Sourcery, I wondered about the problem of authors dating themselves and their work when they use referential comedy, but the last section that I read gives me reason to reconsider.
Why?
Well, if what's referenced is missed by most readers, then it becomes a sort of byword for those in the know. So, if Terry Pratchett still gets read 50, 100, or 500 years from now, the reference to your stock Bond villain might become something that draws a cult following. Or, that tickles only a certain groups of readers.
This state of affairs would not be unlike the references in the section where Rincewind and Conina meet the Seriph. This introduction to this section (pretty much all of it) makes almost excessive reference to the medieval Middle Eastern guild of assassins known as the hashishin. Building on that is a reference to Coleridge's poem "Kublai Khan" in the Seriph's question to Conina about her dulcimer proficiency.
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