Snape- Universal Teacher - Universal Story

[finwitch]

No: HPFGUIDX 128492

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Shaun Hately" <drednort at a...> 
> 
> Well, first of all, I wouldn't be at all surprised to find other 
> people on this list who have read many British School stories, and 
> are at least as authoritative on them a I am. I've read a lot, and 
I 
> collect them, so I do have a good knowledge of them.
> 
> To answer your question, it's not at all uncommon for a Snape like 
> teacher to appear in such books. I'm on teaching rounds at the 
> moment, so really don't have time to go into all this in as much 
> detail as I would like - but while it isn't by any means a 
universal 
> thing, it is certainly common.
> 
> I am actually slowly writing a paper on this - "Hogwarts School of 
> Witchcraft and Wizardry in the Context of the British School Story" 
> (something of a companion to my "Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and 
> Wizardry in the Context of the British Public Schools") but it's 
not 
> likely to be ready until at least July or August.

Finwitch:

I wonder - could we enlarge the concept of "unliked/nasty/Snape-like 
teacher" to *any* school-story, not just the british?

Actually, let's go even further - it seems to me that an authority-
figure the hero(or main character) is more or less at odds with or at 
least needs to pass somehow is a very common element within stories. 
Of course, in a school-story this means a teacher (Snape for Harry). 
Within home, it's usually the adult 'relative' not of flesh&blood 
(Vernon for Harry -- and just think of all those evil stepmothers!).

Finwitch