Black and white and read all over.

[arrowsmithbt]

No: HPFGUIDX 116856


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Nora Renka" <nrenka at y...> wrote:
> <snip>
> 
> > Sitting meekly waiting to be spoon-fed is not something I'm 
> > comfortable with. I don't mind being beaten, I don't mind being 
> > wrong, but doing nothing is not acceptable. It implies that one is 
> > happy not to think, that existing canon is the be-all and end-all 
> > of HP so close down and put your mind in neutral. 

> Nora:
> Kneasy.  It's not mindless to work through a text in other ways than 
> just trying to figure out what's going to happen.  Anyone doing 
> interpretation knows very well that existing canon is not the end 
> all.  I can only speak for myself, again--but I am not deeply 
> interested in speculation--or rather, that's not what I'm interested 
> enough to take the trouble to write it out.  It stays primarily to 
> myself.  But I am mildly annoyed by your implication that to not put 
> the mechanics of the plot first is to become a spoon-fed reader.  
> Unless you're a rabid deconstructionist, you have to rely upon your 
> text, to some degree.  And, for the moment, any interpreter must work 
> with what he has.  I happen to particularly enjoy trying to work 
> through the meanings, implication, and structure of what we know so 
> far, rather than wondering so much about the future events.  This 
> doesn't meant that I don't wonder and speculate at times, but again, 
> that's not my main interest.
>  

Kneasy:
I think it quite possible that your interpretation of my post is mistaken.
Admittedly, you won't have been helped by a typographical error that
resulted in one small word being omitted from the section shown above
and my assumption that you would understand what I was referring to
by 'spoon-feeding'. You obviously didn't. So I've expanded it somewhat.

I note that you snipped the preceding sentences where I freely admit
that all the information is not yet available and that when it appears it 
may well change our opinions. Also that JKR has implied that there is a, 
no - *the* central knot which if unravelled will reveal just what the whole
thing is about. This, so far as *I'm* concerned is the Grail. Nor, reviewing 
my post do I  find that anywhere I state that analysis and interpretation 
is something to be slighted. 

On the contrary, *in my view* these are the necessary precursors 
to other exercises such as extrapolation or using the conclusions 
drawn from analysis to formulate theories. As a scientist, what I
don't understand is how someone can draw conclusions, derive
information from interpretation and not use it in an attempt to
answer obvious questions. Such as - "if so-and-so really is like
this, what could that mean for the future?" Especially given that we
are now facing the 6th book of 7 and the climax approaches.

In the four years or so that I've been reading HP, I've analysed and
interpreted to reach a stage where I'm reasonably satisfied with my 
conclusions - accepting they they may be invalidated by new canon.
So what do I do now? Repeat all my posts ad nauseam? Keep  on
saying, discussing the same thoughts over and over and over?
Not I. Not only is it boring for the board readers, it's boring for me.
You may or may not have noticed that I've greatly reduced my posts
on threads that keep covering the same old ground of Snape-bashing,
pensieves, the evils of Slytherin House, etc. etc. Not worth it. Not only
was I posting the same old words, I was getting the same old responses.
As I pointed out in the post that started this thread, almost no-one
changes their mind once they've chosen which stance to take. It's
nothing new and I'm no different to anyone else, but if you dig into
old posts going back to the beginning of the site the same subjects, 
the same views and the same responses turn up with monotonous 
regularity. Lately I rarely bother to read the posts on such subjects; 
deja vu is only interesting in small doses.

Ennui looms. But there is a further step that can be taken with the
conclusions that have been drawn - construct theories based on them,
see how they hold up under scrutiny by members. If there  is no
canon conflict they may even be accurate predictions. But for
worthwhile theories to be posited the canon must provide sufficient
information. It's possible it may not do so. Which is bloody annoying.
Which brings us to:-

Spoon-feeding - isn't this what JKR is doing on her web-site?
"Oh, they need extra clues, guidance, whatever on this subject or
that individual. I'll drop this nugget in there for them." Personally
I'll use what she gives, but I  don't feel totally overjoyed about it
and I'm not alone. I've had mails that wonder if she's belatedly
realising that she's not provided enough information in the books
that in hindsight could be pointed to as acceptable foreshadowing
or clues. The new information regarding letters to Petunia being the
most obvious example so far.

If there are many more web-site revelations then it may be justifiable
to wonder if the actual books, the 'pure' canon is sufficient to enable 
valid conclusions to be drawn or key story lines to be identified. 
It is to this aspect of the fun and games of analysis and interpretation
that the section above, clipped from my previous post, refers.
Perhaps I should have made this more explicit, but since there are
no other instances of what could be referred to as 'spoon-feeding'
I thought it would be obvious. 

However, there is that typographical error in there for which I apologise
and which when corrected may alter your overall perceptions - or there
again it may not.

For "..the canon is the be-all and end-all.." 
read "..the canon is not the be-all and end-all..." 

and refers again to the extra information being released on the web-site.
Plus the possibility that sticking to book canon may be of limited value and
that we, you, I or whoever might as well sit around waiting for crumbs
to fall into our laps - because it's the only way we're going to be able to
reach accurate conclusions. Hence the remark that the implication is that
we should be happy to receive fresh snippets rather than thinking about
the existing text, because it might be a pointless undertaking anyway.
And if it turns out to be so I'll be absolutely livid.

Even with this possibility lurking in the background I am not prepared to sit 
around and do nothing. I'll still attempt to squeeze as much out of the 
books as possible - and quite probably more than many think justifiable.