Liking J.K., not liking J.K. (was: ESE! JKR ?/not hardly)

[Ken Hutchinson]

No: HPFGUIDX 154877

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Patricia Hurley <patriciah711 at ...> wrote:
>
> Patricia:
> I think that no one should be told that in order to like the HP 
> series you have to adore JKR. I personally idolize her writing 
> ability and style. As for JKR the person. You don't know her. You 
> know THE MEDIA PRESENTS JK ROWLING. Now I'm not saying that she has 
> to be a fantastic person in real life. But I don't think anyone 
> really has a right to pass judgement. Criticize her as an artist, 
> critique her work, but leave JKR the person out of your postings. 
> None of has any right to critique her as a person without knowing 
> her.
>

Ken:

I don't believe I have criticized her for anything except teasing us
with details that she knows and we don't. This is something that she
definitely does do, it is not a media distortion of her image. I did
say I have reservations about her and I think that she herself has
given me enough of a sense of who she is to hold them. When a 
person says they have reservations about someone it is an admission
that they don't have enough information to form a definite opinion
after all. You don't need to have the whole picture in view to have
reservations.

The media is hardly our only source of information about JKR. Her
own writing is directly available to us and presumably conveys 
her opinions accurately. There have been several threads here
recently that question what she is trying to say by examining 
details found in her books. Those have been far more critical of
JKR than I would ever be. I have not followed any of the recent
fuss about the weight issue. My impression of her is not colored
by that. Most of my reservations come from reading the information
she posts on her website. Is that a media distortion?

I don't think she is a bad person. I don't hate her.  I'm just not sure 
we could be friends, not that the occasion will ever arise.

Ken