[HPforGrownups] Patroni, memories, Dementors - German books

Monika Huebner monika at darwin.inka.de
Fri Apr 20 17:32:48 UTC 2001


No: HPFGUIDX 17254

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Amy Z [mailto:aiz24 at hotmail.com]
> Subject: [HPforGrownups] Patroni, memories, Dementors - Who killed J&L

I wrote:

> >I'm quite sure about what Sirius saw when the Dementors surrounded 
> him near
> >the lake. He collapsed although he had been around Dementors for 
> twelve years.

Amy wrote:

> Ooh--what did he see, IYO?  I imagine finding your best friend's 
> corpse ranks way up there--on the other hand, who knows what further 
> horrors he saw while in Azkaban.

To tell the truth, my bet is on a bit of it all. The bodies of James and
Lily, and his cell in Azkaban. More Dementors. Maybe the vision of
the Dementors burying Barty Jr. which he had witnessed and which
had shaken him badly at the time, just look at his reaction when he
tells Harry, Ron and Hermione about it.

> Magda wrote:
> 
> >I don't think the Dementors affect people like that; they're icky and
> >scary in themselves, but Harry's reaction is special.  

Nope, it isn't. JKR herself stated in an interview that Dementors
caused clinical depression. They affect *anyone*, but those with
traumatic memories are affected more than others.

Amy wrote:
 
> I think boggarts, on the other hand, can turn into things you've never 
> encountered; they aren't about memory, but fear.  Parvati hasn't 
> necessarily ever seen a mummy--she's just scared of the thought of 
> them.  What do you think?

I think you are right here. A boggart can be purely abstract IMO. It
represents you worst fear, whether you have ever faced it in real life
or not.


> -----Original Message-----
> From: irbohlen at email.unc.edu [mailto:irbohlen at email.unc.edu]
> Subject: [HPforGrownups] Re: Multicultural Harry Potter

> I was thinking of getting the German versions, but am I right in 
> thinking they are not out in paperback yet?

No, they aren't out in paperback yet, but at least the first three
books aren't as expensive as "adult" books would be, they are
marketed as children's books. I got them for my father a few
months ago. I haven't read the whole German text, but from
what I've read I'd say that the translation is *very* bad (I'm a
trained translator, so maybe I'm a bit too harsh here). What
bugged me most apart from the many mistakes was that
the translator didn't respect JKR's modern language but
tried to "adapt" it somehow for children. It reads a bit like
the children's books I was used to read in the early 70ies.

> Also, speaking of visions of Harry, I really don't like the Harry on 
> the cover of the German editions. *wry grin* He looks waaaay too 
> ...ummm...existential? like he ought to be wearing a black 
> rollneck and smoking a cigarette?

I don't like them, either. His glasses look as though they were
about to fall off his nose, and I don't like his hair. BTW, I have
seen other illustrations by the same artist in the German 
magazine "Stern", where he drew most of the other characters,
too. They *all* had their hair sticking out of their heads, even
Sirius Black. <shudders> I quite like the British illustrations,
though.

Monika

------
Book and movie reviews in English and German:
http://sites.inka.de/darwin/indexalt.html 




More information about the HPforGrownups archive