Thoughts for the Serious Reader of Harry Potter
The full interview is available at The Twilight Saga (which involves a fairly involved registration process!) and excerpts from the interview have been published at USA Today. On the eve of the book being on sale in book stores and posted online at the author’s site, Mrs. Meyer expands on what she has told her readers previously about the novella’s origins and the influence of the Twilight movies on its composition.
I was most intrigued by this question and comment: [Read more…]
It’s Hunger Games Time! Mary Baldwin College Professor Louise Freeman, a longtime friend of this weblog. has jumped from the Pearl Plot and other ideas about Suzanne Collins’ dystopian novels posted here into exploration of neglected details of the series that open up fascinating possibilities about the series’ finale, The Mockingjay. I’ll be posting her insights here this week and next — stay tuned!
Female Victors, Probability and the Quarter Quell
A commonality shared by Johanna and Katniss on Catching Fire is their status as the lone female victor in their District. Thus, when the conditions of the third Quarter Quell are announced, they are both in the position of being the only name in their Reaping lottery and therefore automatic “winners” of the 96% death chance that comes with being an Arena tribute. Actually, the risk is probably even higher given their gender; with the emphasis on hand-to-hand combat in the Games, it is fair to assume there are more male than female victors. So, the odds of survival for these women were probably never higher than 2% or so. Or even less if you consider neither are from Career districts.
A little statistics, however, leads to a somewhat surprising conclusion. In all probability (and I mean that quite literally) what’s remarkable about Katniss and Johanna is not their status as lone District female victors. What’s surprising is that we are never told of any other women in the same boat. [Read more…]
A guest post from John Stanifer in Indiana! It is a paper he will be delivering this weekend at Taylor University’s Frances White Ewbank Colloquium on C. S. Lewis and Friends. Who knew that Twilight and Till We Have Faces share a mythic antecedent and common cause? Enjoy!
Tale as Old as Time:
A Study of the Cupid and Psyche Myth, with Particular Reference to C.S. Lewis’s Till We Have Faces
In 1956, C.S. Lewis saw the publication of his final novel, Till We Have Faces. “Everyone says it’s my best book,” he wrote to one correspondent (Hooper, 647). Lewis lovers may argue that point till they have blue faces, but one thing they can agree on is that the novel stands as a testament to Lewis’s love for Greek myth. For those who are unfamiliar with Till We Have Faces or who simply need a refresher, the novel’s basic plot is a reworking of the myth of Cupid and Psyche, a myth that centers on the love between a gorgeous god and a mortal woman. As we will see, this myth in all its numerous forms is designed to resonate in the hearts of book lovers, playgoers, film audiences, and human beings everywhere.
The goal of this discussion will be to trace the various adaptations of the Cupid and Psyche myth and its echoes in works as various as the poetry of John Milton, Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight novels, and Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. Though I’ll be referring back to Lewis and Till We Have Faces often, my aim is to unveil the threads that run through each and every one of these works. [Read more…]
Read about it in today’s LA Times’ ‘Muggles Take to Their Broomsticks.’
Talk about ‘Shared Text’ …. H/T to Bryan in California for this link!
America’s largest Harry Potter Meet-Up group, The Group That Shall Not Be Named (TGTSNBN), has invited me to give a talk on 14 June at the Jefferson Market Public Library, 145 Avenue of the Americas, NYC. It promises to be a blast and I hope if you are in the neighborhood that you will stop by — and if you are not, that you will fly in!
Read more about it and reserve your spot here.
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