Rewrite Or Accept

This week's Booking Through Thursday question was
"If you could rewrite the ending of any book, which book would it be?"

Interesting question, but actually I couldn’t think of any book I’d really like to rewrite the ending of. There may have been books I felt that way about, just after reading them, but none pop into mind just now. Either I’ve forgotten, or the problem went deeper than just changing the ending!

However, the question did remind me of heated discussions about the last book in the Harry Potter series (Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, 2007). Reading some of the other BTT-comments, I saw that I wasn’t the only one. So I decided to expand a little on that; digging out some comments that I wrote in a HP discussion forum about six months after the publication. If you're interested, pop over to Through My Spectrespecs (= my own, not very frequently updated Harry Potter blog).

Hot Dogs and Crying Ladies

Do you celebrate Name Days where you live?

In Sweden, from the 18th century onwards, names used by the royal family were introduced to the Swedish list of name days, followed by other common names. The monopoly on almanacs, held by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, expired in 1972 and so did the official name day list. Competing lists began to emerge. However, widespread dissatisfaction with the confusions of different lists prompted the Swedish Academy to compile a new two-name list which was accepted in 2001 and in nation-wide use since then.

By old tradition, the week just gone by, 19-24 July, has six female names in a row: Sara, Margareta, Johanna, Magdalena, Emma, Kristina. (My middle name is Christina.) So it has been called Women’s Week, and also names like Tear Week, since it also has the rumour of often being wet and rainy.

We’ve had some rain this week, but also sun. Today the Crying Women’s Week is officially over. (Name of the Day is Jakob). But I woke up to 10°C (the coldest we’ve had in a long time) and heavy rain all morning. So obviously men cry too! I’m not putting too much trust in the old folklore…

So what about the dogs? Well, I learned yesterday from Ginny’s blog that in English this time of the year – not just last week but about a month onwards - is often referred to as Dog Days. I found this piece of information fascinating, and further research resulted in a post at my Harry Potter blog Through My Spectrespecs: Dog Days and Sirius Black. The connection is that the name “dog days” go back to Greek and Roman traditions, referring to the star Sirius, also called the Dog Star. And for those not familiar with the Potter books, Sirius Black is a character in the HP books who sometimes takes on the shape of a dog. For details, go read the other blog!

In Swedish, we also have a name for this period corresponding to the English Dog Days, but in our language and tradition it does not refer neither to dogs nor the star Sirius; but would simply be translated “rot month”. The month when things tend to go bad, one way or another. Especially before the days of refrigerators and freezers, it was difficult to keep food fresh during this often hot and humid period of the year. This also led to infections and diseases; the connection perhaps not always clear to people in the past. I guess it was also a critical time for harvests, which could either get too much water from above or too little. In folklore, it was also said to be a month when all kinds of sinister omens might occur -  like calves being born with two heads.

One hot dog who gets hot when it’s hot (and wet when it’s wet…) My brother’s cairn terrier, Harry. You can also see him at my brother’s blog Cutting Edge Easy Listening. As my brother pointed out in a comment: The dog’s full name is actually Harry Potter, but I had nothing to do with that! (He was named by the children at the kennel where he was born).

Harry Potter and Christmas

For readers who are interested in or curious about the Harry Potter books, I just want to mention here that I just put in a new post at my Through My Spectrespecs blog - Christmas in the Wizarding World. The number (1) after the title indicates that I have a sequel in mind. This first Christmas-related post is chiefly about the first book in the series, The Philosopher's Stone; where, in my opinion, J.K. Rowling makes rather clever use of hidden parallells between the alchemist Nicolas Flamel who is mentioned in the book (who was also a historical person), and the Father Christmas/Santa Claus/St Nicholas of our Christmas traditions, who is not mentioned... 



The picture of St Nicholas is from
http://www.catholicgreetings.org/

Oh Deer, I Won!

(No, it's not a spelling mistake!)

This has been a tough week for me in many ways, computer crash included. Yesterday, however, in spite of "only" having my laptop... I made an attempt at the Blog Anniversary contest at Dan's blog Wood and Pixels, which he generously kept running for four days (Tuesday-Friday). And I WON! Three other people also came out winners, on the other days. For an extra special reason, though, I am especially happy that Thursday got to be my lucky day. The special reason has nothing to do with the prize, because we will each get a photo print of our own choice. Which of course would make me happy any day! :)  No - the extra special thing for me about Thursday had to do with the picture to which the clues were pointing on that day - a white deer. (Click on the I WON link above to see Dan's photo.)

Dan provides a link to the Native American folklore about the white deer. However, the white deer or stag is also special in Celtic folklore, which I have been interested in ever since my first visits to Britain in my early teens.  In Celtic mythology it represents a closeness to the Otherworld. For example, "the white stag or hart often appears in the forests around King Arthur’s court, sending the knights on adventures against gods and fairies". The deer is also used in Christian /Biblical symbolism, to represent the human soul's longing for God. Modern fantasy writers have made use of the deer/stag symbolism, too. Two examples:

In C.S. Lewis's The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, what brings Peter, Edmund, Susan and Lucy - by then grown up and Kings and Queens of Narnia - back to England at the end of the story, is the rumour that a White Stag has been seen in the Western Woods of Narnia. They go on a hunt and they see the stag and they follow it. This brings them back to the lamp post, and from there back to the wardrobe, and their life in this world.

In J.K. Rowlings Harry Potter books, a white stag, and towards the end also a white deer, also have very important guiding roles to play.

As I said in my comment on Dan's congratulations post:
Some things in life can really make you wonder about coincidence vs "meaning".

And as it happens, that very topic has been appearing in different shapes to me more than once over the past couple of weeks. Now here it was again, through the white deer...

British Bonfire Night, Guy Fawkes and Harry Potter

Today at the blog of Scriptor Senex, I was reminded that 5th November in Britain is Guy Fawkes Night, or Bonfire Night. This of course is not something we celebrate in Sweden (since it has to do with British history, not ours), but I have been aware of it since my childhood because of reading books of British origin - among others, Richmal Crompton's books about William - "a mischievous 11-year-old schoolboy and his band of friends, known as the Outlaws" (Wikipedia).

The reminder of Bonfire Night also inspired me to put in a new post today at my Harry Potter blog, Through My Spectrespecs: The Order of the Phoenix and Guy Fawkes.

If you have read the books, or watched the films - you will know that Fawkes is the name of Dumbledore's Phoenix bird; and The Order of the Phoenix is the title of the fifth book (film) in the series... If you find your curiosity aroused by this - go have a look.

Quotation of the Week (23/09)

To one as young as you, I'm sure it seems incredible, but --- it really is like going to bed after a very, very long day. After all, to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure.

J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
(Dumbledore to Harry)

I'm very touched by all the comments I received on my post "Life Is Fragile" last week. Since then, the little energy I have has been split between funeral arrangements for my mother (the funeral will be next Thursday) and organizing a "new life" for my father, who is also not well.

Recycling Dreams

Marc Chagall (1887-1985)

Le temps n'a point de rives

(time has no shores)

I picked up the following question from a post about dreams over at Pan's Island:

"What are your thoughts on why we dream the things we do and why some dreams just stay with us?"

The way I see it, dreams are the poetry of our subconscious or semiconscious mind. The dreams that stay with us are the ones that really made a deep impression – just like with quotes and moods that sometimes remain with us long after we have read certain books. They may have been wonderful, or scary, or just thought-provoking or mysterious - but somehow they touched us and left a mark.

When I sort through my bookcase sometimes, or look at the reading list I've been keeping on my computer over the last few years, I usually discover some books that I can't remember at all from their titles, even though I know I read them. With others, I may have forgotten most of the details of the plot, but I can still recall the mood they put me in, or "pictures" they made me paint in my mind.

At other times, sorting through deskdrawers and notebooks, I have come across old notes that I made about dreams in the past. Sometimes the dream comes back to me quite vividly, just from a glance at these notes. Sometimes I keep staring at them and wonder: Whenever did I dream this?! I have no recollection of it at all…

With dreams, I suspect that the ones we have managed to work through and understand – to lift, so to say, from the subconscious to our conscious mind - are less likely to keep coming back to us in the night; unless our subconscious finds them worth recycling again to remind us of something. Dreams that keep recurring usually do so either because there is still something lacking in our understanding of them, or because we need the feeling of recognition they may be able to provide.

Pan's Island also mentions the Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling. These books are full of dreams – Harry has a lot of them, and I get the feeling that Rowling must have done some pondering about the nature of dreams, too.

In the first chapter of the first book (Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone), Hagrid comes riding on a flying motorbike, bringing baby Harry safely to the Dursley's house. Between the first and second chapter there is a time gap of nearly ten years; we then meet Harry as a boy of nearly eleven:

He rolled on to his back and tried to remember the dream he had been having. It had been a good one. There had been a flying motorbike in it. He had a funny feeling he'd had the same dream before.

If my memory serves me right, after Harry met and got to know Hagrid (the friendly giant comes again to his rescue, on his 11th birthday, to introduce him to the Wizarding World), this particular dream about the motorbike is not mentioned again. But other dreams, less pleasant, do keep haunting him – until Harry is "through" with whatever was or is behind them…

Through My Spectrespecs

Luna Lovegood wearing Spectrespecs

.

Parallell to this blog, I have been starting up another one all about Harry Potter, which I have given the name Through My Spectrespecs. You will find magic doors to that world in the margin of this one.


My aim in that blog is to go back in time and collect some of my own Harry Potter "research" and speculations from between the 6th and 7th books, and take a new look at them from the perspective of now knowing how the story ended. I decided it was better not to mix those posts into The Island of the Voices, but to give them their own space. In this world, I try not to put too many spoilers into my book or film reviews. In that world, I presume that you, dear readers, have read all seven books, and know how it all ends.


The first three introduction posts, however, do not contain any direct spoilers. So if you are just curious to find out a bit more about my "relationship" with Harry, you can go directly to the following three posts from here:

1. Through My Spectrespecs (first introduction post)

2. Other books I read because of Harry Potter

3. Harry Potter and I, or How To Grow From Reader To Fan



I have now also published the first post of the other kind (spoilers included) - Harry Potter and Beowulf, where I compare the basic structure and plot of the Harry Potter series to the basic structure and plot of the ancient epic poem. (Beowulf was written in Old English sometime before the tenth century A.D., and describes the adventures of a great Scandinavian warrior of the sixth century.) You will find my comparison here (if you are sure you really want to go there...)

Valentine's Day

It's really not fair to let Valentine's Day fall on a Saturday, when no post is delivered! Here's a special Valentine's quote for anyone else who didn't get a card today:

(Picture from Harry Potter Wiki)

'Happy Valentine's Day!' Lockhart shouted. 'And may I thank the forty-six people who have so far sent me cards! Yes, I have taken the liberty of arranging this little surprise for you all - and it doesn't end here!'

Lockhart clapped his hands and through the doors to the Entrance Hall marched a dozen surly-looking dwarfs. Not just any dwarfs, however. Lockhart had them all wearing golden wings and carrying harps.

'My friendly, card-carrying cupids!' beamed Lockhart.

J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, ch 13.

The Tales of Beedle the Bard

The Tales of Beedle the Bard played an important role in the last of the Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling, The Deathly Hallows, where the title was presented as being a storybook well known to children in the Wizarding world.

After the publication of The Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling produced seven handwritten and illustrated copies of The Tales of Beedle the Bard. Six she gave to people who had been helping her in different ways with the Harry Potter series. The seventh was offered for auction and bought for £1.95 million by Amazon.com, the highest price ever at an auction for a modern literary manuscript. The money was donated to The Children's Voice charity campaign.

I found out just before Christmas 2008 that the book had now also been published for the general public, the proceeds going to the Children's High Level Group. Since I've been a Harry Potter fan ever since I first started reading the books in 2001, of course I bought it as a Christmas gift for myself!

My first impression of The Tales of Beedle the Bard was that they reminded me a lot "in general" of old folk tales, like the ones I used to read in my childhood in an old book at my grandfather's house - an old (Swedish) reader printed in 1910 that my grandfather (born in 1904) used in school. There weren't all that many children's book in their house, so I used to return to that old reader every now and then. I still have it, and I sometimes still return to it in search of certain old stories, fables and myths.

I think Rowling has caught the style of old fairy tales very well, but also as ususal managed to add her own twist. Just a bit school-mistressy perhaps that she thinks she needs to point that out herself in the Introduction... ;)

In Muggle fairy tales, magic tends to lie at the root of the hero or heroine's troubles - the wicked witch has poisoned the apple, or put the princess into a hundred year's sleep, or turned the prince into a hideous beast. In The Tales of Beedle the Bard, on the other hand, we meet heroes and heroines who can perform magic themselves, and yet find it just as hard to solve their problems as we do.
J.K. Rowling, The Tales of Beedle the Bard, Introduction

I enjoyed the stories though, including Professor Dumbledore's Notes, which follows each of the five stories. I'm glad it was decided the book should be made available for all readers!

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