[HPforGrownups] Re: Sexuality as a theme in HP (long)

[Vivamus]

No: HPFGUIDX 119589

> Olivier wrote:
> In this 
> > post, I try to explore the way I read them: as the journey from 
> > boyhood to manhood, with an explicit reference to 
> sexuality. Just as a 
> > forewarning, I insist that the following will deal with adult theme.

> catkind:  I have to admit, my first reaction to this post was 
> to laugh aloud.  You can Freudian-analyse anything, and a 
> world full of wands and broomsticks is asking for trouble. 

Vivamus:
Excellent post, catkind, and very well-said.  Is it even possible to write a
story without saying many things that can be interpreted sexually?   These
are childrens books, after all.   There is much illumination about the
growing up process, but it seems to me that sexuality has largely been
washed out of what is otherwise a highly sexually-charged time of life.
Rather than emphasize sexuality, I would say that JKR has DE-emphasized it.

To badly paraphrase Freud, "Sometimes a story is just a story."   I find
Freudian analysis an interesting way of looking at life, that occasionally
renders useful insights, but does not work well as a model for understanding
either behavior or literature.

Granted, the HP books are a superb collection of stories, revealing a vast
sub-text of values, questions, emotions, and even some answers.  From an
in-depth reading of them, one can learn a lot about growing up, and even
some pretty good glimpses into the soul of the author.  (Writing is a very
naked act, isn't it?)  I don't know that the series teaches anything at all
about sexuality, other than in the most vague of terms.

Vivamus, who does applaud those who struggle to find meaning in dark
corners, but resists the idea that he must see things that are not there