Talk:The Tombs of Atuan/GA1
GA Review[edit]
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Reviewer: Chiswick Chap (talk · contribs) 08:32, 25 June 2017 (UTC)
Comments[edit]
"The universe of Earthsea was first used by Ursula Le Guin in two short stories" ... perhaps better "Ursula Le Guin's universe of Earthsea first appeared in ..."- done.
Maybe wikilink high priestess, wizard, labyrinth, feminist, theocracy, eunuch, hero, coming-of-age story, trope.- thanks for pointing those out, done.
'Delicate balance' - maybe wikilink to Taoism, or mention it.- Hmm, I agree its important to mention, but I think linking might be a stretch: I've changed it to " Influenced strongly by Le Guin's interest in Taoism, the world is shown as being based on a delicate balance, which most of its inhabitants are aware of, but which is disrupted by somebody in each of the original trilogy of novels."
- Excellent.
Who's this Cummins that suddenly pops up in Themes? Critics should be glossed and named in full at first mention, but why are we naming anyone in Themes? Names would feel more appropriate in Reception. And Cummins is the only exception.- Well I mentioned her in this case because there was a very apt quote that I wanted to use, and it seemed odd to quote without naming. I've named her in full; if you'd rather I didn't, I can work something out.
Cadden needs a gloss.- done
"Le Guin's other fantasy work The Beginning Place" - "another of Le Guin's fantasy works, ..." - she's written quite a few.- yes.
"cast as a 'side-kick' to Ged" ..... "critics have interpreted this to mean that Le Guin considered The Tombs of Atuan to be a male-centered book." There's some inconsistency of tone between these statements: the first states what we Brits would call "the bleeding obvious", that Ged is the principal hero, in my view correctly; the second grudgingly admits that some high-falutin' eggheads have a weird theory to the same effect. Hmm? Tenar is certainly an important figure but we risk over-egging the pudding by making her a heroine; or (like Ged) she's rather an unheroic protagonist. 'Pairs of characters' captures the sense far better, by the way.- I actually chuckled at your comment, because yes, to many readers its probably the bleeding obvious. I'm not certain, though, because the critics actually make quite a fuss over it; and when I read the novel, I definitely saw it as Tenar-centered. Pretty much all of the gender-related analysis of the novel begins something like "Tenar is the protagonist but..."
- Guess that says more about them than about the book!
I cut a few stray words like 'also' and 'being'.- Thanks.
Tenar's role in Tehanu is mentioned repeatedly. This may be justified but perhaps needs some rationalisation.- Fair point. I've cut a parenthetical mention of this, which didn't do much except state the fact. The other mentions are necessary, I think, given how much the sources mention this. It's mentioned both with respect to Tenar's character development and with respect to how the series has been received, so I think mentioning it both places is helpful. Then of course there's the character called Tehanu who needs a brief mention...
I'm not sure that Publication and Reception should really go together, despite the slender link in the first paragraph.- Well...I did it this way thanks to the tiny quantity of actual publication related info, and the fact that the critics mostly dealt with in this manner. Cadden, Slusser, and Bucknall, not all of whom I use directly, all mention its publication in 1971 and then rush on to complain about its perception as children's literature, or go off comparing it to Tehanu. Could we agree to disagree here?
- Happy to have it for that reason.
"Young adult" or "ageless" (as stated in Reception) - perhaps the hideous YA label could come out of the lead, or at least out of Wikipedia's "voice", given that different views are possible.
Images[edit]
All ok on Commons.
External links[edit]
OK - I notice from the source that there are at least 8 translations into foreign languages, might be worth mentioning.
- I'm not certain I can get anywhere with this, because I cannot find a source that does more than list translations...and honestly eight languages is not particularly noteworthy these days, is it?
- Isn't a list exactly what we need here? I generally use WorldCat, a sober source. I'd have thought not that many books get the 9-language treatment, it's a notable fact. And actually, Worldcat records 23 translations.
- Okay, fair enough. I'm not happy with making a list; nor with entering a precise number, as the number itself is dodgy; but I've added a sentence to the effect that the book was translated into 20+ languages, and that it was reprinted a number of times. Vanamonde (talk) 12:06, 25 June 2017 (UTC)
- That was what I meant, we needed to see a list, not to add one. Chiswick Chap (talk) 12:07, 25 June 2017 (UTC)
- Okay, fair enough. I'm not happy with making a list; nor with entering a precise number, as the number itself is dodgy; but I've added a sentence to the effect that the book was translated into 20+ languages, and that it was reprinted a number of times. Vanamonde (talk) 12:06, 25 June 2017 (UTC)
- Isn't a list exactly what we need here? I generally use WorldCat, a sober source. I'd have thought not that many books get the 9-language treatment, it's a notable fact. And actually, Worldcat records 23 translations.
Categories[edit]
I notice in passing that we have both Earthsea novels and Novels by UKLG.
- Good point. Removed UKLG, it's redundant. I've also changed some of the other categories
Summary[edit]
With the very minor changes here we have a fine and indeed a polished article, easily up to GA standard. Excellent work. Chiswick Chap (talk) 12:10, 25 June 2017 (UTC)