Script from JKR's reading/ About Snape and Dumbledore

[Neri]

No: HPFGUIDX 156807

<hickengruendler at ...> wrote:
>
> The exact script from the second reading in New York is now online at 
> the Leaky Cauldron. It's here: http://www.the-leaky-
> cauldron.org/#static:eventreports/jkrnycnight2
> 

Neri:
This link may be broken. I suggest going to:
http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/#article:8938
where there are links to both the transcript and the video.

To save you some clicking and searching, here is the part with
Rushdie's question:

*********************************************************
Salman Rushdie: Hello, we are Salman and Milan Rushdie. (Crowd
applauds) Umm -

JK Rowling: I'm not that sure this is fair. (Crowd laughs) I think you
might be better at guessing plots than most. But anyway, off you go.

Salman Rushdie: We are 9 and 59. And one of us is good at guessing
plots, not me. And this is really Milan's question and it's kind of a
follow-up to the previous one.

JK Rowling: Alright. Okay.

Salman Rushdie: Until the events of Volume 6, it was always made plain
that Snape might have been an unlikable fellow but he was essentially
one of the good guys. (Crowd screams approval)

JK Rowling: I can see this is the question all really want answered.

Salman Rushdie: Dumbledore himself - Dumbledore himself had always
vouched for him. Now we are suddenly told that Snape is a villian and
Dumbledore's killer. We cannot, or don't want to believe this. (Crowd
laughs) Our theory is that Snape is in fact, still a good guy, (crowd
applauds) from which it follows that Dumbledore can't really be dead
and that the death is a ruse cooked up between Dumbledore and Snape to
put Voldemort off his guard so that when Harry and Voldemort come face
to face, (crowd laughs) Harry may have more allies than he or
Voldemort suspects. So, is Snape good or bad? (Crowd laughs, applauds
and screams) In our opinion, everything follows from it.

JK Rowling: Well, Salman, your opinion, I would say, is right. But I
see that I need to be a little more explicit and say that Dumbledore
is definitely dead.

[more followes about grief management] 
*************************************************************

There are two significant differences between this transcript and the
previous transcript we discussed here, and IMO both these differences
confirm my view that Salman Rushdie was making an if/then statement.
Firstly, he says: "Our theory is that Snape is in fact still a good
guy, *from which it follows that* Dumbledore can't really be dead" (I
stress the difference from the first transcript).  It is obvious that
Dumbledore being alive, in Rushdie's theory, follows from Snape being
good. It is not an AND statement "Snape is good AND Dumbledore can't
be dead". It is not even a list of things that are not necessarily
connected: "1) Snape is good, 2) Dumbledore can't be dead, 3)...". It
is clearly "IF Snape is good THEN Dumbledore can't be dead".

Secondly, when Rushdie repeats the words "follows from" he says: "is
Snape good or bad? *In our opinion* everything follows from it (I
stress again the difference from the previous transcript). Rushdie's
words "in our opinion" are important here because JKR's answers here
"well, Salman, your opinion, I would say, is right". It is obvious
that by "your opinion" JKR was meaning Rushdie's "In our opinion
everything follows from this". IOW it was precisely the "follows from"
part that JKR was validating.

So as I wrote before, Rushdie was basically saying "IF Snape is good
THEN it follows that Dumbledore can't be dead", and JKR was basically
answering "this statement is correct but Dumbledore *is* dead". If we
treat this as a logical argument then the unavoidable conclusion is
that Snape can't be good. The only wiggle room I see here for
Good!Snape is if JKR wasn't treating this as an absolutely logical
statement or if her logic was faulty. 

I also watched the video and it didn't change my impression. One thing
that isn't in the transcript is that JKR is following each sentence of
Rushdie with "aha..." and "yes..." and after Rushdie says "our theory
is that Snape is in fact still a good guy" JKR says "right..." in a
tone of "I'm following you, please continue..." and then momentarily
panics, apparently realizing that this might be interpreted as if she
agrees. This may have contributed to the first impression that JKR was
validating Snape being good, but from watching the video it's pretty
obvious she wasn't doing any such thing. It was also obvious that both
Rushdie and JKR were carefully weighting each word. Rushdie was
reading the question from a note and keeping with the written
sentences despite interference from the crowd, and JKR was listening
attentively and considering every word of her reply.

I also noticed that Rushdie very wisely blamed this whole theory on
his 9 years old son rather than on himself <g>.


> Hickengruendler:
> There are some things I found interesting, most notably this one about 
> Dumbledore, which sounded IMO a bit different in the reports of the 
> visitors.
> 
> JKR said, that she couldn't answer the question, if we will see him in 
> action again, since the answer is in book 7, but that we shouldn't 
> expect him to do a Gandalf. That does not sound, as if a short time 
> return (like the one from James and Lily during the climax of GoF) is 
> out of question. Yes, Dumble's dead, but the answer to the question if 
> we will see him in action again is in book 7. I'm betting on more than 
> just Portrait!Dumbledore in HP 7.

Neri:
My bet is on a pensieve memory of Dumbledore. In fact, probably more
than one. We will need *lots* of explanations.


Neri