The Reading Room

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8:42 AM

@NapoleonWilson I always imagined Yennefer as a striking 40-year-old. Striking in two senses: beautiful, and not to be messed with. Looking like a girl in one's late 20s is one thing, but she wouldn't want people taking her for someone young and inexperienced. Not looking 70, for sure, but old enough to be respected and mature at least.

(I haven't seen the TV thing, so can't comment on her casting there.)

2 hours later…

Napoleon Wilson

10:54 AM

@Randal'Thor Yes, that is my impression too. That the age I imagined her as is largely based on her experienced and awe-inspiring presence.

But that is the inherent paradox of the mages in general, that they're old (and either experienced, or bitter, or just senile) people trapped in young bodies.

In general, the TV show didn't quite transport that the story it told was comprised of flashbacks over a few decades. It sprinkled a few hints in, but I'm sure it left a few people confused who aren't too acquainted with the material.

But that's the same with the 20 year gap between two consecutive scenes in The Fellowship of the Ring.

IkWeetHetOokNiet

Btw, I have just created a tag summary for reception. Let me know if you have questions or comments.

Napoleon Wilson

I wonder if my Bryan Smith question would fit to the new tag.

IkWeetHetOokNiet

It seems to fit. Works being ignored is definitely a kind of "reception".

Books being banned, e.g. My Uncle Napoleon in Iran, is also a form of "reception".

Rand al'Thor

11:32 AM

@IkWeetHetOokNiet We already have a censorship tag. Would that now count as a subset of "reception"?

Hmm, although a few of those, like Ray Bradbury says Fahrenheit 451 isn't about censorship. Is he right? and In George Orwell's Burmese Days, what word is the censored “b--s” supposed to be?, aren't actually about censorship of literature.

IkWeetHetOokNiet

11:57 AM

@Randal'Thor If censorship means the banning of entire books, it's definitely a subset of reception. Censoring individual passages ... also, I suppose.

Rand al'Thor

Just realised I've forgotten to post the last two best-of metas.

So now you can nominate anything from the last half of 2019.

IkWeetHetOokNiet

@Randal'Thor Works of literature that discuss censorship shouldn't get the tag reception.

Rand al'Thor

Yeah, agreed. But now I wonder if the censorship tag is too broad and should be removed from those questions too.

Is it good to use the same tag for questions about real-life censorship of literature and for questions about censorship described in literature?

IkWeetHetOokNiet

In what way is it too broad. Because of the "not" in the description? Focusing the tag on censorship that actually took place would make sense.

[Need to go now.]

IkWeetHetOokNiet

12:41 PM

@Randal'Thor We normally don't have tags for specific themes in literature, do we?

Bookworm

Q: Trying to locate source of a story about Japanese storyteller's apprentice who is mistaken for a master

I'm trying to locate the source of a story I remember, for an essay I'm writing. Not sure if the story is fact, fiction, or legend. It concerns an apprentice to a master storyteller in Japan (Rakugo I think). The master makes the apprentice practice the same bit of the same story over and over, n...

Librarian

1:02 PM

Q: Best Questions & Answers from 3rd Quarter of 2019

So apparently I forgot this in October, due to too much other stuff going on on Stack Exchange. Here's the latest installment in what's now becoming a grand old tradition of gathering some particularly good Literature Q&A in order to get some easily available links to show off to people. Since ...

discussion best-of

Q: Best Questions & Answers from 4th Quarter of 2019

Here's the latest installment in what's now becoming a grand old tradition of gathering some particularly good Literature Q&A in order to get some easily available links to show off to people. Since Literature has a community-run Twitter account, one use for this post will be to gather links for...

discussion best-of

IkWeetHetOokNiet

1:29 PM

Yvette Colomb describing SE after an absence of a few months: It's like there's been a revolution and the people didn't win.. Yep, apt summary.

Oh, an emeritus professor in literature joined our site a few months ago. That's a good thing.

IkWeetHetOokNiet

2:05 PM

@Librarian That really requires a query now.

Bookworm

Q: What manuscript was the first printed edition of the Odyssey based on?

The Wikipedia article about the Iliad says that this work was first printed in Florence in 1488/89. The Wikipedia article about the Odyssey does not mention when this epic was first printed, but it appears to have been part of the same "editio princeps" as the Iliad: Homerus / Τὰ σωζόμενα (Onassi...