[HPforGrownups] Re: UK, Ireland and now James Joyce! (still OT)

[Neil Ward]

No: HPFGUIDX 754

Catlady, determined to keep me on horribly off-topic topics: 

>Oh, dear! If the political-entity names (Great Britain and United 
>Kingdom) don't include the Isle of Man (altho' I've never heard of it 
>being ruled by a different government -- ... then why isn't Man enough of 
>an entity to rate its own National Team for Quidditch (and Muggle 
>soccer football, but I think that tailless cats and being named after 
>the god Mananaan would lead to a higher porportion of wizard folk in 
>the population of Man than in some other places)?

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In fact, the Isle of Man is ruled by its own rather bizarre government, the
Tynwald, and the House of Keys.  As a country, it's certainly odd enough to
be populated entirely by inbred witches and wizards, most of whom would have
three legs under their robes (as the national flag features three legs
joined at the hip).  Manx cats have no tails, as Catlady says, and we might
conclude that these were chopped off as ingredients for some exotic spell or
sold to beefy sailors to make cats-o-ninetails.  I'm not sure there are
enough Manx residents to produce a reasonable Quidditch team. 


Catlady again:

>If I say in future that Hogwarts is the wizarding school for the 
>whole islands of Britain and Ireland, are people going to get on 
>my case about the little isles?  

**************
I think you should list all the islands, right down to Rockall.  Otherwise,
someone, even a seagull in temporary residence on the aforementioned rock,
might take offence.  Clearly, Hogwarts' letters can reach huts on rocks, so
we can assume that the outer islanders are eligible for the school and
included in JKR's mind.


FFA (me) said:

"'Lewisham' is the region where I live.  It is a component of
London, England, Great Britain, the United Kingdom, the British 
Isles, the European Union, Europe, the World, the Earth, the Solar
System, the Milky Way, the Universe."

Catlady commented:

>I gather you've been reading up on James Joyce, who is said by Joseph 
>Campbell to have a 'wall' them in FINNEGAN'S WAKE deriving from 
>Stephen Dedalus having written his info (as yours above) on the fly 
>page of a (primary school?) textbook and then stared at it wondering 
>what about the Universe as the final term: does it go on forever or 
>does it come to an end; what could be next to the end of the univrse, 
>a WALL around it?

***************
I did study James Joyce a few years ago and he's a fantastic author if you
consider "Dubliners" and "Portrait of the Artist..."  "Ulysses" is heavy
going.  Finnegan's Wake?  Hell on paper. It was written to be avoided. I
doubt that even James Joyce read "Finnegan's Wake" after he'd penned it. 

I think most children have scribbled something in an exercise book that ends
in "the Universe," without having gone on to consider the limits of the
cosmos - even the boy wizard, Harry Potter (he says, bringing it back on
topic rather uncovincingly). 

Neil
            Flying-Ford-Anglia

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   "Then, dented, scratched and steaming, 
   the car rumbled off into the darkness, 
   its rear lights blazing angrily"

 [Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets]

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