A good narrative strategy (was Re: All the World's Problems; )

[lupinlore]

No: HPFGUIDX 125834


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "dumbledore11214"
<dumbledore11214 at y...> wrote:
<SNIP>
> 
> 
> Alla:
> 
> I think this is one of the simplest and the best explanations of the 
> split of muggle and magical worlds I have ever read.
> 
> I am still wondering though why JKR specifically pointed out that 
> the two worlds will not mesh at the end of the story. You know, 
> theoretically, when story is done, she  can briefly explore the good 
> things which could come out of the fact that Wizards will make 
> themselves known to the muggles and not to deal with possible messy 
> issues.
> 
> Do you think it would still compromise the narrative if two worlds 
> were to meet at the end?
> 
> 
> Alla.

It would in a sense.  JKR has tried to create a world, the WW, that
you can believe exists "in parallel" with ours.  It is a tough
balance, because she has to refer to enough "real world" things to
make us believe in the reality of the narrative.  But if you look at
the hard questions the existance of wizards raises, the believability
disappears. So she keeps their world separate as much as possible. 
She underscores her strategy of believability by trying to bring in
certain points of hard fact, like having Harry born in a particular
year, etc.  But she tries to avoid talking much about the interface
because then all sorts of problems arise.

If the WW and the Muggle World were to meet, all that would be blown
out of the water.  Say they were to meet at the end of the series, in
Harry's seventh year.  That would be 1997-1998.  Well, obviously no
such happened, so believability would go out the door.  Even if she
projected the meeting into the future, say in 2010, I think it would
raise more questions than she wants to deal with.

Lupinlore