tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17433936.post4234261519090934736..comments2023-10-29T21:28:41.709+10:30Comments on Pavlov's Cat: Harry Potter and the Micro-History of English LiteratureKerryn Goldsworthyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11270814460793882309noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17433936.post-5932160207275864572007-08-08T01:22:00.000+09:302007-08-08T01:22:00.000+09:30I was wondering if anyone else had noticed this --...I was wondering if anyone else had noticed this -- and then I realized that all I needed was a few search terms; googling "Reg Cattermole Sayers Rowling" brought me right to your doorstep.<BR/><BR/>Ms. Sayers was a master of the obscure reference herself, though that was probably not how she saw it -- she was making references to what the educated British reader ought to know.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17433936.post-14277206313928264612007-07-23T16:36:00.000+09:302007-07-23T16:36:00.000+09:30Tolkein loathed 'Gaudy Night' ?Why-ever ?I've read...Tolkein loathed 'Gaudy Night' ?<BR/>Why-ever ?<BR/>I've read it but decades ago - isn't it women uni students ?<BR/>I loved all those 'cosy' 'Lord Peter Wimsey' novels.<BR/><BR/>I have never read any Tolkein, and not seen the films. Possibly because in 1968 absolutely everybody I knew lugged LOTR around with them in their damn hippie shoulderbags.<BR/>Ms Sayers Rules!<BR/><BR/>(and while I'm here, I must say thanks for that photo-post "A cat may look at a Lizard Queen".)Ann ODynehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01159263330547329077noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17433936.post-17715026177468465472007-07-22T19:16:00.000+09:302007-07-22T19:16:00.000+09:30ha, not to mention "hundred-eyed" Argus (Filch)......ha, not to mention "hundred-eyed" Argus (Filch)...its full of it.<BR/><BR/>I am biding my time till it be my turn of the new book...<BR/>Philip Pulman's Northern Lights is a very very very good thing to read in the meantime though....fifihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06946945635726214503noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17433936.post-51323029185197305242007-07-21T23:12:00.000+09:302007-07-21T23:12:00.000+09:30On the subject of McGonnagal and bad poetry, McGon...On the subject of McGonnagal and bad poetry, McGonnagal finds a rival in <A HREF="http://www.poemhunter.com/james-mcintyre/" REL="nofollow">James McIntyre</A>, an execrable poet from Canada who wrote prolifically about his favoured subject - cheese: <BR/><BR/><I>Prophecy of a Ten Ton Cheese<BR/> <BR/> In presenting this delicate, dainty morsel to the imagination of the people, I believed that it could be realized. I viewed the machine that turned and raised the mamoth cheese, and saw the powerful machine invented by James Ireland at the West Oxford companies factory to turn the great and fine cheese he was making there. This company with but little assistance could produce a ten ton cheese.<BR/><BR/><BR/>Who hath prophetic vision sees<BR/>In future times a ten ton cheese,<BR/>Several companies could join<BR/>To furnish curd for great combine<BR/>More honor far than making gun<BR/>Of mighty size and many a ton.<BR/><BR/>Machine it could be made with ease<BR/>That could turn this monster cheese,<BR/>The greatest honour to our land<BR/>Would be this orb of finest brand,<BR/>Three hundred curd they would need squeeze<BR/>For to make this mammoth cheese.<BR/><BR/>So British lands could confederate<BR/>Three hundred provinces in one state,<BR/>When all in harmony agrees<BR/>To be pressed in one like this cheese,<BR/>Then one skillful hand could acquire<BR/>Power to move British empire.</I><BR/><BR/><A HREF="http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/prophecy-of-a-ten-ton-cheese/" REL="nofollow">... and still more. </A><BR/><BR/>His wikipedia entry is <A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_McIntyre" REL="nofollow">amusing</A>. <BR/><BR/>I am fond of the Australian good-bad poet <A HREF="http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A120261b.htm" REL="nofollow">Belerive </A>, though I have a minor criticism of his poetry: it seems to me be, usually, a good deal better than that of McIntyre or McGonnagal, and therefore not really in the 'so bad its good' category.TimThttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10333303180015967125noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17433936.post-33401131852557074972007-07-21T22:51:00.000+09:302007-07-21T22:51:00.000+09:30As much as I adore JKR, I think she has a lot in c...As much as I adore JKR, I think she has a lot in common with McGonagal -- her main flaw is that she can't rhyme for quids. <BR/><BR/>I'm itching to start reading! It's a bad itch.Ampersand Duckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12245377686193859488noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17433936.post-40679672179383837732007-07-21T19:19:00.000+09:302007-07-21T19:19:00.000+09:30I love naming games - and it's worth wading throug...I love naming games - and it's worth wading through a silly novel if the characters have good names. <BR/><BR/>Surely making up the names of characters is one of the principle joys of the fiction writer? I know I certainly had fun when <A HREF="http://snarkeology.blogspot.com/2007/07/each-child-comes-pre-packaged-with-its.html" REL="nofollow">writing this</A>, however silly the effects are.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17433936.post-17041627257880098252007-07-21T18:50:00.000+09:302007-07-21T18:50:00.000+09:30Dear Pavlov's Cat, thank you, thank you, for provi...Dear Pavlov's Cat, thank you, thank you, for providing such wonderful, instructive tid-bits without straying into spoilery. I really like the US editions of this book; they are much more sturdy and pleasing in form so I am still waiting for my amazon order. (This may be a revelation that will see me shot at dawn for treason against Oz publishing-all I can say is that it is a small price to pay as long as I can read the whole book prior to execution).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com