post- mortem storytelling?

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 89840

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Andrew" <baseball_07_05 at y...> 
wrote:

Andrew:
> Does it really matter what perspective JKR writes in? She is the 
> author, she has a creative license to write in whatever style she 
> wants. She could jump from perspective to perspective any way she 
> wants, whatever she sees fit she will do. Something has been 
> bothering me ever since I first visited this site, people seem to 
> mix thoughts. They will either treat the charactars in the books as 
> real people, with real thoughts, real motives; or, treat it from 
> JKR's perspective, asking her motives, her thoughts etc. Should 
> theories be limited to one or the other?

Geoff:
I think we have two different sides of the coin here.

If you know and like a book and perhaps read it a lot, you will begin 
to look on the characters as people who you know, whose reactions you 
may be able to gauge, with whom you feel at ease. I realised with a 
jolt this week that it is not far short of 50 years since I first 
read "The Lord of the Rings" – in 1956 to be precise. In that time, I 
have read it 25-30 times. I now feel that I know the characters and, 
when I turn to a page, I am meeting old friends. I know their turns 
of phrase, I know their liking in food and clothes, their attitude to 
events, their interaction one with the other. So they are 
perhaps "real" in my imagination.

On the other hand, because the Harry Potter books have not all been 
published, we speculate on the outcomes. (I wonder whether the same 
happened on a smaller scale in the hiatus between the publication of 
TTT and ROTK in 1954/55?). After all, if we are all right, Harry will 
or will not die; Snape is or isn't a vampire; Dumbledore is or isn't 
reliable; Ron will or will not become Head Boy and so the list goes 
on. Isn't it fun? Just another little while and the story will reach 
its end and we can all sit back with a sigh and reminisce about the 
good old days of HPFGU.

No, no, let's have all the theories and ideas out on the table – the 
good, the bad and the ugly. It's so invigorating to cross swords with 
other members or to voice our agreement with them. But the bottom 
line is that JKR is the creator and obviously she knows where she 
wants to take her "family" and ultimately, we will find out whether 
our vibes were in tune with hers or not. And if you don't like it, 
there's always fanfic!!