Book 4 comments: Pt. 4

[joywitch999]

Original Yahoo! HPFG Header:
No: HPFGUIDX C4075
From: joywitch999
Subject: Book 4 comments: Pt. 4
Date: 7/12/00 4:36 pm  (ET)

I have so much to say about GoF that I am dividing it into 4 posts,
so that none will be overly long, and so that anyone can skip a part
they are not interested in, or all of it if they are not interested in
anything I have to say (Imagine that!). Each post repeats these first
few paragraphs so as to provide the requested spoiler space. I am going
to cross-post this on Harry Potter for Grownups, Harry Potter Anonymous,
and alt.fan.harry-potter.

Let me start by first apologizing for my overly-academic approach
here. This is a problem that occurs among People Who Spend Too Much Time
in Graduate School. As I have spent most of my adult life in college,
and am about to get my Ph.D., I just can't help it. Anyway, I have been
thinking about several things:

1. General comments, including criticisms
2. Plot holes.
3. The elements of social satire in the Harry Potter books.
4. The influence of fame and reader feedback on JKR's writing style.

LOOK OUT BELOW!!!!! SPOILERS ACOMIN'!!!!!!!!!

4. I think that JKR's writing style has been influenced by her fame. Rita
Skeeter is an obvious example. It sounds like JKR is sick of the
press, and with good reason. Also, because the books are so popular,
there has been a tremendous amount of reader feedback. I think this
influenced JKR to respond to her reader's questions such as "How do you
pronounce Hermione", "What happened to Parvati Patil's twin sister",
etc. Unfortunately, the tremendous popularity of the books may have
influenced her to write more quickly than she otherwise would have. It
has clearly influenced the publishers to get the books out more quickly
than they should have, judging by the shoddy proofreading. Would it have
really threatened all their ridiculous security measures to have let 2
more proofreaders read GoF? (Although I have to say American publishers
are notorious for this. I find dozens of typos in almost every book I
read, especially paperbacks.)

Anyway, it is interesting to think about how the HP series might have
been different if they hadn't become so popular.