Two Quick Announcements!
First, I will be speaking tonight on a panel of Twilight experts at Pace University about our favorite novels set in Forks, Washington. Panelists will include Dr. Nancy Reagin, a Pace Professor and the editor of Twilight and History, and Dr. Birgit Wiedl, a Professor at the University of Innsbruck who contributed the Volturi chapter in History. Another Pace Professor — and unofficial member of the Hogs Head Blogemgamut — Dr. Gwen Limbach will be moderating the discussion (and contributing to it, I hope!) so it promises to be a fun night with challenging conversation about the intersection of literature, history, and culture, not to mention gender studies. It starts at 7 pm at One Pace Plaza and I hope if you’re a New Yorker (or even if you’re not) that you can come!
Second, after my pleading by email for weeks, Elizabeth Baird Hardy, author of Milton, Spenser and the Chronicles of Narnia: Literary Sources for the C.S. Lewis Novels, English professor and expert on Harry Potter, Twilight, Hunger Games, in addition to all things C. S. Lewis, has agreed to join the Hogwarts Professor internet faculty. Her posts will be headed “EBH” in the subject line so we know who is posting what, and, because Prof. Hardy understands blogging software, you can even see pictures in her posts like the one just below. Please join me, All-Pros, in welcoming Prof. Hardy!
Thank you, Elizabeth, for joining the faculty of two here at Hogwarts Professor and for doubling the fun we will have!
Thanks, John! I’m thrilled to be here! I’ll post in strange cycles that directly connect to the amount of essays on my desk, but I’m excited to be on the faculty of my favorite school! I did have a student once suggest that I should teach at Hogwarts with my own kind (It was not meant as a compliment).
Let me also encourage folks to go to the program tonight! As I live in the outer reaches of District 12, I envy those who can go! If you are in my remote neck of the woods, Western NC, come over the the Asheville Barnes and Noble tomorrow 12-1 and say hi! I’ll be there with the Twilight and History book.
Thanks again, Headmaster! I’ll try to keep up and keep a steady supply of Ginger Newts in my office.
I’m not far from NYC, but alas, I’ve never read the Twilight series.
Great to know that EBH will be a regular. Her posts I’ve read so far have been insightful and thought-provoking.
I’ve gleaned so much from this blog, and am very grateful to participate in this fascinating community.
Good luck @ the lecture!
~STS~
And now I learn that Prof. Hardy can have her own ‘by-line’ so we can skip the awkward “EBH” preface in the subject heading. Three cheers!
I lived in Asheville for two years and have always wanted to return there with my family. Not being able to afford the Biltmore Estate or suitable lodgings for the clan, I have only been back to visit twice. Now that the better half of the HogPro faculty lives there, though, I think it’s time to consider a conference at The Grove Park Inn, Hogwarts’ official overnight residence for guests…
Well, the Grove Park is nearly as haunted as Hogwarts, but my friend (and Twihard) at the Parkview Lodge on the Blue Ridge Parkway will get us better rates 🙂
Biltmore does have a very Hogwarts-esque ambiance, I guess because it seems obscene that any fewer than a hundred people should live there!
Thank you technically gifted house elves for letting me have my own identity!
How was the panel discussion? I’m not sure where in the city Pace is, but I hope your event was not disrupted by the would-be bomber in Times Square.
Will you be posting some highlights soon?
~STS~
Elizabeth, great to have you as a professor, here! Your posts have been reallly excellent and I look forward to more of the same.
Right now I’m immersed in Twilight & History, in which Elizabeth has two great essays on Jasper and Emmett, alone worth the price of the book. This book is a delight and a must for Twilight fans. Some conclusions of some of the others’ essays fall rather flat, though, because they lack the understanding of the alchemy, and Mormon influence, metaphor and meaning that John so adeptly explains in Spotlight (even more of a must for understanding the Saga). If you’ve read John’s book, you’ll appreciate T&H in a deeper way. Go for both!
Thanks, Arabella! I’m really looking forward to getting some good feedback as folks go through, and it’s fun for me to finally see everyone else’s essays after focusing on mine for so long! I am a little worred about the calls I’ll be getting about the mention of the McCarty Funeral Home in Sevierville. Probably, they’ll be the ones getting calls, but I bet there will be a run on their calendars! I want one–anyone in Sevierville want to pick one up for me?
I was sorry the LDS article fell through. Volume 2 perhaps?
Professor Elizabeth,
Now that you are on the staff of U of H allow me to extend to you a hearty welcome and my best wishes for what I trust will be a successful and enlightening tenure.
I hope you will not think me forward by offering the following advice on nom de plumes, but it is important, as I’m sure you will agree, when entering officially into your newfound position that you do so with a certain sense of style. Indeed, failing this would be akin to showing up at hoedown wearing a ball gown, and where I come from said shenanigan is an explicit example of low class, the height of bad taste, and sure to set tongues a-waggin. So, what better way to assume your duties within these hallowed halls than by adopting a by-line that says, “Here I am; read me”?
“Professor Hardy,” of course, will not do. Too formal. It screams “postmodern literary establishment” and all that phrase entails—like “death to all dissenters!” and “NPR is objective programming.” Non-materialists might be led to believe that a party official has infiltrated HogPro for the purpose of rounding up victims for the gulags. We can’t have that.
“Professor H” is better, but still no style. It sounds like Harold Bloom attempting “coolness” to attract co-eds.
“Professor E” is cool. It exits the mouth with ease and is pleasing to the ear. More importantly, it has style. Certainly, it is a fitting moniker for a woman who can speak of the genius of the Inklings one day and then gather with like-minded folks to shoot at Yankees the next. However, this one has a commonness about it, so it won’t do either.
I like “Professor Elizabeth” too. Graceful, regal sounding, wouldn’t you agree? It hearkens back to the days of Shakespeare’s royal protector and lends an authoritative yet relatively benevolent persona to its wearer. But I knew you by this mark before your ascendance, so I believe we should look further.
I have been re-reading John’s Unlocking Harry Potter and thinking about the elements Rowling used to create the cathartic story of the young wizard. I have also enjoyed several of the posts here at HogPro discussing the Twilight series, and I rejoice in the fact that there are authors out there writing in a subversive vane yet incorporating many themes that concern modern hearts, and I am proud of what John is trying to accomplish as the hogwartsprofessor, and I am happy that you will be assisting him to that end. With that said, I have the perfect by-line for you.
Before we get to the unveiling, though, think of two present-day fictional characters that happen to have the same last name, who embody to varying degrees much of what has been and is being discussed here at HogPro. No clue? I give you Bella Swan and Elizabeth Swan!
Think about it: Bella is the heroine in an alchemical drama whose moral character is the result of the moral choices she makes, and Elizabeth is an English Lady turned caste rebel—a veritable piratical establishment butt-kicker—who fights for the downtrodden and fringe elements of society. Think doppelganger. Plus, you have the pirate costume. With that said, I dub thee “Professor Swan.” Go forth, my lady, and slay the dragons of spiritless literature!
Um, Brett, I think you spent far more time thinking about my name than I ever have. If you need something to read in all that spare time, I’m sure you’ll get some suggestions here 🙂 As they say, you can pretty much call me anything but late to dinner.
(And I have gotten Miss Swan ever since the first Pirates movie, as there aren’t many Elizabeths in my circle, my husband resembles a pirate, and one of my storytelling pieces features a swan woman)
No worries, professor. My reading list is adequate and the time I spend in that endeavor is extensive. I wrote the above to occupy my mind while my son was laying unconcious in a hospital room. In our rush to get him there, I forgot to bring literature.
Brett,
I’ll be praying for you, your family, and especially your son.
Hope you’ll be able to update us.
Hang in there,
~STS~
Brett,
I’m so glad I could bring a little fun to your day. If you were closer, I’d bring a pie, but alas. Please do keep us posted, as we all keep you in our thoughts and prayers.
If you need anything else lighthearted to keep you occupied ( I made the mistake of taking Moby Dick to the hospital once), your post made me think about the naming of teachers in HP, as Harry never calls Snape “Professor” willingly, but always refers to Dumbledore and McGonagall as Professor, and Hagrid as Hagrid. Considering what my students call me behind me back, and that I have to constantly remind some people to stop calling me Mrs. Hardy when we’ve been friends for years, I’m interested in the thought process behind the way Harry thinks and speaks of his instructors, and it’s bound to be more fun than talking about me (and better distraction than the dreadful magazines left about hospitals)! What d’you think?
(I know this seems a little off topic, but perhaps some of the students who attended on Friday will chime in with their thoughts on “teacher-naming”!)
Yes and there are Madame Hooch and Madame Pomfry and Madame Pince- never understood the differences for them- though I guess they aren’t technically teachers.
The calling by the last name for harry seems to speak of disrespect- at least, that’s always Dumbeldore’s reaction. I always put it to laziness and a bit of arrogance- “I don’t care enough about you to say your full name.” The students are also referred to and “Mr Potter” Miss Granger” – though is that more of a movie thing?
Anyway, I put it all up to British-isms. At the small liberal arts college where my husband and I are on faculty, the students traditionally use “Prof” even for the PhDs, which I have always found interesting. It speaks more to a mentor relationship than the PhD imparting wisdom. But again, I found it a unique part of this school’s culture.