21 December is represented in the UK as 21/12 and in the US as 12/21 which because of its a-b-b-a structure, unique on the calendar, makes it a perfect day to celebrate chiastic writing and ring composition, a hallmark (!) of Rowling-Galbraith-Murray and indeed of the greatest works of literature and inspired writing for millenia.
Rowling chose a different day than 12 December for the center chapter of the center book of her remarkably symmetrical ring series, the Harry Potter novels, but a day that resonates with the chiastic aspect of 12/21. The date and time at the dead center of the Hogwarts Saga — Harry’s adventures with Hagrid in the Forbidden Forest and talking with Sirius in the Gryffindor Common Room, ‘The Hungarian Horntail’ — was 22 November between 12 midnight and 1 in the morning. That signaled the story turn or half-way point in as straight forward a fashion as possible, and I think was a hat-tip to the literary reason that 12/21 (or 21/12) is International Chiasmus Day.
Jules Verne made 12/21 the date by which Phineas Fogg had to have completed his circumnavigation of the globe and returned to his club in Around the World in Eighty Days. The ring aspect of that story and the latch falling on 12/21 is brilliant and Rowling the French major, I’m guessing, has read her share of Verne. Her choice of 11/22 between 12-1, akin to the Vernian 12/21 chiasmus there-and-back-again date, was a great marker of the story-turn in her seven book series (“half-way there”).
As I wrote about Verne’s classic in 2018:
Today is the 21st of December or 12/21 in the US and 21/12 in the UK. Besides meaning that there are only four more days until Western Nativity and their Twelve Days of Christmas, it also marks what I hope will hereafter be celebrated as International Chiasmus Day.
I think this day of all days is best for commemoration of self-echoing phrases, verses, passages, books, and series of books both because it is the only calendar date that has digits repeating the other in reverse order (I say “Fie!” to those offering up March 30th as 03/30…) and because it is the date by which Phileas Fogg had to complete his 80 days circumnavigation of the globe in Verne’s chiastic Around the World in Eighty Days.
Yes, I believe Verne chose this date to highlight the ring structure of the work in question; my 2013 post on the subject details how Fogg’s journey is an exact mirror reflection in forward and then reverse order, the return trip beginning with his sailing from Japan, complete with hilarious inverse parallels in the adventures Fogg, Passepartout, and Aouda have in India and America.
Yes, there was a lot of kerfuffle about 12/21 in 2012. Too many people think “Mayan Apocalypse!’ when they see that date in December so I thought a change in focus to its traditional meaning might help.
How to celebrate International Chiasmus Day? Sadly, Worlds of Fun, an American Theme Park dedicated to Vernes’ Around the World in Eighty Days (I kid you not) is closed until the Spring. And though you can fly around the world on commercial flights, believe it or not, in eighty hours, that is still a might long for Chiasmus Day as a single day. And trying to do it in eighty minutes? You’d have to break into Cape Canaveral or Bill Gates’ 401k to do that.
I think the best way to celebrate the day is to pick up a favorite book by an author that is known to have structural concerns and read that book chiastically, a ring-reading. This involves reading the first chapter, then the last, then the second chapter and the next to last, and so on until you reach the middle. Did you discover hidden correspondences? Is the ‘meaning in the middle’?
I’ll testify that this a lot of fun, especially with Rowling’s books and screenplays (and Galbraith’s!). Tomorrow I’ll share my notes on Crimes of Grindelwald when read as a ring composition. I look forward to reading your findings on Crimes or your favorite book. Until then, find a Palindrome Pal and get reading!
For Serious Strikers disappointed that Hallmarked Man may not be published until 25 July, 31 July, or, egad, September 2025, today would be a great day to review Rowling-Galbraith’s Running Grave and its structure to prepare for the nine-parts of Strike 8, which, if Rowling’s pattern holds, will be a nine-part ring as a whole, each of which nine parts will also be chiastic in form. If you want a guide for that effort, check out my notes on Running Graves‘ structure as a good starting point.
Whatever you elect to do this International Chiasmus Day, may your meaning be in your middle and your beginning and end (arche and telos) be conjoined!
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