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bronze_ribbonsKvetching and frothiness of brain notwithstanding (interspersed with a 2.5 hour-long budget meeting and assorted inventory/invoicing chores), I finished my poster summary for Lumos earlier tonight... and then revised and resubmitted it yet again an hour later. (A certain mod who had to put up with my compulsive revisings last winter is probably rolling her eyes in sympathy...)
It's still not an elegant beast, but it'll do -- especially since, at 1750 words, it's less of a summary and more of a blueprint, from which I'll select, develop, and assemble the visual components of the exhibit (I need to find a monocle...).
Curious? Here's an excerpt (contains spoilers for Sayers's Strong Poison and novels beyond):
In other news, I stumbled across www.half-bloodprince.org in the process of pulling this together. (Already known to many of you, perhaps, but I'm still muddling my way through fandom 101...) Oh, the glee! See Peg coo over the index and analysis of Snape's most frequently used words! The compilations of quotes from all of the books! The revelation that "Hogwarts" is "Poudlard" in French! GLEE! (I didn't actually have time to truffle around for more than a handful of minutes, but the summer is young...)
It's still not an elegant beast, but it'll do -- especially since, at 1750 words, it's less of a summary and more of a blueprint, from which I'll select, develop, and assemble the visual components of the exhibit (I need to find a monocle...).
Curious? Here's an excerpt (contains spoilers for Sayers's Strong Poison and novels beyond):
Both Sayers and Rowling ... demonstrate a preoccupation with the concept of life debts and the complexity of relationships affected by them. Over the course of Have His Carcase, Gaudy Night, and Busman's Honeymoon, Sayers explored the nature of reluctant and resentful gratitude through the perspective of Harriet Vane, the woman whose life Lord Peter saved in Strong Poison. In HBP, Rowling deepens the multi-generational tangle of favors and obligations linking the lives of Harry Potter and Severus Snape. The characters of Harriet Vane and Severus Snape share a number of life experiences and traits in common: they are both depicted as intellectually inventive and academically industrious, and they each excelled as students at prestigious schools (Harriet earning First Class honors at Oxford University) in spite of having to forge their way under circumstances less affluent than many of their classmates. Neither Harriet nor Severus are considered physically handsome, but they are both verbally eloquent when they choose to be: Lord Peter falls in love with Harriet Vane upon hearing her speak at her first trial (GAUD 342), and Professor Snape’s mesmerizing opening speech in PS on “the subtle science and exact art of potion-making” is one of the most-quoted passages in Harry Potter canon. In addition, if one subscribes to the popular perception of Snape’s voice as uncommonly rich and silken — a belief particularly cherished by admirers of Alan Rickman’s portrayal of Snape in the Harry Potter movies — then Harriet Vane’s “deep and attractive” alto (BUSM 209) may serve as another point of resonance between the two characters. Harriet Vane and Severus Snape are both depicted as resentful and embittered at being forced to feel gratitude toward men more fortunate than themselves, and Rowling’s conceptualization of a Life Debt — “that awful feeling of knowing that somebody you never wanted to be attached to at all is now the reason for your existence” (Sistermagpie) — remains oblique enough to invite reader speculation on just how debts of such magnitude are to be discharged (or perhaps simply endured), a conundrum that haunts Harriet Vane as she attempts to move forward with her life.
In other news, I stumbled across www.half-bloodprince.org in the process of pulling this together. (Already known to many of you, perhaps, but I'm still muddling my way through fandom 101...) Oh, the glee! See Peg coo over the index and analysis of Snape's most frequently used words! The compilations of quotes from all of the books! The revelation that "Hogwarts" is "Poudlard" in French! GLEE! (I didn't actually have time to truffle around for more than a handful of minutes, but the summer is young...)