Mayor ,'Chosen'
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
That just about sums it up, doesn't it?
Sums up a lot of writers and artists. In fact, finding the ones who aren't full of shit is probably the rarer trait.
Writers Who Aren't Full of Shit:
Neil Gaiman (very sensible and charming)
Uhm...Richard Russo seems like a good guy.
Flannery O'Conner (thoroughly impatient with bullshit)
Hmmm, Philip Roth is not full of shit, but has been frequently pretty shitty.
Which is why I actually agree (in a general sense) with a lot of what he is saying in that piece.
I can't take his point seriously because of all the parallels he's trying to draw. There are only so many stories to be told is way different from how transformative a lexicon may or may not be. The degree and honesty of Dumbledore's homosexuality? Compared to OSC's treatment of same? How is it relevant and anything other than distracting?
Writers Who Aren't Full of Shit:
That list was soooo full of shit. (To quote a great imaginary American, I kid! I kid because I loooooove.)
Maybe because I've never read anything else he's written, I could just mostly walk away with his main point, which was JKR is being really hypocritical in all this, which I've been thinking for some time.
I also found OSC's characterization of JKR to be annoying. I mean...for all I know he may be right, but how does he know what her motivations might be? And, again, how is it relevant to the subject of discussion?
Beacuse she's a doody-head.
Other than the "intense game played in midair" part, isn't that the plot of like half the kids fantasy novels in existence?
I think that was pretty much OSC's point, sarcastically expressed. His main point seems to be this:
If Steven Vander Ark, the author of Lexicon, had written fiction that he claimed was original, when it was actually a rearrangement of ideas taken from the Harry Potter books, then she'd have a case.
But Lexicon is intended only as a reference book for people who have already paid for their copies of Rowling's books. Even though the book is not scholarly, it certainly falls within the realm of scholarly comment.
Yeah I actually think Rowling is wrong on this - just not for any of the reasons OSC said. Stop being on my side Fucko!
I saw OSC speak at a bookstore. There were a huge number of things he said that were sort of ???? but DH and I were ROTFL at one bit -- he claimed that SF was the only genre where anyone was doing anything new with the novel, but he didn't really explain this. However - he then went onto to explain the current literary novel - we meet a guy in his 20's - not good, not bad, but in no way shape or form taking any control of her life - he drifts in to a job , drifts into a marriage, just floating along with the current until one day in his 40's something terrible happens and guy realizes his drifting is bad and he grows up. DH and I had just read a book like that. My feeling about OSC is that he makes some good points, however,he is so arragont and self centered that he has no judgment.
My feeling about OSC is that he makes some good points, however,he is so arragont and self centered that he has no judgment.
And then there's the problem of his insano-extreme views on homosexuality and how it's destroying America.