SHIP: Emma, Twists, and HBP

[Pat]

No: HPFGUIDX 136642

 
anasazi_pr wrote:
> > Pat, I really love your analysis. But I think we are forgetting 
> > two things: 
> > 1) Unlike Emma, Harry Potter is a children's book
> > 2) JK Rowling is no Jane Austen

Susanne <siskiou at v...> wrote: 
> True, but the main difference to me is that HP and Emma are
> completely different genres.
> 
> Emma's whole plot is all about relationships and romance,
> while HP has this as a little side story (and I am so glad,
> because I had to basically *make* myself finish Emma, since
> romance alone is incredibly boring to me).

Pat:  You might be able to explain Jo's comments about Dorothy 
Sayers to me.  All I saw was that it seemed to go around in a 
circle, and justify putting romance into HP books.  What do you make 
of this, from the Mugglenet/Leaky Cauldron interview:

"MA: How much fun did you have with the romance in this book?

JKR: Oh, loads. Doesn't it show?

MA: Yes.

JKR: There's a theory - this applies to detective novels, and then 
Harry, which is not really a detective novel, but it feels like one 
sometimes – that you should not have romantic intrigue in a 
detective book. Dorothy L. Sayers, who is queen of the genre said
— 
and then broke her own rule, but said — that there is no place
for romance in a detective story except that it can be useful to 
camouflage other people's motives. That's true; it is a very
useful trick. I've used that on Percy and I've used that to a degree on Tonks in this book, as a red herring. But having said that, I 
disagree inasmuch as mine are very character-driven books, and
it's so important, therefore, that we see these characters fall in love, which is a necessary part of life. How did you feel about the 
romance?"


Pat:  Wow, if she thought it was important for us to see the 
characters fall in love, I think a high percentage of readers 
didn't. But I digress..
 

Susanne:
> ...snip...And while JK likes Jane Austen's writing, she 
> never said she was trying to recreate her writing style.

Pat:  This quote doesn't make you think she shot for it?:

"Boquet, Tim. "J.K. Rowling: The Wizard Behind Harry Potter," 
Reader's Digest, December 2000 
JKR:  'The best twist ever in literature is in Jane Austen's Emma. 
To me she is the target of perfection at which we shoot in vain.'"

 
Susanne:  
> Otherwise we should have seen Hermione make relationship
> plans for anyone *but* Harry, but he was in fact the one she 
> helped to get together with two girls (Cho, and indirectly Ginny).

Pat:  Well, why wouldn't she change it a bit to be her own, 
especially if she didn't want us to see it coming?