Livig in the hothouse (was: What will theorists think?)

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 96518

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "cubfanbudwoman" 
<susiequsie23 at s...> wrote:

Siriusly Snapey Susan:
> All of this has got me wondering something....  I joined this group 
> just last summer, right before OoP came out.  I know some of the 
> biggest theorists [theorizers?? what's the word I want?] and 
TBAYers 
> have been here *much* longer than that.  Some of their theories 
have 
> been shot down or have been forced into revision by events & 
> information revealed in subsequent books.
> 
> So here's my question for those who love to put forth theories 
[from 
> one who's no good at it!].  Is putting forth a theory & standing 
> behind it mightily, for instance ESE!Lupin or Vampire!Snape, 
> something that is just flat-out fun and something you don't really 
> care too much whether you're right about or not?  Or will you be 
> seriously disappointed if JKR's portrayals of these characters & 
> resolution of the events stick to the more "standard" line--that 
> Lupin is a troubled good guy, for instance, that Snape really did 
> leave Voldy behind & is helping DD & the Good Guys, that Snape's 
not 
> a vampire, ...?  
> 
> Pippin, I've used two of your theories, but I'd love to hear from 
> *anyone* who considers herself/himself a "theorizer."  There's no 
> criticism in this question--I hope that's clear!  I'm just really, 
> really curious about how some of you who theorize a lot feel about 
> your theories.  So...please tell!  Is it all for fun and who cares 
> how it turns out, or will you not be able to fully enjoy the 
series' 
> conclusion if JKR doesn't end up following your hoped-for path?
> 
> Enquiring minds want to know!
> 
> Siriusly Snapey Susan...who loves to read elaborate theories but 
who 
> can't come up with them herself.

Geoff:
Many moons ago, when the world was young – about 6th August last year 
to be exact(!) – I penned a thread entitled "Second guessing JKR" 
which reached the newsstands as message 75634.

Some of what I said then was:
" 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.

I have cogitated for some time as to whether JKR spent a great deal
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 out 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"."

Perhaps at my age, I might be considered naïve because I enjoy 
reading so-called children's literature and some "fantasy" 
literature. I have gained great enjoyment from LOTR, from the Narnia 
books, Alan Garner's two books based on the legend of Alderley Edge 
(The Weirdstone of Brisingamen/The Moon of Gomrath) and, latterly a 
series of books about a boy wizard – oh what is the lad's name? – oh, 
yes, I remember - Harry Potter. I am also something of a Star Trek 
anorak.

To be honest, I read these books for pleasure – to escape the horrors 
of books set in kitchen sink situations, in getting away from the 
mundane – to let my imagination run riot for me. But perhaps I am too 
simplistic in that I do not go into them looking for conspiracies, 
for hidden messages; perhaps my reading of the books is too shallow. 
It is only when I come to read them a second and subsequent time that 
little things begin to drop into place. Mark you, sometimes with JKR, 
it isn't until you reach, say, Book 5 that you think "Ah, so that's 
why that happened in Book 2". I am not a good conspiracy theorist  
but in the hothouse atmosphere of HPFGU, it would appear that to 
satisfy everyone's wishes and ideas that Harry will have to exist on 
about a dozen parallel universes; we haven't tried this line yet – 
it's popular in Star Trek(!)

I occasionally theorise – usually using someone else's thoughts as a 
springboard but I am a rather matter-of-fact person. I have for 
instance greatly enjoyed my sallies with Shaun into the archives of 
South London to sort out Vauxhall Road (and finding out things about 
an area in which I lived for 45 years and didn't know about) and to 
cross swords with people on occasion on matters of faith about which 
I have my own strong views and to maintain a reputation for pinning 
down canon references.

But I join with Susan in saluting those who keep the temperature of 
the hothouse well up and keep all of our minds agile as we sit on the 
platform waiting for the announcement "the book now arriving at 
platform 6 is the 15:00 for Bloomsbury, T Bay and Rowling's Haven." 
I'm not sure that I get wound up about whether Lupin is evil or not; 
I haven't read the threads about Snape as a vampire; I'm really not 
into runes - but I do want Harry to come through. He is for me a mix 
of so many guys I knew in my classes who worked through the 
turbulence of growing up and came out good at the end.

I hope this ramble makes some sense. If it doesn't, put it down to 
encroaching age and remaining in my first childhood so that I can 
read children's books in the same attitude of mind as C.S Lewis.