Second guessing JKR

[Claire]

No: HPFGUIDX 76627

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Geoff Bannister" 
<gbannister10 at a...> wrote:
> I sometimes wonder whether, here on the group, we get a little too 
> involved in second guessing what Jo Rowling is intending us to 
read 
> into her books. This thought came to mind when the writer of a 
recent 
> message commented on whether there was any significance  that 
> when "Moody" had been using the Imperius curse in GOF, Hermione 
was 
> not in the list of those named. Was there a deep and significant 
> reason which books 6 & 7 would reveal? On the other hand, did 
Moody 
> use all the members of the class? Or did he use Hermione but this 
> fact wasn't mentioned in the text?
> 
> I have cogitated for some time as to whether JKR spent a great 
deal 
> of time putting together the words of the prophecy so that 
> ambiguities would be perceived by those who like to dissect every 
> paragraph of the book with a scalpel! By way of example, we have 
had 
> deep treatises (and a good deal of fun) in trying to interpret 
what 
> was meant by the use of "either" and to whom it referred. I wonder 
> whether this was the case. Have readers ever written an email or a 
> letter or said something to find that the reader or hearer has put 
a 
> totally different slant on what was meant? Maybe JKR wrote down 
the 
> words of the prophecy with her own specific line of thought in 
mind 
> without stopping to consider how the readers might choose to see a 
> different meaning – or did she consider every word thinking "Aha! 
> This'll get `em going. He, he". This is perhaps a trap of critical 
> analysis that we assume that the writer has paralleled our line of 
> thought and has indeed inserted material which can be analysed in 
> umpteen ways; or perhaps we are tripping ourselves up in our own 
> eagerness to "unfog the future".
> 
> I shall await the arrival of books 6 & 7 with increasing 
impatience 
> to see how accurate the outcomes of our musings are. One hope is 
that 
> it is not a dream in the manner of Dallas or I shall be joining 
the 
> lynch party! My only wish would be that HP does not die. He is a 
> great survivor already; may it remain so.
> 
> Geoff Bannister

Me:
I do agree.  Although I believe half the fun of this group is to 
read which of the theories turns out to be correct.  The fact that 
we cannot persuade JKR one way or another is irrelevant.  I, for 
one, appreciate the chance to debate, ad nauseum perhaps, the 
minutiae of HP and where we think JKR is going with a particular 
thread (much the same way we do in the group).  If one is correct, 
more the better (that fist pump in the air, followed by a 
shouted "YES!!!") or the converse ("oh no, I never thought THAT 
would happen").

Claire