New Book from Suzanne Collins: Year of the Jungle

September 26, 2013 by Leave a Comment

I’m guessing even very serious Hunger Games fans may have missed the news that Suzanne Collins has written another book — and that it was published this month! The title is Year of the Jungle: Memories from the Home Front and it is a children’s picture book with illustrations by James Proimos.

The name James Proimos is the answer to one of the more difficult Hunger games trivia questions. For more on that — and the importance of Custard the Dragon’s “eating the Pyrate,” read beyond the jump. Spoiler break —

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Hunger Games

Guest Post: Janet Batchler on ‘Newt Scamander’

September 25, 2013 by 2 Comments

Janet Batchler, profound Potter Pundit, renowned Hollywood screenwriter, USC prof, and friend of this blog, left her thoughts about the new Joanne Rowling film project on a thread where many readers might miss it so we’ve bumped it up to a Guest Post for your comments and corrections> Thank you, Janet, for dropping in!

Coming to the discussion here of the Newt Scamander film late, but thought I’d check in as a voice from Hollywood.

•I doubt WB “put the squeeze on” JKR.  …When my writing partner and I were asked to write a Batman movie, the call from WB to our agent began, “We’re offering you Warner Bros.’ most important corporate asset.”  That’s what HP is now:  WB’s most important corporate asset.  Putting the squeeze on the person who created that asset (and could create more of it) would be highly unproductive.

•We do know that WB courted JKR for over a year regarding this project.  That means that she almost certainly said no to writing an HP sequel, no to writing the story of the HP generation’s kids, no to writing the story of the Marauders, no to writing the story of the Founders. Good for her.  All of those have more than a whiff of exploitation, and there would be nothing for JKR to explore creatively.

•JKR spent most of her adult life on HP.  Since the HP saga concluded, she has been trying to do very different things.  The tension of people wanting her to return to the HP world (not just WB — all those millions of fans as well) combined with her love of that world must be overwhelming at times.  Finding a way for her to return to it that is not a retread of HP in any way is a win for everyone involved. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Guest Posts, Movie Thoughts

Shared Text: Harry Potter Wedding Proposal

September 23, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Read much more about it at Yahoo News and Huffington Post.

Hat tip to Arlene!

Filed Under: Shared Text

What is Harry Potter canon?

September 23, 2013 by 5 Comments

We’ve discussed it here and on Mugglenet Academia, but a local Children’s Lit student is trying to do some research on it.  Please help her out by filling out a 1-question survey and passing the link on to other Potterphiles.  Many thanks!

Filed Under: MuggleNet Academia, Potter Fandom, Uncategorized

Christine Wesley: Literary Alchemy in Allegiant – Rubedo

September 17, 2013 by 6 Comments

For part one of this series of Divergent literary alchemy posts by Christine Wesley, Divergent as Nigredo, click here. For part two of this series, Insurgent as Albedo, click here.

Allegiant: “One Choice Will Define You”


Welcome to the final installment of a three-part “Unlocking” series on the allegorical, alchemical artistry behind Veronica Roth’s Divergent trilogy. In this post, we will attempt to predict the plot of the series finale, Allegiant, as the rubedo to Divergent’s nigredo and Insurgent’s albedo.

When we last left the pages of Insurgent, Tris and Tobias were crouched on the bottom floor of Erudite headquarters, watching a video file of Amanda Ritter/Edith Prior’s revelation that the Factions are in fact a grand experiment in human behavior, set apart to develop minds capable of rebuilding a world destroyed by moral decay. A growing concern for Tris over the course of Insurgent was whether or not to pursue the truth of what lay beyond the fence; at the cliff-hanger conclusion, we discover that the Factions, enclosed within the ruined city of Chicago, were protected from three things in the outside world:

1. The water supply

2. Technology

3. Societal structure


One hallmark of literary alchemy is the presence of soul triptychs, a trio of objects or persons that each embodies an essential aspect of human existence that, when working in harmony, produce righteous living and thinking. Intriguingly, in these three non-human elements, there exists such a tripartite division: body (water), mind (technology), and heart (society structure). The Five Factions were, in essence, separated bodily from the outside world via an enclosed water system (remember the Amity’s water filtration system and hydroponic agriculture, and Lake Michigan’s reduction to the Marsh), a yet-unknown form of technology, and a yet-unknown pattern for human relationships. These reasons for the Factions’ separation will serve as major plot points for Book 3, and I will incorporate my theories as to their explanation over the course of a larger exegesis of how Allegiant might satisfy the requirements as the Tris Prior rubedo.


As John examined in this post about the alchemy of Suzanne Collins’s Mockingjay, we can expect Roth’s rubedo novel to follow the “allegory of the soul’s transformation” in the “story of the soul’s life in the world” post-baptism, a world she finds “unrecognizable.” Alchemy is chiefly concerned with the resolution of contraries: throughout the first two books, Tris unraveled the divisions inherent in her status as one of the Divergent. In Book 1 she sorted out her conflicted understanding of Dauntless and Abnegation, and in Book 2 between Candor and Amity.  Duality and mirroring have already proved a significant theme in Divergent and Insurgent, so look for this idea to find its greatest manifestation in Allegiant, when Tris and Tobias to wrestle with their faculties for Erudite (more on that below).


Based on interviews and blog posts from Roth, Allegiant teasers released by HarperCollins, and  surface-level clues from the close of Insurgent, a few ideas can be inferred about the contraries to be resolved in Book 3. Perhaps the most interesting fact that has been revealed about Allegiant is that the book will have not one, but two narrators: Tris AND Tobias. First, Roth’s thoughts on this deviation:

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Divergent, Guest Posts, Literary Alchemy