Diversity in Media & Literature (JKR quotes and serial books)

[heidit at netbox.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 40644

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "datalaur" <datalaur at y...> wrote:
 But I mind some publisher unilaterally deciding 
> they're going to modify the author's work.  (I'm under the impression 
> this was not a change by JKR, and that she did not bless it.)  

I am sorry to jump in on this so late in the day, but I felt compelled to
clear a few things up. 

First, Datalaur, why are you so convinced that JKR didn't either make the
change, or at least bless it? An American Library Association interview with
her says the following (I've cut it down to the essentials, but the original
is here: http://www.ala.org/BookLinks/jkrowling.html)

JOM: Were many changes made by your editor in America before the first book
was released here?
Rowling: My American editor, Arthur Levine—who I think is brilliant—and I
agreed on this point. We set down ground rules that we would make changes only
in cases in which we both thought that what I had written would create an
erroneous picture in an American child’s mind. Initially, I did think, “I
don’t want them to change a word.” But then, I realized that attitude was
akin to expecting French children to all learn English perfectly before they
can read my book. We translate this and other books for people who speak other
languages and think nothing of it... So, I don’t really feel that I’m
selling out my art if I change that word. ... We really changed very little,
but every change was for just that reason: I felt and Arthur felt that without
such changes we would be tripping readers up unnecessarily.

And in a chat in 2000 on eToys, she said, "The title change was Arthur's idea
initially, because he felt that the British title gave a misleading idea of
the subject matter. In England, we discussed several alternative titles and
"Sorcerer's Stone" was my idea."

******

Now, I cannot find the post from the person who said (and it may've been on
OT-Chatter) that the presence Cho Chang, and the statement in Book 4 that
Angelina is black should be sufficient indicators of diversity in the Hogwarts
school population - and that's just *great* for anyone picking up all 4 books
now. But in Book 1, there is no Cho (she shows up in Book 3) and the mention
of Angelina's race doesn't exist until Book 4. 

Personally, I first read Book 1 in the US version, but read CoS and PoA in the
British versions, as I read each before they were released in the US (and I
first read Book 1 4 years ago come September, so it's been a long time for me,
and it's admittedly hard to have perfect memorecall of what I thought back
then). Thus, IMHO, the use of the capital letter in the word "black" struck me
as awkward, but I've seen it done that way in some older British books, and,
most recently, I think, in a book printed in the 90s in the UK by Kingsley
Amis so I just passed it off as a British convention. 

So in sum, IMHO, it was written somewhat awkwardly, but I think not done out
of malice, or even out of pandering - and over the next day, I am going to
reread CoS to see if there's a mention in there of Dean's race. As many of you
know, CoS was released in the UK before Book 1 was released in the US - in
fact, IIRC, CoS was *written* before Book 1 was even contracted in the US
(although not completely done with the editing process). Would those of you
who are dismayed by the inclusion of mention of Dean's race in Book 1 in the
US be *less* dismayed if it was merely bringing a mention of something into
Book 1 which had already been incorporated into Book 2?

heidi


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