[HPforGrownups] What is Canon?

[Kathryn Cawte]

No: HPFGUIDX 55470

 Diana Williams wrote -

Then there's a third level of canon which are authorized books
such as the Quidditch and Fantastic beasts books, which are supposedly
written by people in the know and approved by The Powers That Be, so they
should have things right.  Sometimes these forms of canon will contradict
each other, in which case the primary canon wins out.
 
Now me -

Who wrote FB and QTA then? Because I thought it was JKR herself.

Diana again -

Please note that "canon" is never spelled "cannon" - that's a big-barreled
gun used for lobbing great big balls at your enemies.  (Okay you dirty
minds, get out of the gutter)
 
Me again -

The word canon was originally used to refer to an author's works in their
entirety afaik. eg The Galenic Canon, the collected works of Galen (although
the authenticity of some of those is debatable so probably a bad example)

Diana again -

"Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" is what the original publication
was called.  For some reason, the publishers thought that those of us in the
U.S. wouldn't "get it" and so they changed to title for the U.S. publication
to "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone".  Same for the movie.
 
Me again -

Other than the pure pointlessness of the change the thing that really gets
me is that the Philosopher's Stone is an artifact in history/mythology,
whereas the sorcerer's stone is something the publishers made up! Alchemists
throughout the ages searched for the Philosopher's Stone, a mythical
artifact that would turn base metals to gold and be used to create an elixir
of life. Nicholas Flamel  was rumoured to have discovered it (and actually
did in the books) and his grave is apparently empty, prompting the idea that
he did discover it and is living on somewhere in secret.

Uh yeah I'm veering ot now so I'll shut up before I have to go and bang my
ears in the oven door or something :)

K