Oxford Entrance Question: What do you think of ‘Twilight’?

June 1, 2012 by 3 Comments

Yesterday we did a Hunger Games set and I thought we might spend a day in Forks as a complementary bookend to close the week. I was struck while reading the (yawn) perfunctory blowback and Fleet Street “shock!” to there being academic interest at St Andrews in the Shared Text and greatest publishing event since Gutenberg. One of the more shrill criers of ‘O, Tempora! O, Mores!’ at The Telegraph asked the rhetorical question meant as demeaning accusation, “What next, the Twilight series as A-Level Exams?’

Indeed, studying Harry Potter as a work of literature turns the literary world upside-down. If Dumbledore and Hagrid can be granted the status of Don Quixote and Hamlet, it’s alarming to contemplate what’s next. A dystopian interpretation of A Very Hungry Caterpillar? The Twilight series as an A-level text?

That was meant to point the likely, nay, inevitable end of the Slippery Slope that St Andrews was running down by sponsoring a Harry Potter conference. A-Levels are UK university entrance exams, if like me, you scratched your head at that reference; an ‘A-Level text,; consequently, is a serious work of literature, the understanding of which is the mark of a superior education and capacity.

We’ll have to assume Sarah Rainey, the Telegraph columnist, was either unaware that Oxford University now includes a question about Twilight in its entrance exam questionnaire or was being remarkably ironic (“here is the cause of our already arriving at the end of the Slippery Slope!” Because it’s there. Really.

A friend in Texas whose website deserves a visit (or two) wrote me about it:

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Filed Under: Twilight

The Divergent Trilogy: Twilight, MarySue, and Tris Prior

May 8, 2012 by 1 Comment

We are in the third day of ‘Beatrice Prior Week’ here at HogwartsProfessor and it’s the last day of comparisons with the three other popular series we’ve discussed at length here. Yesterday, it was Hunger Games, Sunday it was Harry Potter, and today we come to the neglected corner, Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight books. What could Veronica Roth’s Divergent trilogy have to do with the Paranormal Romance in Forks?

Quite a bit! Even some interviewers are talking about it with Ms. Roth, albeit only in terms of her movie deal with Summit, the makers of the Twilight films. From NextMovie.com’s interview with Ms. Roth (December 2011):

People inevitably will make comparisons to Stephenie Meyer, since you’re both YA novelists signed to Summit. She’s producing her first film now — are you planning to be Meyer-level involved in the making of “Divergent?”

Not really. At least, I haven’t really been involved with it for very long, so it’s hard to say. But I really just love books and I never really watch movies. I’m more into the slow, sort of meditative process and movies are like bam-bam! Bam-bam-bam! So I don’t know if it’s really the place for me. I don’t know, it’s been really fun to see “Twilight” from the inside, but I’m really just observing, I’m not really involved.

Ah. Ms. Roth… You have won my heart! Time is short, though, so let’s skip right to the five points of congruence with Twilight that I noted on my first trip through Divergent and Insurgent.

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Filed Under: Divergent, Twilight

Twilight Girls Getaway: Gatlinburg, Tennessee, 1-3 June

April 19, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Check out their Facebook page, the Cabin Bedrooms, and, best of all, Bella’s Suite of Dreams.

Bella’s Suite will be decorated in true Bella style…no muss, no fuss, no frills. Just comfortable touches to make you feel at home! You will also find the cactus that Bella brought to Forks to remind her of her days spent in Arizona. Bella has left one for each of the occupants of this room – along with a framed photo of her favorite guy – Edward.

I’ve written the folks in charge to see if they’d like a talk by either Elizabeth Baird-Hardy or myself on, y’know, the books but no answer, alas. Please send us a report if you go!

Filed Under: Twilight

What I Fear Is Coming (Has Come?) to Hunger Games Fandom

March 29, 2012 by 18 Comments

This almost certainly will be my last entry in the HogwartsProfessor Hunger Games Month of posts celebrating and exploring the artistry and meaning of Suzanne Collins’ wonderful Panem Trilogy. I have speaking dates Saturday at Augustana College (actually Stronghold Castle! left) and at the University of Chicago on Monday, so I will be out of pocket, as quarterbacks say, for blogging at least until next Wednesday. I leave the Marshaling of the Closing Ceremonies duties to the fair and profound Prof. Elizabeth Baird-Hardy and her associates, Profs. Kendall, Freeman, and Pazdziora. Thank you all out there for a delightful, engaging, and challenging month of conversation about these books, about the film, and the possibilities and inevitabilities of reading and film watching, in general. If I say so myself, it’s been one of our better month’s for discussion here, our best, perhaps, since the months before and after Mockingjay’s publication.

I spent much of yesterday chatting with John Patrick Pazdziora over virtual ButterBeers at the Hog’s Head pub, which conversation (really more a Q&A session about Hunger Games) he’s edited and posted at our sister site. I’ve taken one of my answers there to post here below the jump to start a conversation about a strong trend in Harry Potter, Twilight, and Hunger Games fandoms consequent to movie adaptations that I think is lamentable, if all but inevitable, namely, a change in focus from the search for and a loss of comprehension about ‘what books mean.’

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Filed Under: Hog Pro Notes, Hunger Games, Twilight

Flavorwire: Katniss and Hermione and Jane Eyre — but no Bella?

March 10, 2012 by 5 Comments

Where to begin with this Flavorwire assessment of 10 of the Most Powerful Female Characters in Literature? Do we need to note first the absence of any characters not made into popular films? Or should we mention the evident bias against women who find love and marriage rewarding, not to mention faith of any kind? Jane Austen’s heroines are shut out, Anne of Green Gables is a loser, and Shakespeare’s shrewish, brilliant Kate is a non-starter. How about literature beginning in the 14th century? No Penelope, Clytemnestra, or Beatrice for this power focused group of feminist readers… and don’t tell me you believe Mulan makes the list except for the Disney flick and an ironic nod to cultural diversity.

How about just the mistakes and mistaken memes? Hermione is the only member of the Terrible Trio that never falls apart come crunch time? Katniss Everdeen “annoys us to no end with all her boy-related waffling and wailing”? I think this bizarre “annoyance” and the love note addressed to Jane Eyre (” Though she suffers greatly, she always relies on herself to get back on her feet — no wilting damsel in distress here”) are meant to be arrows aimed at Bella Swan. Because we all know Bella is stupid, totally boy crazy and dependent, and incapable of independent feminist action, right?

For the counter-spell or antidote to this political correctness about Twilight, check out these posts at The Briarfield Chronicles about both Keats’ Eve of St. Agnes and Lamia. There’s a lot more to Bella than those despising so-called ‘Chick Lit’ would have you think (as in “all of Victorian letters,” none of whose heroines made the powerful list, either). Considering the deep Jane Eyre roots of Bella’s Twilight adventures, it’s a hoot that she is left off as ‘despised’ on a list that her ancestor and inspiration tops.

Really, where’s the love? Or the parameters? I do love this kind of list because of the things it reveals, most notably, the blinders and biases of the list makers, not to mention the opportunity to make a sweeping review of Canon. And this Flavorwire piece was rich in both regards. (Hat tips to Prof. Baird-Hardy and Caroline at Briarfield).

Filed Under: Hunger Games, Twilight