[HPforGrownups] Re: OT: Latin (was boggart) patronus or father?
Jen Faulkner
jfaulkne at eden.rutgers.edu
Tue May 15 16:11:07 UTC 2001
No: HPFGUIDX 18775
On Tue, 15 May 2001, Lumen Dei wrote:
> Well, well. I find it interesting that the two who took exception to my
> reflection on "Expecto Patronus" are both men. Now that might just be
> sheer coincidence, but it might have something to do with the much deeper
> question. I don't take the books lightly. She is not a bubble-headed
> woman, as anyone knows who reads some of the interviews. She has
> suffered, and it has dug caverns into her soul. She has a real
> theme/message or "philosophy" behind what she is doing/writing.
I do hope you're not implying that men in general or Steve and Craig, to
whom I take it you are referring, take either the HP books or JKR
herself lightly, as that's what it seems to me that paragraph is saying.
That's not only an unwarranted ad homines attack, but it's also patently
untrue, as any glance through this group's postings will show. Steve,
who maintains the Lexicon, as much as anyone takes the books seriously,
but many of our posters making detailed, well-reasoned arguments about
the books are men. Why you should turn here to an accusation of
sexism/gender bias absolutely baffles me. I do believe that gender/sex
is implicated in most, if not all, aspects of life, but it does not
follow that gender is a determining factor any time someone disagrees
with you or your reasoning.
Resorting to biographical criticism ("JKR has suffered"), Freudian
interpretation, and word etymologies to defend a point (Harry is looking
for a father) that otherwise I agree with doesn't impress me, for one,
much at all. Latin roots are very significant in HP, particularly in
the spells, of course, but they are just that, *roots*. You can't use
etymology to obtain 'one true meaning' of a word of group of words;
that's not how language works. And 'yearn for' is not at all the base
meaning of 'ex(s)pecto', but rather it is the obvious 'expect, await'
that is the root meaning. (I'm repeating many things that Craig has
already said, lest it be thought that only men could disagree with this
type of reading.) 'Long for' is a Latin extension that you won't find
until far along in the definition. And while 'patronus' does indeed
come from the patr root, the obvious cognates with English or the Latin
meanings of 'protector, defender' seem to me to take precedence over any
etymological connection with 'father', except in perhaps again an
extended sense specifically for Harry. I find it very difficult to
believe that the ultimate message of the novels is that we're all on
some psychoanalytic quest for a father. Perhaps JKR intended that we
think 'father' when reading 'patronus', perhaps not. I find authorial
intention a pointless question that is not only unanswerable but
ultimately not the way to approach any text. Not to be all New Critical
about it, but the best way to analyze a text is to start with the text
before throwing other things, be they Lacan or Latin, at it. Close
reading is (almost) always the most convincing argument.
--jen :)
* * * * * *
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