Hermione and JKR

[Linda W]

No: HPFGUIDX 3424

Hi, 

Out of lurkdom to join in on this thread.

First, I should say that I was the person who wrote that I thought 
Hermione was overdone in a lot of fanfics.  And after reading the 
London Times articles, I got the impression that JKR was irritated by 
the request for a strong character implying that Hermione as she is 
with both her strengths and insecurities is not enough.

In fact the article quotes her "I am thinking 'Isn't Hermione strong 
enough for you?' She is the most brilliant of the three and they need 
her. Harry needs her badly. 

"But my hero is a boy and at the age he has been girls simply do not 
figure that much. Increasingly, they do. But, at 11, I think it would 
be extremely contrived to throw in a couple of feisty, gorgeous,
brilliant-at-maths and great-at-fixing-cars girls."

IMO I like the Hermione as she is and think she offers a view of
being 
a strong character and "way to be" without having to be the feisty, 
gorgeous, brilliant. etc
.girl.

This is where my comment came from regarding the fanfiction 
Hermione, 
who is increasingly becoming the feisty, brilliant do-it all girl. I 
hope JKR does not allow that to happen in the canon.

And simultaneously, I do want the development of other female 
characters in the canon. If you will - other ways to be in the world
as 
a female. There is lot of development in the male roles -  Harry,
Ron, 
Sirius, Draco but not in the female roles. And this circles back to
my 
comment on fanfiction, I like the way Ginny has developed in ASA, DD, 
and PoU because she offers another way to interact with the world as
a 
female. For example, I like her struggle with her crush in DD and her 
"file - accept w/o question" which she eventually won't be able to 
accept because it offers a different yet equally real way to be.

Does this make sense?

Linda