Questions from American Muggle/'Shipping Post

[Charmian]

No: HPFGUIDX 8266

--- In HPforGrownups at egroups.com, "Michelle Apostolides" 
<michelleapostolides at l...> wrote:
<snip>
> Not really. It used to be that if you wanted a safe and cushy job 
for
> life, then the civil service was for you. But that isn't the case 
now.
> Oh and listmoms I know this is OT but what novel gave you that
> impression.

Ah, thanks. I can't really recall what the exact novel was, as it 
wasn't actually that recent. It was an Iris Murdoch novel, and 
although perhaps all the characters weren't gov't employees, an 
unusually large proportion of the main characters were, and a lot of 
her books featured prominent characters who graduated from Oxford and 
then went on to the civil service. 

> 
> 
> but am sadly afflicted with Subversively Interesting
> > Secondary Character Syndrome, a condition in which one is unable 
to
> > obsess over the relationships of the main character, for some 
reason.
> Please tell us more !!
> 
Well, I also spend time in anime/manga fandom, in which I was 
diagnosed (by myself) with this syndrome. There was also a tremendous 
(but far more vicious) debate in this particular one over 'shipping, 
and I slowly realized that neither of the debated couples as couples 
interested me in the least because I was too busy being interested in 
another character. Although, I guess these were not necessarily 
mutually exclusive. Perhaps this should be attributed to Protagonist 
Shipping Indifference Syndrome instead. 

Subversively Interesting Secondary Character Syndrome means you 
obsess over the secondary characters instead: the nonviewpoint 
characters who don't get as much pagetime in the series, yet are 
given by the narrative (or the sufferer's deranged mind) a great deal 
of mystery, complexity, or potential. Those unafflicted will 
frequently be completely confounded at these fascinations. Often 
these characters will not be imbued with traits conventionally likely 
to make them fanfavorites. Examples from HP, to save this post from 
OT hell:  Snape, Draco (I don't really get the tremendous interest in 
Draco myself, but there you go). 

Charmian