Today's coined word: Literothanatophobia

[dianeduane]

Or, "The fear of death in literature."

A British book retailer plans to set up a counseling hotline for all heartbroken fans of Harry Potter, in case he dies in the much awaited next book.

As a former psychiatric professional, I can kind of see the point.  ...But I do start wondering, sometimes... Are human beings actually less robust, more fragile, than they used to be -- or are we just being encouraged to believe we are? 

And I remember clearly the resilience and fortitude of my younger patients as compared to the so-called "adults". The kids were endlessly more pragmatic and better at handling pain than the grownups. Any bets on the percentage of over-eighteens who wind up being counseled, as opposed to the under-eighteens?...

Comments

[tysolna]

Oh, and another thing - you can tell this bothers me - is this literothanatophobia or simply thanatophobia in a different context? Are they / we simply less robust or more secluded when it comes to dealing with death?

I think what would annoy me most if Harry Potter dies, unless it's done really good and with good reason, is that it would feel like a cop-out. "No more Potter books, I'm going to kill off the main character!"

[antikythera.livejournal.com]

Killing him off wouldn't even preclude the existence of other books. She could write about the founding of Hogwarts, or Lily and James and the Marauders when they were in school. She's got a universe to play in, and it doesn't have to focus on one particular kid in anything other than these seven books.

[tysolna]

True, and I'm sure there are people who are curious about that and would read it. I know I would.
On the other hand, how many people who've seen LotR and then read the books (as opposed to people who read LotR religiously once a year for the past thirty years) are buying and reading the Silmarillion? ;)

Silmarillion

[dmsherwood53.livejournal.com]

Yes but that's because the Silmarillion (IMHO)is crap

[korenwolf.livejournal.com]

Are they / we simply less robust or more secluded when it comes to dealing with death?

Would I count as an evil parent who doesn't shield the kids if I said we're quite happy to pluck and gut animals in the kitchen and enjoy showing them the feet and pull on the tendons to see what happens?

[stefka.livejournal.com]

Would I count as an evil parent who doesn't shield the kids if I said we're quite happy to pluck and gut animals in the kitchen and enjoy showing them the feet and pull on the tendons to see what happens?

If so, so were my parents, and my husband's parents, and so, God willing, will we one day be ourselves. "Okay, kids. THIS is a chopping block ..."

[telophase.livejournal.com]

If you're evil, then so was my dad, who was a wildlife ecologist and tended to lecture me on chicken anatomy when carving, and butchered Bambi in our kitchen several times. And dragged me and Mom to the Serengeti National Park for two years when I was young so he could do research for his PhD, thus ensuring that I always had a very clear idea exactly where meat comes from, since I saw the kills.

I seem to have survived the horrors reasonably well. :D

[marrael.livejournal.com]

No. That's called education! ;)

Seriously, I grew up knowing where meat came from, and would witness plucking and/or gutting either when my mum was cooking, or when my relatives were cooking, or if my mum was at the old-fashioned market making the butcher do it for her. Kids take cues from grown-ups about what is normalcy, so I took it all in as normal. My experience is probably getting more and more rare considering how meat is sold nowadays - so deceptively sterile-looking!

[tysolna]

Would I count as an evil parent who doesn't shield the kids (..)

Not to me you wouldn't, but what would you want to bet that there are people on this planet of ours who would turn from you in horror and outrage, and not all of them would be vegetarians?

I think it's fascinating, and good, to know where ones food comes from and what it looks like before it's on the table.

[gramina.livejournal.com]

FWIW, I figured out why I had a disturbed reaction to this, and it actually doesn't apply in most cases. (So it was useful to realize.) ((The only person I know who was exposed to animal-slaughter and dressing was exposed to it in a context of violent domestic abuse; because of that context, there was an implicit threat -- "look what I did to *this* animal..."))

I think in a loving setting, learning that animals die so we can eat, and we should take the best care we can to make sure that's no more awful for them than it has to be, and then use every single part of the animal we can (and here's how!) is a very very good thing :)

[tysolna]

Oh dear... I am sorry my comment disturbed you; it was not intended to do that.

I did half of my growing-up on a farm, so the connection between fluffy bunnies in the morning and rabbit for dinner was always there without me being unduly conscious or upset about it.

And I completely agree with you on your last sentence!