John Goes on April Speaking Tour – and an Over-Qualified Guest Hogwarts Professor Fills In!

April 8, 2010 by 5 Comments

I’ve been away from HogwartsProfessor for a few weeks to get ready for Pascha (Christos Anesti!) and to prepare all the talks I’ll be doing around the country this month. I won’t be here this next week but I found a replacement that will make you hope I never come back, by name Elizabeth Baird Hardy, author of Milton, Spenser and the Chronicles of Narnia: Literary Sources for the C.S. Lewis Novels, and a contributor to the just released Twilight and History (ed. Nancy Reagin). A Harry Potter, Narnia, Spencer, Hunger Games, and Twilight wonk rolled into one and a real world Professor to boot! Thank you, Prof. Hardy, for taking the helm here. I’m looking forward to your posts!

My speaking schedule next week and the topics I’ll be discussing are listed after the jump. Please introduce yourself if you make it to any of them! [Read more…]

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Mailbag: New ‘Twilight’ Novella? Pullman Piece?

March 30, 2010 by 17 Comments

Here are some notes from my HogPro inbox about the new Stephenie Meyer and Philip Pullman books and about why each author writes books like these:

On the new Meyer novella, The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner, you can read the Press Release here and the Publisher’s Weekly piece here (H/T to Ann-Laurel and Pallas Athena). The short version is that Mrs. Meyer was writing a lot of notes for the Eclipse movie makers and had planned a short piece for her Twilight Guide expanding on Bree Tanner’s life as a New Born, sleepless in Seattle; the story became too big as an add-on for the guide and, no doubt, Little Brown was happy to get another Twilight title out there. Perhaps to short circuit the accusation that this is a money-grab, though, Mrs. Meyer is offering the book online for free as a “thank you” to her fans.

Two quick notes: [Read more…]

Filed Under: Hog Pro Notes, Twilight

‘Alchemists Everywhere!’ A HogsHead PubCast

March 25, 2010 by 4 Comments

Part 1 of the conversation I had with Travis Prinzi about literary alchemy is up at The Hog’s Head. Mr. Prinzi, author of Harry Potter and Imagination, and I have been talking publicly and privately for years about alchemical symbolism in Ms. Rowling’s fiction but this PubCast exchange centers on the remarkable explosion of excellent work — and also the most popular series of novels in print today — all of which feature traditional alchemical story scaffolding: not only Harry Potter, but Twilight and The Hunger Games as well. We try to explain why this is happening and why the alchemical formulae work across widely divergent genres, auctorial focus, and themes as well as they do. Tune in!

Filed Under: Hunger Games, Literary Alchemy, Twilight

NPR Bashes Twilight: Anyone Surprised?

March 23, 2010 by 28 Comments

National Public Radio’s ‘Monkey See’ weblog yielded to popular requests for a reading of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight saga and the result is predictable. It is “a necessary but painful exercise we are obliged to do,” yields to “the woman really cannot write,” which brings us where you probably knew we were headed eventually “Bella Swan is not a proper feminist or likable person.” The three literary pigs of aestheticism (wordsmithing is all), deconstruction (political correctness), and literary taxonomy (genre revulsion) are all on display — and the inability of anyone using these tools to explain the popularity of the books or even to contemplate seriously the possibility that the woman actually is delivering the goods readers wants is demonstrated. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Twilight

The Streak: A Father, a Daughter, and Shared Texts

March 23, 2010 by 11 Comments

Harry Potter is mentioned once in this NYTimes article about a father and daughter whose relationship until she left for college was defined by reading together every day for at least ten minutes. But their story is only a little about Harry and a lot about the bonds people who read aloud to one another share in the activity of their imaginations, Coleridge’s “poetic faith,” which is very close to if not continuous with the inner heart.

I’m thinking of starting a ‘Streak’ tonight with my youngest boy or my wife. I hope you will consider starting one with someone you love, too.

Filed Under: Hog Pro Notes