Theoretical boundaries

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 120338


<previous discussion mercilessly snipped>
Kneasy wrote:
> There are an awful lot of theories back there - some wondrous, some
fantastic, some farcical. Enjoy them. Relish them. Even hate them. But
treat them for what they are - theories. Attempts to explain the whys
and wherefores of the story, attempts to explain what the hell is 
> going on. In two books time it'll all stop, there'll be definitive 
> canon that can't be countered, all the important stuff will be 
> explained (it'd better be!) and all that'll be left will be minor nit-
> picking or FF.
> 
> 
Siriusly Snapey Susan replied:
> And with this I totally agree.  The early theories & FPs set the 
> stage, set the vernacular of this place.  I need to go back and 
> relish more of them than I have. 

Carol responds:
While I absolutely agree that all posters should read the fantastic
Posts and Recommended Posts and that knee-jerk, emotion-based
responses to the books and characters are out of place here, I
certainly hope that the discussion won't end when Book 7 is published.
 While I do expect that all the major plot threads and most of the
minor ones will be resolved (not necessarily to my satisfaction--that
would be too much to expect), I certainly don't think that "all the
important stuff" will have been resolved. Any significant literary
work--and I think the HP books fit the category, even if they are
technically children's literature--is still subject to interpretation
decades or even centuries after publication.

We'll have "definitive canon" for the fates of the characters,
finishing off the SHIPs or relegating them to fanfic; we'll know who
lives and who dies; who teaches at Hogwarts and who works for the MoM;
who's loyal to the end and who's a traitor. But that won't, or
shouldn't, end discussion of what shapes and motivates the characters,
 or the exploration of thematic elements or even the significance of
setting or symbolism.

Look at the people who still earn a living as critics of Shakespeare
or Chaucer or Dickens or Melville. Or Tolkien and fantasy in general.
You'd be surprised what you can get a degree in these days.

Long live Rowling criticism, in the sense of literary analysis of the
HP books, and don't let it die along with ESE!Lupin and ESGAA! (Ever
So Good and Alive) Quirrell when we've all turned the last page of Book 7.

Carol, who bought herself QTA and FBWFT for Christmas even though she
considers them only secondarily canonical