unicorns and religious references in HP - minor correction

[Barry Arrowsmith]

--- In the_old_crowd at yahoogroups.com, "Barry Arrowsmith" <arrowsmithbt at b...> wrote:

Apologies.
A bit of lazy editing on my part.
> 
> Then there are the others that don't appear in quarterings and on 
> escutcheons - banshees, trolls, ghouls, centaurs and perhaps 
> vampires. All non-classical, you'll note. The variety of life-forms
> found in FBaWTFT is (IMO) maybe a truer indication of Jo's thinking,
> on this aspect of the books anyway - she needed beasts and 
> monsters, so grab what's available and invent extras that could be
> useful or entertaining.
> 
>

The centaurs were an afterthought - they are classical, though I've 
never seen them on a coat-of-arms. And I neglected to change the
following 'All" to "Mostly'. If I don't correct it, someone else will.
There're a lot of eagle-eyed posters around, must be more careful.

Kneasy


 
> 
> > I wasn't surprised to learn that the  author had a strong
> > identification with Christianity, or that she felt  that expounding 
> > on her beliefs would give the storyline away.
> > 
> 
> Kneasy:
> Yes, no argument. But I'm wondering *how* it will be expressed.
> As a frankly religious theme or perhaps an allusion, a parallel,
> or,  and this is possible given what  she said about those with a
> familiarity with Christian themes could guess the ending, a straight
> steal of a storyline/resolution? Some would be amenable to such
> adaptions -  the Prodigal Son, for example. Familial affection and 
> forgiveness is a universally recognised theme, not solely a
> Christian one, though if enough clues are sprinkled about anyone
> with religious knowledge would cotton on immediately.
> 'Identification with' does not automatically result in 'obvious 
> expression of.'
>   
> > 
> > I haven't read Johnson, however the middle ages and the matter
> > of Britain have been a passion of mine since childhood and I have 
> > loads of books about them, including primary sources
> > in translation. I wouldn't want to give an opinion of Johnson's 
> > book till I've read it, but since it's out of print that may take
> > a while (must check amazon.uk).
> > 
> 
> Kneasy:
> It is available at amazon.uk. Strangely enough it's been reprinted
> with its original title - "The Offshore Islanders". It's a paperback
> that they claim is despatched within 3 days of order.
> 
> It's more than just the Middle Ages - it's from the end of Roman
> occupation to entry into what was then the Common Market. I
> think you will enjoy the pre-Conquest section too. All too often
> that bit doesn't get the attention it deserves.