[HPforGrownups] Further speculation on Dates in WW

[Barb]

No: HPFGUIDX 45918


I wrote:
They seem to celebrate Christmas and New Year and Easter right along with the rest of Great Britain.  To bother figuring out which calendar would allow the dates in the Potterverse jibe with ours is, quite frankly, a huge waste of time, IMO.  JKR doesn't care and neither should we.


Then James P. Robinson III wrote:


But why should JKR's views have ANYTHING to do with our interpretations, interests, obsessions, etc. regarding the works?  I see no connection.


Me:
I'm as capable as anyone else of trying to reconcile something that seems irreconcilable.  I worked out that there are times during the lunar year when the moon isn't officially full until after it rises, which would make it possible for Remus Lupin to be out on the night of an apparently full moon, but not transform into a werewolf right away, since the sun, moon and earth weren't in the precise position yet for the moon to be considered truly "full" (even though, in the real world, there wasn't a full moon on the night in question--which is another bit of artistic license).  Now, this doesn't seem to be what JKR did.  I think it is either a true Flint for Remus not to transform until the moon was revealed by a shifting cloud, or else she was just rewriting werewolf lore (she also rewrote werewolf lore with the part about animals not being in danger from werewolves; legends are full of werewolves killing farm animals).  Still, the research I did concerning the moon does make it possible for the shifting cloud to reveal a moon that was suddenly full, when it had not been before, therefore making that part of PoA slightly more plausible and in tune with existing werewolf legend, even though that may not have been in JKR's mind originally.  Also, when dealing with myths and legends in a story like this, it is possible to rewrite those myths and legends to suit your story.  There is no requirement that JKR's werewolves behave like any other werewolves that have graced the pages of literature.  She has freedom to do as she likes.
 
There are also a variety of things we speculate on which JKR HAS no doubt thought about in great depth, such as who the Death Eaters are, what Trelawney's first prediction was, and how Harry will eventually defeat Voldemort.  I expect to find out about all of these things by the last page of book seven.  However, since it is painfully obvious that JKR has NOT expended any thought on the first day of term perhaps falling on different days of the week in different years, I personally believe it to be a waste of time to speculate on a wizarding calendar which would make this possible, when this is obviously just another use of artistic license.  She likes the consistency, clearly.  Perhaps if she had to do it over, she'd do as many authors in the past have and wouldn't specify a death date for Nick, but just designate it as 14__ .  Then we and future generations of readers could always imagine Harry going to school at any time, instead of his being rooted to a certain era.  I think this would have been wiser, frankly, as she would be sticking to what she does best, spinning wonderful stories, rather than trying to figure out what day of the week someone born July 31, 1980 would be turning eleven.  
 
I have no problem with trying to work out many things that she actually seems to have thought about.  However, you will never be able to completely reconcile the dates in the Potterverse because there is just no rhyme or reason to them.  Even Chaos Theory wouldn't help with the dates.  It's less predictible than chaos.  JKR never thought people would analyze to the extent that they have (she's said as much) and I believe that it is clear that she never intended the dates to stand up under such intense scrutiny.  There is absolutely no evidence in canon that wizards don't use a standard modern calendar.  Aside from the fact that making up calendars still won't get her muddled figures to work out no matter how long you plug away at it, there's also just no support in canon for such a position.
 
--Barb
 


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