Search Results for: Hunger Games

I have written a great deal here about the work of Suzanne Collins, from her much neglected Gregor the Underlander novels and When Charlie McButton Lost Power, to her Hunger Games trilogy and even the children’s picture book she wrote post fame and fortune, Year of the Jungle. My exegesis of the Katniss Everdeen books in various HogwartsProfessor posts ran to close to 60,000 words and I regret never turning the three principle Mockingjay posts — The Spiritual Allegory, The Literary Alchemy, and Katniss’ Apotheosis — into a proper book. I think so much about her that this week last year I wrote about ‘Whatever Happened to Suzanne Collins?’

No surprise, then, that I read The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes on the day of release. You may be surprised that I have not shared my thoughts on the subject until now, in great contrast with the weeks following publication of Mockingjay, the trilogy finale. I plead “full-time job in ‘essential business,’ being overdue on a thesis chapter, and, most important, perhaps, that I have not reviewed the Hunger Games series and re-read Songbirds and Snakes in light of that review.” I have scandalized Potter fans in the past by saying that I think Collins’ achievement with Mockingjay was at least on par and perhaps greater than Deathly Hallows; her work deserves better than a flip newspaper review.

Having said all that, I do want to share three spoiler-free points about the prequel just released to encourage those on the fence about reading it to purchase a copy immediately. Elizabeth Baird (!) Hardy has already posted her first thoughts and I hope point by point discussion of the book and its relationship to Collins’ oeuvre can begin here, if not next week then next month. I’m hoping that Elizabeth and Prof Lana Whited, editor of Critical Insights: The Hunger Games Trilogy, will join Katy McDaniel and myself for a podcast discussion, too, at Reading, Writing, Rowling.

My three points are (1) the most important paragraph to read is the opening of Collins’ acknowledgements at the back of the book, (2) the departure from Collins’ heretofore locked in story structure in this novel, and (3) some thoughts about the title and Collins’ signature presentation of front-and-back.

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The One Stop location for Hunger Games posts at HogwartsProfessor is now up. You can find it by scrolling down the ‘Pillar Posts’ listing in the left margin of the site’s home page and clicking on ‘Authors Not J. K. Rowling (Hunger Games, Etc.)’ and then ‘Suzanne Collins — Hunger Games’ on that page. Or just head straight there via this link! (For more on the purpose of and how to use ‘Pillar Posts’ see “The ‘Why’ and ‘How To’ of HogwartsProfessor Pillar Posts.”)

The timing of this post is no coincidence, of course, but due to the news that Collins is writing a prequel to the best-selling trilogy. (See ‘Let the Hunger Games Begin — Again!’ for that story.) There are close to one hundred Hunger Games articles listed in this Pillar Post so settle in for a fun catch-up of the best discussion available anywhere on the books and film adaptations.

Here is a taste of the very best to encourage you to check out the whole listing:

• ‘Unlocking Mockingjay: The Spiritual Allegory’ On Iconological Reading and Katniss Everdeen as a Soul Seeking Perfection 
• ‘Unlocking Mockingjay: ‘The Literary Alchemy’On Literary Alchemy and Peeta as Postmodern Christ
• ‘Unlocking Mockingjay: Katniss’ Apotheosis’ On the Alchemical Arena and Katniss’ Perfection in the Inner Sanctuary
• Katniss’ Meadow Song the musical embedded text of the series with ‘Hanging Tree’
• The Hanging Tree, the story about the story inside the story;
• The Hunger Games Formula, Collins’ literary scaffolding
• Real or Not Real, the last-word-decisive theme of Mockingjay
• Gamesmakers Hijack Story: Capitol Wins Hunger Games Again
• The Larger Ring of The Hunger Games Trilogy: The Meadow
• Louise Freeman’s three part post on PTSD and The Hunger Games: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
• MuggleNet Academia podcast with Lana Whited, editor of Critical Insights: The Hunger Games
• On the Use of Hunger Games Imagery in Thailand Democracy Protests: Art Depicts Life Imitates Art
• On the Tragi-Comedy of a Hunger Games Theme Park in Totalitarian China
• Elizabeth Baird-Hardy on Fashion Shows with Hunger Games themes (see also the Miss Universe Pageant!)
• A Response to a Critic Claiming ‘Hunger Games is Flawed to its Core’
• Unintended Consequences: Hunger Games Hurts Television?

Enjoy!