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

[dhole.livejournal.com]

You know how the Harry Potter books hit that demographic of people who don't read much, if at all?

My theory, which is mine, which is the one I have, is that this is one of the reasons why Harry Potter fandom is so crazy -- there are people reading those books who just don't have the mental or emotional tools for dealing with a fictional narrative. (It's also the case that it's a huge fandom, so there's more crazy to rise to the top.)

It's not a new thing -- Little Nell, as referenced above establishes that -- but given what we've seen from Harry Potter thus far, I actually be surprised if there weren't one or two suicides whose proximal cause is Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. So it seems to me that a counselling line is at least moderately justified.

[antikythera.livejournal.com]

'People who don't read much' doesn't mean 'people who don't consume fiction'. Do you mean that this demographic didn't watch TV or movies either?

[alethea-eastrid.livejournal.com]

At the risk of opening myself up to a nasty arguement, I'm going to contend that there is--or can be--a different level (or possibly type) of emotional intensity attached to characters in books as opposed to those on screen. It's simply more work, mental and emotional and even time-wise, so that one is inclined to value the product--the assocaition with the chracters and the narriative--more highly. Becuase you're doing so much more of the world-building yourself (in your head) the narriatve world you construct is also going to be more attractive--however good the production team on a TV show or movie is, there are going to be so many more places where they can jar you out of the story (my pet bugaboo is bad green-screen work, or digital manipulation that can turn a perfectly reasonable shot into something that looks like bad green-screen work--Peter Jackson I'm looking at YOU!)

So I think dhole's contention is perfectly reasonable.

[csi-tokyo3.livejournal.com]

I remember when someone was unexpectedly offed in The West Wing. In real life, a state legislator got up to pay tribute to the character.

So, it's not just the geeks that will do crazy things if one of the fictional set goes down.