[HPforGrownups] OOP: The people in the promo pics of OOtP

[Morgan D.]

No: HPFGUIDX 58417

Cathy wrote:

> The US covers create speculation because Mary GrandPre is allowed to
> read the entire book in order to come up with her illustrations.

And Cathy erroneously quoted:

> > At 18:00 21/05/03 , Morgan D. wrote:
> <snip> 
> > 2) I am surprised by the amount of speculation which the picture 
> > of an incomplete book cover (well, spine and a little of the back
> > cover) has generated in the parallel thread. It all seems utterly 
> > pointless to me.

And I (Morgan) correct:

It was Gulplum who said that, not me. I don't mind the mistake so much.
I agree with Gulplum's opinions more often than not (although I'm glad
he does the job of stating those opinions, composing long emails to
defend them and taking responsibility, while I can selfishly lurk and
enjoy the "combats" from a safe distance). But maybe *he* minds having
his thoughts credited to someone else, so... he said those. I didn't.

In this particular case... I agree it is pointless. I wouldn't say it
is "utterly" pointless though. I think it's pointless because I doubt
we'll manage to guess much from the cover pics, and I doubt a shadow in
the reflex on a window that can only be seen in a zoomed-in,
high-contrast version of the pic will be that meaningful -- it doesn't
seem like the illustrator's style to leave that kind of microscopic
clues, judging from the little I saw so far. Lucky creature, that Mary
GrandPre, got to read the book before us, but honestly, I don't think
she's going to let anything important slip in the drawings Scholastic
will allow us to see now.

On the other hand, even if I haven't been in this group for long, I
already feel most of the discussion topics have become old news. We
still have a month to go, and we need something to do until then. And
personally, I'd rather take a look at those pics, which I've never seen
before anyway, than start banging my head against the wall (which I'll
probably do as soon as I'm done examining those pics).

So for those who aren't on the verge of a nervous breakdown and can
remain calm and untroubled until they're able to read OotP, yeah, this
is probably utterly pointless. 

As a matter of fact, I was hoping my comment on Lupin's description in
canon would veer into a discussion of how JKR's rather succinct 
descriptions are interpreted (by official illustrators, fanartists,
ficwriters, whatever). For example, all she'll say about Lupin is that
he has light-brown hair with some graying tresses, a young face, a
tired look and shabby clothes, but I know many people that are
absolutely certain that he has golden hair, and others that will never
draw his face without deep wrinkles around his eyes and mouth. Myself,
I keep conveniently forgetting that Snape is supposed to be tall, and
that Harry's knees are supposed to be knobbly, and even that Trelawney
is supposed to wear glasses.

I wonder why. JKR seldom (never?) offers us much detailing in her
character descriptions. She picks five or six adjectives to each
character and keeps repeating them over and over. And somehow it seems
so easy to "forget" those and make up characters in our minds that have
little or nothing to do with how the author portrayed them in canon.
Some of it can be blamed on movie contamination; some can be blamed on
arguable "gospel" (Sirius being "dead sexy", for example); and some...
cannot. 

But oh well, I'm not good in starting discussions, and it's not like
the topic hasn't been discussed before, so...  *shrugs* 

A million thanks to everyone who sent me links to GrandPre's
illustrations, on the list and off-list. Hopefully those will keep me
from having a fractured skull for at least a couple of weeks more. 

Another rage-aholic,

Morgan D.
Hogwarts Letters - http://www.hogwartsletters.hpg.com.br

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