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The Tales of Beedle the Bard and Other Great Fatalities
by Dead Beat on December 13, 2007
It’s got to annoy you:
“LONDON (AFP) - A hand-written book of stories by J.K. Rowling—the British author’s first since the blockbuster Harry Potter series—sold for 1.95 million pounds (2.71 million euros, 3.97 million dollars) at auction Thursday.
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Auctioneers Sotheby’s had thought “The Tales of Beedle the Bard” would fetch up to 50,000 pounds, but amid frantic bidding between a handful of buyers in London, it eventually sold for around 40 times that amount.
“The price achieved today stands as the highest price ever achieved at auction for a modern literary manuscript, an auction record for a work by J.K. Rowling, and an auction record for a children’s book,” a Sotheby’s spokeswoman said in a statement....”
Dead Beat keels over, gasps out his last literary breath, but oh wait…
“...Rowling, 42, watched the auction on the Web from her home in Edinburgh, Scotland, and said she was ecstatic. “This will mean so much to children in desperate need of help,” she said in a statement. “It means Christmas has come early to me.”
Meanwhile the world of books dies page by page…
Oh and by the way who bought it… that other great literary inspiration… Amazon.Com
Yeah hey, the world is saved.
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Comments
I agree with every word you wrote. Amazon does a good job of shipping books to me when I buy online (I try to go into my local Barnes and Noble stores, instead), but other than that, I have no use for them. The whole thing, the auctioning of Rowling’s book and the buying of it by Amazon, were simply publicity stunts, Rowling for her charity (only kids in Europe matter?) and Amazon probably to deflect interest from the failure of their “Kindle.”
I think the person who left the first comment did miss something. When less-than-stellar literature is promoted as heavily as were the Harry Potter books, the whole world of publishing is devalued.
– Kate (12/19 at 19-Dec 11:59 -05:00)
Kate—“When less-than-stellar literature is promoted as heavily as were the Harry Potter books, the whole world of publishing is devalued.”
Why? I’m interested to know what damage is done to the values of “the world of publishing” in this situation?
From what I see, interest in reading is stirred in a young generation which is otherwise sorely lacking interest any medium other than what’s available their parents’ life-sucking TV sets… how is that bad? And doesn’t the fact that Harry Potter is adored by so many fans worldwide make it ‘stellar literature’ to them?
– Penn Ame (12/19 at 19-Dec 23:49 -05:00)
Writing, in order to add real value to the publishing industry, needs to be of the highest quality.
While I applaud J. K. Rowling’s imagination and her perseverance and don’t begrudge her what she’s earned, she’s not really a very good writer as far as craft goes. Imagination, yes. Craft, no.
No, the fact that Harry Potter is “adored” by so many doesn’t make the books “stellar literature” any more than the fact that so many people have not read Leonid Tsypkin’s “Summer in Baden-Baden” or Anna Banti’s “Artemesia” makes these masterpieces “bad” books. A lot of Americans worship Dr. Phil. Does that make him great? Certainly not. A lot of kids “adore” crack cocaine. Does that make it good? No, no way. Not that I’m comparing Harry Potter to cocaine.
When less-than-stellar books achieve bestsellerdom, the publishing world says, “Oh, this mediocre stuff is what people want, so we’ll publish more of it.” That’s exactly how the world of publishing is devalued. We don’t need more mediocrity in the publishing world. We need more work of the highest quality.
And really, Rowling didn’t “get kids to read.” The kids who read the Harry Potter books were kids who were inclined to read in the first place. Other kids, not inclined to read, are still out getting a very early start on what will be very long rap sheets some day. Rowling just gave the kids who were already into reading something new.
J.K. Rowling is very imaginative, but she hasn’t mastered the craft of novel writing. Are she, and Harry Potter, cultural icons? Sure. Is Rowling a great writer whose work will live on generations from now? Of course now.
I don’t begrudge her a thing, but making more of the books than they are even devalues them.
– Kate (12/23 at 23-Dec 04:23 -05:00)
Okay, it may seem silly to worry this point further… but i’ll risk the appearance of silliness. 
Kate, it seems to me that you have grown quite accustomed to making assumptions which force me to question your objectivity.
For one thing, your claim that Rowling didn’t attract any non-readers to enjoy literature smacks of omniscience. How could anyone but God possibly know that? It also reveals the bias that makes your argument stilted. Everyone, even someone with your highly refined literary tastes, had a first read--a book which sparked that ‘inclination to read,’ which you cited as if it is a genetic trait. It is also interesting to me that according to you, every child who lacks this trait is a future criminal. Why not lock them all up now?
You readily admit that Rowling is very imaginitive, and you even call her a “great writer,” but contend that she has not mastered the craft of novel writing. I know that many readers disagree with me in this, but I would much rather experience the work of a new author whose imagination may outweigh his/her skill, rather than the other way around. (I am not talking about RPG Fantasy-by-the-ream here, but really original work) Obviously when the craft catches up with the imagination, the result will be more enjoyable and valuable than previously, but that is the path the writer must take. I prefer to take an optimistic view of developing authors. Very few good authors, in my opinion, would receive the means or motivation to become great authors without becoming successfully published at some point before attaining mastery.
– Penn Ame (01/20 at 20-Jan 03:42 -05:00)
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Just curious: what does it matter if Amazon.com bought “...Beedle the Bard;” how is the result of this steep auction tied to your statement: ‘the world of books dies page by page...’
Perhaps what the world of books needs is not remotely connected the abolishment of gross monetary profits, nor the unproductive whinings of a deadbeat, but an infusion of creative authors who are capable breaking convention and capturing the interest of experienced and fresh young readers alike.
Maybe I’m missing something…
– Penn Ame (12/17 at 17-Dec 23:52 -05:00)