Wondering

[Carol]

"Carol" <cinders at ...> wrote:
<snip>
> I'm a big Harry Potter fan though now after reading all the posts, I
don't think I'm quite as much of a fan as most of the people here,
because it's not all I think of all day like it appears a lot of you do.
> 
> Here's the one thing I don't understand. Why are these books,
specially more than any other, taken SO seriously?? I really am
curious, not trying to be stupid or anything. I mean these are just
books, fiction. No one in them is real, and from most of the posts, I
swear people think they are real people. All of the trying to figure
out things kind of baffles me. I mean I am curious about some things,
but not enough to rip the entire series apart. I've always thought of
reading fiction as something I do for entertainment, enjoyment. So
many don't even seem to have enjoyed the books and yet read them all
anyway.
> 
> I am also a children's author. Definitely nothing like the HP
series, but none-the-less, so I am truly wondering the answers. <snip>

Carol (not the Carol who posted the question) responds:

That's a very interesting question. I think, for me, it's the
intellectual exercise. I have a PhD in English, and I love to analyze
literature. But why the HP books specifically? Probably because the
characters *seem* like real people. Snape intrigued me from the
beginning--so seemingly sinister and yet so obviously intelligent,
with a touch of the poet and the scientist about him, so ambiguous, so
mysterious. I wanted to read everything I could about him and share my
thoughts on him with other people. I like the give and take of the
group, the way others' thoughts help to bring my own into perspective.
I like encountering new insights, things I hadn't noticed myself about
the books. I like analyzing motives (not only Snape's) and discussing
the way narrative technique and other devices shape the reading of the
books. Sometimes, I like to nitpick (that darned clock should have
remained a grandfather clock--doesn't JKR check her "facts" as
presented in previous books?) I'm sure, too, that the unique
experience of reading a series as it's written, eagerly anticipating
each new book as it comes out, is part of the fascination of the HP
books, and I think a lot of us are in denial now, unwilling to admit
that that part of our lives is over, which is perhaps why so many
people seized so eagerly on JKR's revelation about DD's sexuality. My
perspective is that the books exist now in the way that, say, "Moby
Dick" or the Austen or Bronte or Dickens books exist, as works in
print, which we are free to interpret as we see fit as long as we
consider the actual words in the text (if we say that the Wizards are
descendants of aliens who visited Earth 2000 years ago, we're on shaky
ground because there's nothing in the text to support that).

In short, it's fun. And the experience of encountering large numbers
of fellow adults interested in examining a children's (or "young
adult"--what a euphemism!) series is exhilarating. There's a lot in
the books that children don't see, and I'm not just talking about
sexual innuendoes. I'm talking about important themes and motifs, such
as life and death or redemption and forgiveness or the apparent
favorite of most posters, prejudice and the treatment of those who are
different from ourselves (the contrast between Sirius's and Regulus's
treatment of Kreacher, for instance). Also, of course, there's all the
untold backstory (What did Snape do as a DE? What is his real
relationship with the Malfoys? What was Lupin doing  during all those
years between the death of the Potters and his hiring as DADA teacher?

I doubt that I've really answered your question, but I'm trying to
explain that I feel compelled to experience and think about and talk
about these books to a degree that I've never experienced with any
other books.

Which is why, really, I wish that JKR would just let them be. Let us
read them and experience them and interpret them for ourselves. She
created them, but she sent them out into the world, and like grown-up
children, she's no longer responsible for what becomes of them. They
are greater than she is and will outlast her. Just my opinion, which I
realize that a lot of people disagree with. And I certainly
acknowledge my debt to her. Had she not written these books, had she
not created such fascinating characters (especially Snape), I would
never have had this experience. So thank you for that, JKR, but please
let go now and enjoy the nice vacation you've earned with your labors.

Carol, who used to call herself DrCarol till someone on another list
said, "I'll bet you're not a *real* doctor"!