Oh my goodness, what book are THEY reading?

[delwynmarch]

No: HPFGUIDX 106773

Tammy Rizzo wrote:
> In the NY Times today (I subscribe to the email highlights, not the 
> paper itself), in the Arts section, is this article, 'Harry Potter, 
> Market Wiz', translated from a french article published over there 
> last month.  
(snip)
> I just finished it, and I can't help but wonder, what on EARTH are 
> they putting in the French translations?!  Or is this just one more 
> example of someone reading the books with a particular agenda in 
> mind, and thereby skewing their perceptions towards their own 
> pre-set bias?
(snip)
> well, I suppose it's not actually vitrioloc, but it burns me, it 
> really does.

Del replies :
I'm French. I left France not even 2 months ago, but I can clearly
remember one of the major debates that were shaking the country then :
socialism against liberalism. So when I read this article, my only
feeling was : Mr Yocaris is probably a socialist, and he was shocked
by some things he read in HP. Big deal.

I'm sorry it burned you, but it really shouldn't. It's not a matter of
having a hidden agenda or anything, it's just a matter of defending
what you believe in, and denouncing what you don't like in what you see.

This said, I must confess that Mr Yocaris *did* twist the facts a bit
to fit his view better. Percy is not stupid, and Cedric was not weak,
for example. That is a dishonest method, one that tends to make me
angry, but unfortunately it's a method that's very much in use all
over the world (many of us on this site have fallen in that trap one
day or the other, starting with me :-).

As for the facts themselves, I don't see that Mr Yocaris says anything
so burning. He expresses his dislike of some values that *are* taught
in the books. You probably see nothing wrong with them, because they
are also your values, but they are not Mr Yocaris's, and sometimes
they are not completely mine either.

One thing that shocked me right away in the Potterverse for example is
the emphasis put on competition. Those kids are only 11 when they
arrive at Hogwarts, and yet they are right away told that *everything*
they do or don't do can have repercussions not only on themselves but
on their House as well. Know your lessons, you can earn your House
points. Kiss someone in the robebushes on Christmas night, and you can
lose your House points. I understand the concept of putting kids in
competitive environments, and I see what good results it can bring,
but I feel it has been pushed too far in HP. Competition is a very
good thing, it's a fact of life that the kids have to learn. But
putting them in a situation where they are competing 24 hours a day,
always on the same team and always against the same opponents strongly
upsets me. 

Another thing that has come to really annoy me is the general contempt
against the government. The example of Percy's report on cauldron
bottom thickness is a good one. Granted, Percy is being way too
annoying about it ! *But* he does have a point : regulating cauldron
bottom thickness is a *good and necessary* thing. I don't want my
cauldron to have a leak when I'm using it for a potion. From what
we've seen in Potions, it could have desastrous effects.
But because writing reports is a desk job, nowhere as fancy as
breaking curses (in order to obtain treasures...) or handling dragons,
Percy is counted for nothing. He doesn't even have the good taste of
choosing to work in an office that's original and ridiculed, like Mr
Weasley. No, he goes into International Cooperation. Who needs that,
really ? Considering that Mr Yocaris is a trainer in an Institute for
future teachers, a *government* institution, I can understand that the
constant belittling of the government in HP would grate on his nerves.

Those are just 2 examples. I really understand where Mr Yocaris comes
from and I would tend to share some of his grudges. Except that there
are 2 main differences between he and I.

1. The whole point of writing his article was to point out what he
didn't like. He wasn't there to praise the good sides of Hogwarts. He
had no obligation whatsoever to put forth the other side of the coin.
The general understanding is that other people will do it, and other
people do indeed do it.
On the other hand, I, as a simple reader, have on the contrary no
reason to concentrate on only one side of the story. To do so would be
to exhibit prejudice and intolerance.

2. I'm here on a mainly British and American site, discussing the work
of a British author. Bringing up my French point of view to condemn
JKR's work would be out-of-order. I can explain how I see things
differently, but that's about it.
On the other hand, Mr Yocaris wrote his article for Le Monde, a French
newspaper aimed at French readers. It was a perfectly valid thing for
him to do, to point out how the HP books, being British books, can go
against the beliefs of a large part of the French society. They have
been translated in French and marketed in France, which is in itself
an authorisation for them to be criticised by French standards.

In conclusion, I would say that if anyone is to blame for shocking
you, Tammy, it's the New York Times. I sometimes (often) get shocked
by what American and British magazines and newspapers publish, but I
acknowledge that they are *not* aimed at *me*. But unfortunately it's
an old game that won't stop any time soon, for editors to pick and
choose articles in other countries' publications that they just *know*
will shock their own readers. And of course they rarely explain the
context in which those articles were written.

Del