[HPforGrownups] PS/SS Title Change (was: What is Canon?)

[Patricia Bullington-McGuire]

No: HPFGUIDX 55559

On Thu, 17 Apr 2003, Katy Cartee wrote:

> K wrote:
> 
> > That's a fairly accurate definition of a philosopher, someone who wanders
> > around wondering whether we truly exist or jumping ut of their bath and
> > running through the streets shouting Eureka, but she's not talking about a
> > philosopher she's talking about the 'Philosopher's Stone' which is a
> > specific artefact which has been sought for centuries and in the Potterverse
> > actually exists. There is no such thing as the Sorcerer's Stone or the
> > Wizard's Stone (well technically there's no such thing as the Philosopher's
> > Stone since it was never discovered in real life but there's no mythical
> > Sorcerer or Wizard's stone either) 
> 
> I do see your point. But i'm guessing that this myth is one that
> originated in Britain? Because I've never heard of it. The Holy Grail is
> something known world wide as far as i can tell. So if the Philosopher's
> Stone is an area-specific myth, I can understand why they changed it.
> But knowing now where the name originated, I do wish they had left the
> title alone.

The Philosopher's Stone is not a particularly British idea.  I don't know
who originally came up with the idea or where they lived, but the concept
of the stone has been widely known throughout Europe for hundreds of
years.  For an ancient, esoteric concept, it's pretty well known in the US
too, thanks to our considerable European heritage.  

I'm an American, and I knew about the philosopher's stone long before the 
first Harry Potter book came out.  There are many other Americans who also 
know about it apart from the HP books.  And I'm sure there are many Brits 
who had *not* heard about the philosopher's stone before Harry Potter.  
It's well established in mythology, but it's not something people talk 
about over dinner.  

----
Patricia Bullington-McGuire	<patricia at obscure.org>

The brilliant Cerebron, attacking the problem analytically, discovered
three distinct kinds of dragon: the mythical, the chimerical, and the
purely hypothetical.  They were all, one might say, nonexistent, but each
nonexisted in an entirely different way ... 
                -- Stanislaw Lem, "Cyberiad"