A Conan Doyle (was Re: [HPforGrownups] Re: Pensieves objectivity AND: Dumbledore's integrity)

[jwcpgh]

No: HPFGUIDX 79554

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Fred Uloth <prof_uloth at h...> 
wrote:
> At 01:00 PM 9/1/2003 +0000, amanitamuscaria1 wrote:
> >I can see the series ending. in the last book, in the last, or last
> >but one chapter, with both Harry and Lord V dying.
> >It doesn't necessarily HAVE to happen, but it's one way (let's hope
> >not the A.Conan Doyle way) of truly ending the series..
> 
> ACD was sick of Sherlock Holmes...he wanted to be appreciated for 
his full 
> body of works. That is why ACD killed Sherlock. Pressure from fans 
and 
> publishers brought Holmes back from the dead. I can easily see that 
sort of 
> thing happening with Harry Potter should JKR kill him off...not 
saying it 
> will happen, but the potential is there...

Laura (a major Holmes fan as well as a great lover of HP)

Of course, there are big differences between the Holmes canon and 
HP.  ACD didn't have an overall plan when he came up with the first 
Holmes stories, other than to make a few pounds.  The stories were 
deliberately written to be independent of each other, so people could 
buy any or all of the issues of The Strand magazine and enjoy the 
piece without having to have prior knowledge.  (This is why I love 
the irony of critics of HP who whine about how overcommercialized the 
books are and how JKR is treating her stories as product by producing 
a serialized work.  What do they think Dickens and Doyle did?)  ACD 
felt pressured to continue the Holmes stories long after he'd gotten 
tired of writing them-even his mother scolded him when he first told 
her he'd like to stop the series.  And after ACD did kill Holmes off, 
it took him a long time to bring him back (7 years, I think).  

Because JKR has had an overall plan in place from the beginning, I 
think she'll find it easier to stick to her decision to end the HP 
canon at book 7.  She conceives of the stories as rounded and with a 
narrative arc that ACD never thought of.  

Still, leaving a character when he's only 18 does give one room to 
maneuver...<g>