When worlds collide

[absinthe at mad.scientist.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 14386

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Amy Z" <aiz24 at h...> wrote:
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> B
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> H
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> More thoughts inspired by the forewords:
> 
> The trouble with REALLY bringing together the two worlds, HP and 
ours, 
> is that ours has fictional books about HP in it.  If our world is 
> their world, then Dumbledore will soon start reading about this 
> fiction phenomenon whose heroes are the people of his very real 
world. 
>  Some fanfictions deal with this explicitly and explain how Muggle 
JKR 
> (or witch JKR) wrote the books pretending, or perhaps believing, 
that 
> they were fiction.  
> 
> If Harry really gave permission to reprint his FB in 2001, no 
> surprise; he is beyond embarrassment at this point.  We already 
know 
> countless private thoughts of his from Rowling's books, and he 
knows 
> it because, for heaven's sake, half the kids at Dudley's school 
read 
> HP voraciously.  They think it's fiction, but that's little comfort 
to 
> the boy whose secret crush is immortalized in the fastest-selling 
book 
> in history.
> 
> An alternative is that the two worlds are exactly the same *except* 
> that the Muggle world of the books doesn't have a bestselling 
author 
> named J.K. Rowling in it.  I thought about this when I first saw 
Star 
> Trek IV: The Voyage Home, the one where they come back to 1980's 
San 
> Francisco to find humpback whales.  The San Francisco they return 
to 
> is just like the one we know--except for the very odd fact that 
it's 
> clear that no one in THAT SF has ever seen Star Trek.  In the real 
San 
> Francisco, far from thinking Spock is a weirdo, people would be 
> rushing up to shake his hand and examine his ears.  The plot works 
> fine if 20th century San Franciscans have never heard of Star Trek--
it 
> would fall apart if they had.
> 
> So maybe when Dumbledore reads the Times it has all the news of the 
> day...but no mention of a series of books about a kid named Harry 
> Potter?  
> 
> Do the forewords mention JKR, or just Comic Relief?  (The former 
would 
> seem to contradict my theory; the latter lets it stand.)
> 
> Amy Z
> 

The forewords DO mention J. K. Rowling. Here's the quote 
from "Beasts" 

"...making it possible for proceeds from the sale of this book to go 
to a fund set up in Harry Potter's name by Comic Relief UK and J. K. 
Rowling."

"Quidditch" has a similar sentence too.

The thing about the Rowling Potter books is this: all the events in 
them have already happened in "Harry time". The first book took place 
in the early 1990's. The seventh book will have taken place in 1998-
1999. Harry Potter in the year 2001 is 21 years old and probably 
doesn't closely physically resemble his 11 year old self. So it's 
quite possible that Harry can go about the Muggle world unrecognized 
in 2001.

The theory I've always had about the Rowling books is that Rowling is 
Harry's biographer. Hermione in SS/PS told Harry he has been written 
about in at least 3 books (can't remember the titles off-hand). 
Moreover there's that line in SS/PS that basically states something 
like books will be written about Harry and children all over the 
world will read them.

Actually, it would be funny if we find out in book 7 that "J. K. 
Rowling" is the pen name for one of Harry's classmates! 

:-)Milz