In terms of loyalty to canon etc. I love the alternative take in MOR. There’s only one thing that really bugs me on that front, which is the use of American language throughout. Astonishing how much it rankles for Harry to say he’s ‘gotten’ something.
This is certainly bugging me also, and I’m an American. Given how many people have commented about this, I have to ask if it would take Eliezer that much effort to have a British friend skim through it before Eliezer posts them? The effort level doesn’t seem to be that high.
(Incidentally, I have other objections also, I think Eliezer underestimates the amount in canon which the wizarding world is influenced by the enlightenment- there are mentions in canon of research of journals (beginning of book three for example).)
I think that might help. I honestly think that potential readers could find it seriously offputting, and Eliezer’s obviously fine with editing previous posts so it could be made consistent too.
The odd thing is that I’m abnormally unconcerned by American accents in films of English stories etc: it’s the written word that I find it so strange for. Possibly because a level of informality makes it more obvious.
I don’t have the books to hand, but is research in journals necessarily enlightenment? You can see philosophical debate etc. going right back to scholastic philosophers and theologians, and if you throw in easier communication and production through magic then it wouldn’t be surprising if correspodence or debate between magicians was in something we’d call a journal. The question is if there’s meaningful peer review.
Regular journals are a very late phenomenon. They evolved from the proceedings of various societies. The use of journals is very much enlightenment or post-enlightenment culture. The Proceedings of the Royal Society doesn’t start until 1800.Even then, initially that’s published in large, irregular volumes. Many other journals considered very old are even younger. American Mathematical Monthly is published in the 1890s (although everything in North America was scientifically behind Europe until the 20th century. Thus, for example, geocentrism was taught as the standard cosmology in the first astronomy classes at Yale and that’s already in the early 1700s.) . Regular scientific journals don’t become common until the second half of the 19th century.
Prior to that, one has a large number of published books, and letters sent to groups of people, but nothing that resembles a regular journal like the one briefly described in the beginning of book three. The name “Transfiguration Today” sounds like either a regular journal, or a regular pop-magic (analogizing to pop-science) publication, both of which are very modern ideas.
The question is if there’s meaningful peer review.
Actually, formal peer review is another modern innovation. Until the 20th century, publication decisions were made almost exclusively by editors, and if they had questions they would consult experts in the field. In other situations a slightly different system was used: for the various Royal Society publications, the main gatekeeping mechanism was needing sponsorship from a member of the Society. These two systems gradually morphed into the modern peer review system. We think of formal peer review as a major part of the scientific method but it is pretty late.
The Proceedings of the Royal Society doesn’t start until 1800.
I think that’s a little misleading, since the Philosophical Transactions started in 1665.
Even then, initially that’s published in large, irregular volumes.
The Philosophical Transactions had volume numbers that were quite regular, either annual or biannual, depending on the time period. The Society’s website implies that they were printed as volumes, but they were quarterly. The first 50 years of the Proceedings, before it got that name, had quite irregular volume numbers, but I would be hesitant to draw publishing conclusions from that.
I think that there’s some survivorship bias, too. Wikipedia claims that there were 1000 journals in the 1700s, but they didn’t survive. So enlightenment might be a better answer than post-enlightenment.
EDIT: the Royal Society’s website contains issue numbers, but its organization implies that volumes were published at once.
Thanks! I didn’t realize that there were that many or that the Philosophical Transactions was that regular. And I had no idea that there were that many early journals.
Hmmm… interesting info, thanks! To be honest, I’m not clear enough in what and when the enlightenment refers to. To me, it sounds like science journals are distinctly post-enlightenment for most sense of the term.
By most senses of the term yes. But there were things that functioned sort of like journals earlier. For example, Marin Mersenne in the early part of the 1600s functioned as a sort of clearing house for math. He corresponded with a large number of people and reported to different people what results others were up to. There were others who acted similarly. But, yes the idea of a regular journal is post-enlightenment. This if anything makes Eliezer’s portrayal of wizarding culture more problematic, not less so.
Cheers for the info: will look that up. I suppose the question is whether there could realistically be a parallel evolution of something that from the HP references seems to us like a journal.
This is certainly bugging me also, and I’m an American. Given how many people have commented about this, I have to ask if it would take Eliezer that much effort to have a British friend skim through it before Eliezer posts them? The effort level doesn’t seem to be that high.
(Incidentally, I have other objections also, I think Eliezer underestimates the amount in canon which the wizarding world is influenced by the enlightenment- there are mentions in canon of research of journals (beginning of book three for example).)
I think that might help. I honestly think that potential readers could find it seriously offputting, and Eliezer’s obviously fine with editing previous posts so it could be made consistent too.
The odd thing is that I’m abnormally unconcerned by American accents in films of English stories etc: it’s the written word that I find it so strange for. Possibly because a level of informality makes it more obvious.
I don’t have the books to hand, but is research in journals necessarily enlightenment? You can see philosophical debate etc. going right back to scholastic philosophers and theologians, and if you throw in easier communication and production through magic then it wouldn’t be surprising if correspodence or debate between magicians was in something we’d call a journal. The question is if there’s meaningful peer review.
Regular journals are a very late phenomenon. They evolved from the proceedings of various societies. The use of journals is very much enlightenment or post-enlightenment culture. The Proceedings of the Royal Society doesn’t start until 1800.Even then, initially that’s published in large, irregular volumes. Many other journals considered very old are even younger. American Mathematical Monthly is published in the 1890s (although everything in North America was scientifically behind Europe until the 20th century. Thus, for example, geocentrism was taught as the standard cosmology in the first astronomy classes at Yale and that’s already in the early 1700s.) . Regular scientific journals don’t become common until the second half of the 19th century.
Prior to that, one has a large number of published books, and letters sent to groups of people, but nothing that resembles a regular journal like the one briefly described in the beginning of book three. The name “Transfiguration Today” sounds like either a regular journal, or a regular pop-magic (analogizing to pop-science) publication, both of which are very modern ideas.
Actually, formal peer review is another modern innovation. Until the 20th century, publication decisions were made almost exclusively by editors, and if they had questions they would consult experts in the field. In other situations a slightly different system was used: for the various Royal Society publications, the main gatekeeping mechanism was needing sponsorship from a member of the Society. These two systems gradually morphed into the modern peer review system. We think of formal peer review as a major part of the scientific method but it is pretty late.
Yes, but...
I think that’s a little misleading, since the Philosophical Transactions started in 1665.
The Philosophical Transactions had volume numbers that were quite regular, either annual or biannual, depending on the time period. The Society’s website implies that they were printed as volumes, but they were quarterly.
The first 50 years of the Proceedings, before it got that name, had quite irregular volume numbers, but I would be hesitant to draw publishing conclusions from that.
I think that there’s some survivorship bias, too. Wikipedia claims that there were 1000 journals in the 1700s, but they didn’t survive. So enlightenment might be a better answer than post-enlightenment.
EDIT: the Royal Society’s website contains issue numbers, but its organization implies that volumes were published at once.
Thanks! I didn’t realize that there were that many or that the Philosophical Transactions was that regular. And I had no idea that there were that many early journals.
Hmmm… interesting info, thanks! To be honest, I’m not clear enough in what and when the enlightenment refers to. To me, it sounds like science journals are distinctly post-enlightenment for most sense of the term.
By most senses of the term yes. But there were things that functioned sort of like journals earlier. For example, Marin Mersenne in the early part of the 1600s functioned as a sort of clearing house for math. He corresponded with a large number of people and reported to different people what results others were up to. There were others who acted similarly. But, yes the idea of a regular journal is post-enlightenment. This if anything makes Eliezer’s portrayal of wizarding culture more problematic, not less so.
Cheers for the info: will look that up. I suppose the question is whether there could realistically be a parallel evolution of something that from the HP references seems to us like a journal.