post- mortem storytelling?

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 89721

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Anne" <anne_conda at w...> wrote:
<snip>
<passage from SS/PS chapter one snipped>
> 
> 
well, obviously this can't be Harry's perspective, can it? In fact 
> the whole book's opening isn't. Then, WHO is it leading the reader?

> I know a time I argued against the case of Harry's death: "Well, WHO 
> do you reckon will continue telling the story once Harry is dead, 
> since apparently HE is the narrator in some way? You know Rowling 
> promised us epilogues."
>  
> 
> 
Probably the very same WHO, who inaugurated the series, to answer my 
> own question, as weird as this is. <snip>
  
 maybe, just maybe, Madame Rowling was a bit unsteady in 
> her use of viewpoints in her first novel, since a bit later in the 
> very same book- and after that never ever again- she switches from 
> her literary a- look- over- Harry's- shoulder- angle to a very err
 
> independent one: <snip>

Carol responds:
Simply put, JKR never writes directly from Harry's point of view--a
first-person narrator wouldn't work for her books. Instead she uses a
limited omniscient third-person narrator who can get inside some
character's heads but not others. In SS/PS chapter one, this narrator
gives us Vernon Dursley's thoughts but is not limited to his point of
view. We're shown wizards and owls and so forth that he can't see
because he isn't looking out his window. We also see the cat he
encounters earlier (dismissing the thought that it's reading a map),
which transforms into Professor McGonagall after Vernon Dursley leaves
the scene. Then we see Professor Dumbledore and Hagrid and hear their
three-way conversation. We do not, however, know their thoughts: This
narrator's omniscience is still limited. She (or he) either can't or
won't get inside these character's minds. You can think of that
narrator as JKR herself if you choose. She (the narrator) seems to be
at her most reliable here--and we can trust her statement about the
Dursleys being Muggles because it's made from this outside point of
view, not Harry's (or Uncle Vernon's).

Most of the rest of the series, with the notable and obvious exception
of the first chapter of GoF (which is partly objective reporting and
partly through the eye and ears of the old Muggle, Frank Bryce), is
written from Harry's point of view, though Harry is not the narrator.
But once in awhile, as when Hermione in the stands sets fire to
Snape's robes while Harry is struggling to stay on his broomstick, the
narrator moves away from Harry's perspective. The story teller is
still a limited omniscient narrator who can't get inside Hermione's
head, but nevertheless in this scene and a few others (as when Neville
is lying awake at night and Harry doesn't know it), the point of view
is not Harry's.

I'm quite sure that JKR knows exactly what she's doing in occasionally
manipulating the point of view. In fact, I think we can trust the
narrator most fully in scenes that are outside Harry's perspective.
Note, for example, chapter 2 of SS/PS, where we've slipped for the
first time into Harry's POV. We're told by the narrator that Harry's
parents were killed in a car accident. The information is presented
quite matter of factly, as if it were true, but it is in fact "true"
only from Harry's perspective, based on what he knows or thinks he
knows, but in the narrator's words, not his. We find out later,
through Hagrid, that this supposed truth is a deliberate lie invented
by the Dursley's. But that passage is our first hint that Harry's
point of view is not always reliable--which leads to lively
discussions and varying interpretations of the books so far. I hope,
though, that as Harry learns more and understands other characters
better, his point of view will become more reliable in the sixth and
seventh books. 

In any case, we can expect the point of view to change again in the
Epilogue, not because Harry will be dead, but because epilogues are
traditionally written from an objective, omniscient point of view,
reporting "facts" about the lives of the characters after the main
events of the story  without getting inside anyone's head: "And true
to Professor Trelawney's prediction, Harry lived a long and happy
life. He and his wife Ginny, who went into retirement together after
twenty exciting years as aurors, produced twelve children, six boys
and six girls, all of whom had red hair and green eyes. Ron and
Hermione, who remained aurors into their eighties, produced two
bushy-haired girls, both of whom became dentists." Okay, I'm being
silly here, but you see what I mean about the narrative viewpoint no
longer being Harry's.

Carol, who apologizes for having written a treatise when she meant to
write a paragraph and for not providing page numbers