Amorella here, ready for a respectable dinner. This hall is fact, of course, but most people first saw it cleverly used in the fiction of J. K. Rowling. For those who have hardly been conscious of the world of children’s books Wikipedia has this to say.
Since the 1997 release of the first novel Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, which was retitled Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the United States, the books have gained immense popularity, critical acclaim and commercial success worldwide.[1] As of June 2008, the book series has sold more than 400 million copies and has been translated into 67 languages,[2][3] and the last four books have consecutively set records as the fastest-selling books in history.”
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What I want to know is why the title was changed when it was released in the United States? Why dumb down the title? Were the editors afraid readers here wouldn’t buy a book that had ‘Philosopher’s’ in the title? It is downright embarrassing.
Again, a turn to Yahoo Answers.
“Why was Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone retitled [Harry Potter and]the Sorcerer’s Stone in the USA?
‘Arthur Levine, my American editor, and I [J. K. Rowling] decided that words should be altered only where we felt they would be incomprehensible, even in context, to an American reader... The title change was Arthur's idea initially, because he felt that the British title gave a misleading idea of the subject matter. In England, we discussed several alternative titles and Sorcerer's Stone was my idea.’”
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It turns out you are intuitively correct on this one, orndorff. My original idea was to seek out publishers for the first book Braided Dreams and you followed my suggestions but no one was interested.
Just your initial concept that someone would publish such a work, Amorella, lead me to believe you were indeed some sort of alien species that was unaware of the climate of our current American culture. The Merlyn’s Mind series requires the reader to think clearly which I admit would be easier if more grammar and editing errors had been caught and changed. This my fault. My concern was more with the ideas and how they would or would not provoke the reader to think and do some wondering, and it was my intent to publish one book a year.
More than one of my first reader friends and I laughed at the thought that if aliens landed and were ‘marsupial’ as in the book on how the sales might go up. It is still a silly thought, but it fits in my sense of ‘gallows humor’ which is the reason I remember the comment.
At first, when Amorella wrote the “Pouch Text” as a series I secretly wondered if it could possibly be some sort of real alien message and that Amorella was a kind of faster than light communication devise. What else would anyone expect from a long time science fiction fan and teacher with an over-exaggerated imagination?
Under your existential circumstances you thought a lot of things – mostly you worried that people would think you were out of your mind.
True. At the time I checked with a reputable psychologist on this subject and he didn’t see real evidence. I would have never continued teaching if I though I would in any way do harm to a student, and since the mid-eighties I have always had at least one friend reading the private notes, mostly between Amorella and myself. Now I have eight friends to whom I still send my private notes. All are trustworthy enough that I know one or another would tell me if I have gone off the deep end. No one has so far.
I am still with you on your friendships. After you and wife/partner finished raking leaves you watched a part of the original ‘V’ series playing today on the SyFy channel. You want to watch the new series that begins on Tuesday at the same time as one your favorites, NCIS – the real reason for signing up on cable for a DVR last week.
Yes, that and Thursday’s new show opposite another favorite ‘Bones’. Another science fiction program called, ‘Fast Forward’. Still, ‘V’ depicts ‘friendly’ aliens that turn out not to be so friendly. I can’t imagine any real and intelligent and genuinely friendly species would want to stop by. I don’t know what all this has to do with one’s spirituality though.
You continued writing the books when you realized there was no chance of selling them and making money and becoming famous like J. K. Rowling.
A good friend, a reader, and former colleague thinks I am a very arrogant person, arrogant enough to ask the reader to come to me rather than me come to the reader. I have to agree, but I didn’t think of it that way though.
I wanted a book or a series of books that my former students could read if they wished. I always taught my senior English high school classes as close to the level my college classes were taught when I was a sophomore. This is the reason I am upset with the ‘dumbing down’ business.
I never dumbed down that I can remember. Never. And, I always tried to be fair and reasonable with the grades. When in doubt, give a higher quarter grade and see what happens. Almost always the student did better the next quarter.
The books are written based on these principles of my classroom. Broadening one’s perspective is more important than anything else in one’s personal education. And, on that I practice what I preach. I always try to practice what I preach.
You had something you wanted to say before you died and this is what you are doing. Silently. This has to do with one’s spirituality, orndorff whether you agree or not. – Amorella.
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