[HPforGrownups] Re: Can't Count?

[Becky Walkden]

No: HPFGUIDX 57862



jodel at aol.com wrote:
Ersatz Harry grumbles:

>>The earliest bad one I can think of comes early in the series, right at the 
end of the sorting ceremony in PS/SS (p. 122 in my US edition).  Harry has 
already been sorted, and the text shortly after states:  "And now there were 
only three people left to be sorted."  The names of Thomas, Dean and Turpin, 
Lisa are mentioned, "then it was Ron's turn".  Sounds like three to me, but 
the next paragraph refers to one more sortee: Zabini, Blaise. <<

This one actually turns out to have been an editing error in the American 
edition. In the original UK edition Dean Thomas is not mentioned or 
described. The error was in inserting his name and description after the 
"only three more" statement rather than ahead of it.

But, yeah, there are so many of these rather sloppy time/date errors that you 
wonder what the hell is going on. And the *earliest* is in the first chapter 
of the first book, which is clearly stated to open on a TUESDAY "early" in 
November (from other internal evidence this has to be November first). A few 
paragraphs later there is a radio anouncer fatuously commenting on Daedelus 
Diggle's fireworks with the statement that "Bonfire night is next week, 
folks". Well so far as I know (not being a Brit) bonfire night is Nov 5. The 
Saturday of the *same* week. Now, if he had said next weekEND, it would make 
sense. But it doesn't as it stands. 

And, as far as that goes, if Rowling DID intend this open in 1981, November 1 
was not ON a tuesday in 1981. And the list just goes on and on. And her copy 
editors are equally at fault, since they ought to be paying attention to this 
sort of thing. What else are copy editors for?

-JOdel, grousing in sympathy

Me:  In all fairness though, as the storyline has gotten more serious I think Ms. Rowling pays a whole lot more attention to these matters then in the earliest books.  That is why trying to analyse the first book is at best a dangerous proposition. There was a lot of stuff put into it just for fun that would be reconsidered if she was writing it today I think although of course she already had the basic storyline for the series in her mind by then of course.  Huggs Becky





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