JKR's opinion on Snape's teaching methods

[anavenc]

No: HPFGUIDX 33055

Following the thread on Snape's behaviour in the classroom: is his 
nastiness genuine or fake.

Daily Prophet used to have a selection of highlights of several JKR's 
interviews, and in one of them she said about Snape: "He is a 
horrible person, sadistic teacher... But there is much more to him 
than that."  

Unluckily, I can't find this site anymore, but the citation is fairly 
accurate.  So, here we go.

I have never been in doubt, that Snape's classroom methods are 
genuinely sadistic, just because his behaviour is always so 
consistent. He just never slips.  Even if he concsciously teaches his 
students a hard lesson of life - how to survive a Snape in a position 
of power, he does it with too much gusto for me to think that it's 
all a game and deep down he has a heart of gold.

Many previous posts on Snape's emotional make-up speculated why Snape 
as a teacher is the way he is.

But there is much more to him - that's why we all bother to write 
about him, and way too much. *grin*

Cheers,

Ana.