DD's dilemma + owl post
lupinlore
bob.oliver at cox.net
Mon Mar 21 13:10:27 UTC 2005
No: HPFGUIDX 126383
--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "cubfanbudwoman"
<susiequsie23 at s...> wrote:
<SNIP>
>
> My main point to Lupinlore really was intended to be that JKR may
> well have never anticipated the degree of analysis her books &
> decisions would undergo. She may have thought that her reasoning
> would be clear to the readers, whereas a lot of us (esp. her adult
> readers) are more inclined to question and critique. This is not a
> bad thing! But I do think there may well be situations where JKR
> believes her position is clearer than we feel it is. I'm wondering
> if DD's decision to leave Harry with the Dursleys isn't one of those
> situations where she'd be surprised to discover what a hullabaloo
> has arisen over it.
>
I accept your correction and bow humbly to receive my appropriate
chastisment. :-)
You know, I wonder if we might not be dealing to an extent with one of
those cultural disconnects to which Pippin alluded upthread (or
perhaps it was in one of the related threads). In any case, one of
the main issues with regards to which there seems to be a gulf between
JKR and some (a few? many? lots of? who knows?) her readers is the
lack of apparent remorse or tension in Dumbledore over this whole issue.
To wit, Pippin said that Dumbledore may be expressing remorse in the
fashion of an "English gentleman of the old school." To many of us
(most of whom are on the other side of the Atlantic, I believe,
although I may well be mistaken on that) he comes across as cold,
unsympathetic, and somewhat inappropriate in his affect with regard to
this issue. As I have said before, part of his speech in OOTP that
might be supposed to come across like sympathy and remorse reads to
me, and I believe to some (many? a few? lots of? who knows?) others as
"You survived and you're healthy kid, so you don't have a right to
complain. Shut up and take it like a man."
On the other hand, or in addition to this, perhaps the "authorial
myopia" is in play, here. That is, JKR knows what Dumbledore is
feeling and means to say, therefore it is clear to her whether it is
clear to anybody else or not.
In any case, it's a possibility.
Lupinlore
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