Hermione's name

[Philip Nel]

No: HPFGUIDX 31234

Dear all,

In response to my post, Steve writes:

> JKR explained the hows and whys of Hermione's name. She said that
> she chose the name Hermione from the Shakespeare play, but that
> there were no connections that she knew of between the two
> characters. Rather, she chose the name because 1) it seemed like the
> kind of name two professional types would chose for their daughter
> because it shows how clever they are, and 2) it was obscure enought
> that there wouldn't likely be a real brainy girl with oversized
> front teeth with that name who would then be teased because of the
> character in the book. So this is not one of those cases where we
> should read all sorts of connections into JKR's choice of names; she
> specifically said otherwise.

So, it's mere coincidence that Shakespeare's Hermione appears to be a statue and then comes to life, just as Rowling's Hermione is petrified in book 2 and then comes to life?  Two characters both named Hermione, both of whom change from statues back into fully alive humans.  Clearly no connection, eh?

The point of my (admittedly sarcastic) remarks is that yes, we know what Rowling has said (points 1 and 2 above) and we know that she got the name from _A Winter's Tale_.  However, while we should take an author's remarks into account, we should be wary of making the argument that the author's interpretation is the only "correct" interpretation.  If an author chooses a name that alludes to other works or ideas, this name will continue to make those allusions, irrespective of what the author now says about the name.  What's more, Rowling's names are clearly allusive -- heck, some of the names are even allegorical.  Voldemort, derived from French "flight of
death" or (figuratively) "cheating death," quite literally embodies the character Voldemort.

That said, when, precisely, did Rowling make the remark that "she knew of no connections between the two"?  And is that how she phrased it?  Because to say that one "knows of no connections between the two" does not preclude the possibility of there being connections.  I ask "when?" because, often, it is only *after* an author has written a work that he or she begins to understand fully the meaning(s) of what he or she has written.

Best regards,

Phil
--
Philip Nel
Assistant Professor
Department of English
Denison Hall
Kansas State University
Manhattan, KS 66506-0701
U.S.A.
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http://www.ksu.edu/english/nelp/
philnel at ksu.edu