From the Hinterlands...

[Talisman]

Talisman, offering a brief index to this troubling post, which 
includes items of varying interest to/about: Kneasy, Carolyn, Boyd, 
Jen, Narrative Style, Dark Arts, definitions, a picture, and Snow, 
in that order.

Kneasy burbled:
>Dear, oh dear.
>Unable to respond for a day or so and what happens?
>Talisman goes bananas.

Talisman, arches a brow and inquires: Would those be overly 
aggressive feminist "thrusting" bananas, or just the kind going 
brown by the sink?

Kneasy hisses: Snarl..snuffle..ack..ack
>"mid-western harbinger of 
doom"<
snort
snurkle..pffft. 

Talisman, adopting a repressed peasant look: Ohhh, now we see it.  
The Marcher Lord with his pride of place.  Well then, just hit a 
poor defenseless girl in the mid-west when she's not looking, why 
don`t you.  What happened to chivalry?  What happened to Noblesse 
Oblige?  Yea, forsooth, inasmuch as I am deathly tired of the 
Buckeye State (which is really rather to the east, technically, I 
mean, if you look at the map
maybe?) and am plotting how best to 
escape, I suppose I shall just have to endure the knavish blow.

(Yes, Kneasy.  I'm jealous of where you live. Jealous jealous 
jealous jealous.  I don't even care if you live in a chicken coop.  
I'm jealous.)

Kneasy  switches his tail, irritably, and meows: 
>[Re: Molly] Come-uppance no, suffer yes. 

Talisman, gently prying a dog-eared book and a plastic alien out of 
his fuzzy paw: 
There, there. An excess of Kipling, combined with distillates of 
mash and juniper berry, has befuddled many a fellow. Please don't 
allow yourself to become agitated, but Molly has already been served 
her come-uppance.  It has ceased to be a matter of prediction; it is 
a matter of record.

Kneasy, warming into his rant: >Additionally, if JKR was 
>highlighting her own 'struggles' with parental pressure I'd expect 
>that Molly would be all over Ginny like a rash - and she ain't.

Talisman, shaking the little alien at him, sternly: Now, see here. I 
took great pains to avoid this clunky line of thought.  Please 
reread the parts (in original post and reiterated later) about no 
direct characterization of parents. 

Kneasy, saluting bravely in the direction of The Burrow: 
>She could kill her off <snip> but if she does I expect Molly to go 
>down fighting, protecting her brood.


Talisman: Well, now you're just being provocative. It's not in the 
bag, of course, which is why C and I have a plan B. In any event, 
Molly's hoped for death isn't in the nature of a (can you 
say "already achieved") come-uppance (unless Percy whacks her with a 
stack of hefty M.O.M. memos). Sure, some characters might benefit by 
a final release from the smothering tentacles, but, for a few 
readers, at least,it will merely be a bit of entertaining carnage.

P.S. It IS charming to see you defending what you obviously take 
for "motherhood." Lucky for Molly she's not some Midwestern yokel. 

Kneasy, orating in his best, mellifluous tones:
>"When the early Jesuit fathers preached to Hurons and Choctaws,
>They prayed to be delivered from the vengeance of the squaws,
>'Twas the women, not the warriors, turned those stark enthusiasts 
pale. 
Etc, etc
..

Talisman, sighs and looks down at the soiled book of misogynic 
meter, pondering the longevity of the Whore/Madonna complex, and 
notices that Rudyard isn't always unhelpful :

"His sire was leaky of tongue and pen,
"His dam was a clucking Khuttuck hen;
"And the colt bred close to the vice of each,
"For he carried the curse of an unstanched speech.

Well, what's sauce for the goose . . . 

Kneasy, fed up and moving in for the kill:
>Oh, and don't worry about ole Sevvy - he's for the chop - and it'll 
>be the fault of that insufferable snot Potter.

Talisman, breathing deeply and feeling a need to lie on the couch 
and talk to someone:
Cruel man. Where will that leave me? Lusting. Not only for a 
fictional character (which usually turns out to be the case, n'est-
ce pas?), but for a dead fictional character.  I'm not sure whether 
that qualifies for necrophilia. Then too, Snape's actually a product 
of JKR's imagination...so I guess that would make me a lesbian 
necrophiliac with a taste for bad boys. And a Midwesterner, to boot. 
The gods laugh.

Lovely, Perceptive Carolyn offers: 
>The twins are more or less the only characters in the whole sorry 
>saga that give me pure pleasure. They are a force of nature, 
>sufficient unto themselves, sharp, savvy,totally focused, but 
>discerning enough to lend a helping hand to
>those that are worth the trouble. <snip>

Talisman, agrees 99.9%.  I, of course, find pure-- alright, not-so-
pure, but abundant-- pleasure, in other pastures. 

Boyd, SO asking for it, blibbers: 
>Carolyn, you suggested it go under >DD, but that assumes he *knows* 
>what he's doing. Wow, even saying >that makes me feel subversive! 
<snip>
>
perhaps Snape has been hiding a very different secret under those 
>dingy underpants.... Prank or bad blind date? You decide!

Talisman, snaps back into focus and requests:
Whatever you do, Boyd, please don't use your marionette-string 
clippers to trim your hair.  I want it good and long by Book 7.  
I'll be needing a nice hank of it when I tie your head to my belt. 

>Jen, flashes her most winning smile, backs up to the door
.<snip>

Talisman, calls out after the rapidly disappearing figure:
Hey, keep those fiddle-de-des handy, I may start putting some of my 
more dangerous ideas out there.  

Debbie: reported :
The Very Long Thread comparing HP to LotR and Narnia contained many
thoughtful comments on the loose grammar in the series. IIRC, these
were axed from Narrative Style, which makes sense, but is there no
longer a place for discussions of JKR's use of language? (I confess,
I enjoyed reading what people think of JKR's grammar, since it irks
me enough to think it detracts from the quality of the series.)

Carolyn replied: <snip> Well, now, grammar. If it goes back anywhere 
near
narrative style, I insist it has it's quarantined under its own sub-
heading. Before we do, could we hear from Jo, who is tackling 4.1.2.1
Capitalisation, punctuation ? I think there is more of the same 
there.

Talisman, who has officially changed her profession (on the profile) 
to Troublemaker, just has to churn the waters regarding Narrative 
Style.

As I mentioned a while back, I did write a rather long, almost 
finished, post regarding Narrative Style.  I didn't post it because 
whatever was being said at the time, regarding cleaning up the 
category, seemed to be going along well.

But, I now feel that some clarifying discussion may be in order.  In 
fine: Grammar, capitalization and punctuation are PURE aspects of 
Narrative Style. They belong under that heading as no other, without 
qualification.

Word choice is an essential part of an individual author's style.  
Do they have a jingoistic fervor for the stolid Anglo-Saxon, as 
Orwell did? Or, do they embrace the affectations of the upstart 
Norman tongue?  How about the systematically sultry southern 
sibilance of William Faulkner?
 
You sneeze at Capitalization? Can You Say Emily Dickinson? How about 
e.e.cummings?  

And punctuation? Compare Rowling's complex sentences, rife with 
subordinate clauses, with Hemingway's staccato punctuation.  This is 
the very core of narrative style. 

Imagery, meter, pattern, sound, use of trope, etc. are in there too, 
but grammar, capitalization, and punctuation are ground zero. 

Please, let us put all those good things right back where they 
belong. (acknowledging that I haven't read the posts, and maybe they 
are just so bad that they aren't recognizable as being pertinent to 
the topic.?)

Regarding my review of 3.9.1. What is Dark Magic? 

There were some posts that actually fit the category.  Some don't 
belong at all (usually Snape was just standing too close) and some 
belong somewhere under 3.9. Dark Arts, but don't at this time have 
appropriate sub-headers.

I would like to propose the following additions to the levels:

3.9.1.1. How is Dark Magic Taught/Learned?
3.9.1.2. Legality of the Use of Dark Magic
3.9.2.4. Voldemort's Rebodification Spell/Use of Human Ingredients
3.9.5. Dark Magical Objects
3.9.8. Relationship to Dark Creatures

Also, are we keeping track of the updated definitions for 
categories? Was I supposed to be taking notes? Oops. May I suggest 
that we set up a database wherein the people (each of us) who have 
reviewed a given category, received feedback, and arrived at a 
clarified definition can post this information in one comprehensive 
document?  Then, if we continue to fill in definitions as we finish 
categories, the master list will be updated and we won't have to 
search back through posts (or say eff it).   

Finally, for those who routinely feel the urge to throttle me, I 
have uploaded a photo to my profile--hot from the memory card--which 
can be printed off as a useful dart board.  I recommend that you get 
everything in order before I recommence posting on TOC.

The ambush interrupted my hunting down of elusive HP citations, 
which explains my swotty look, and made me think it an appropriate--
if not particularly flattering--image for my HP activities. I do 
think Snape and I would make a cute couple, though, don't you? 

Talisman, saying, my collar isn't frayed--yokel though I may be--
there is a long beaded earring draping down and the mix of dark and 
light beads explains the effect. 

P.S. Snow, darling.  My fellow poet. Thank you for your willingness 
to risk exposure to my dark and roiling soul. Nonetheless, I really 
must insist that people be slightly lit, whether by foreign 
stimulants or quietly bubbling manias, before reciting my poetry.  
Dim lighting helps, too.  Trust me.  Hallmark will not be offering 
any contracts.  Indeed, many an honest householder, with child 
protection filters in place, would be barred from accessing the 
list, were I to start posting it here.