[HPforGrownups] Re: Trelawney, Divination, and Seers

[Neil Ward]

No: HPFGUIDX 21345

dfrankis at dial.pipex.com wrote:

<MacGonagall affirms the reality of some form of prediction when she says
True Seers are very rare.>

Penny said:

<<I'm curious to know what others think. David has made the same point that
Richard Abanes made in a footnote in his book, HP & the Bible (which I did
recently review on amazon.com).  In my review, I stated that I thought it
was clear that McGonagall (and Rowling) was being sarcastic, ironic.  I
think she's saying "very rare" in the sense of
"non-existent."  Would some of our British members care to comment?  It
seems to me to be another example of British dry humor rather than any sort
of affirmation that there are *any* "Seers."  Thoughts?>>

I don't think McGonagall was being ironic; I think she was stating what she
saw as fact.  To me, her reference to true seers being "very rare" meant she
thinks exactly that, and not that they are non-existent.  I think the
comment was meant at face value; true seers exist, they are very rare,
Trelawney isn't one of them.

Minerva makes it clear to Harry that she views Trelawney as a fraud.
Hinting that she was one of these 'very rare' talents would indeed have been
ironic, but she didn't do that.  Just before making the statement about true
seers, she says, "If it were not for the fact that I never speak ill of my
colleagues --," and she seemed about to question Trelawney's talents quite
openly.

I would agree, though, that British irony often loses something in the
translation.

Neil
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