Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
<snip>Besides which, this is not a "fan guide", distributed free on the internet. It's a commercial publication. This is just a guy who's cynically trying to make money from Ms. Rowling's work.
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I have to beg to differ here. I wouldn't call this a cynical effort to make money from Ms. Rowling's work. It's a relatively scholarly effort that points out where
she derived some of "her work." I think it would be great for her pre-teen audience to learn that she didn't invent the Philosopher's (Sorcerer's) Stone, a three-headed guard dog, a serpent with a poisonous glare, etc. It may very well be that Mr. Vander Ark is relying too heavily on her specific descriptions, but not having seen the book, I can only assume that this is for the purpose of comparing and contrasting her descriptions with those of Classical mythology (her basilisk does deviate from the "classical" model). In addition, a "Latinate translation" of the names of her spells would be a very handy tool for a young scholar.